Piling the weight back on when stopping MJ

[Richtea67]

Hi all....I'm so disappointed. I lost 3 and a half stone, have been off injections for a month and regained nearly 7lbs 😩. I was a slow loser (1-2lb per week) and focused on changing habits and reducing portion size rather than diets/calorie counting (this has led to binging previously). I have kept up with a lot of the habits (smoothie for breakfast, cutting out alcohol and healthy high protein snacks). But portion sizes have definitely gone up as I'm hungrier! And I've been more tempted by the biscuits at work and the kids treats! Any advice?? I'm considering re starting if I put too much weight on, but financially this would be a struggle, which is part of the reason I came off them. My starting weight was 14.5 stones, weight when stopping injections 11 stones and at present nearly half a stone back on!! Help!

Is your argument that these medications should be available on the NHS?

The people who lose fast to start with tend to be larger. I had just over two stone to lose and have been doing so at an average of 1.7lbs a week- a perfectly safe level of loss.

Much like I could do when I was younger, just follow weightwatchers for a bit, lose weight steadily then keep it off. Except I haven't been able to do that for 20 years as it just took too long and was incredibly frustrating. Was more like 1lb a month, if that.

Mid 30s with two very young children. I totally hear what you are saying, and I really do think that the best option if affordable, would be to continue on the medication. But affordability unfortunately for me plays a significant part. The cycle of going up and down in weight is very familiar to me too. I'm just hoping for the best and trying to prepare the best I can. Besides that I'm not sure what other option there is beyond staying on the meds!

@TheSpoonyNavyReader wouldn’t it be better to use statins which are directly targeted at cholesterol ? Personally I’m not mega keen on statins either as they gave me weak feeling legs even on a low dose , so I take 3 a week rather than 7 and feel ok on that ( GP aware ) - they aren’t really intended ‘just ‘ for cholesterol purposes as far as I’m aware although apparently it can help .

Yes, if the right criteria are met.

Well they eventually will be NICE has recommend a 12yr roll out!
I meet the criteria but the waits round here are about 3+years so i am paying for a PRIVATE PRESCRIPTION. It is still being prescribed just not on the NHS.

If, instead of losing whatever lb's per week they gave half or even quarter of the doses and you lost the weight 4 x slower.

There are people micro-dosing, so doing exactly that. However, the issue is that below a certain limit is not actually a therapeutic dose and it would not have any effect on many people. I seem to respond well and hopefully microdosing on maintenance will help me to keep the weightloss, will see.

Munjaro is just another way of avoiding the harsh reality that what you do has consequences.

You can choose to eat upfs, sweets, chocolate, cakes, biscuits etc or you can choose not to. Those people who say I can't are not taking responsibility for themselves and their health.

Just say no thanks. No to everything except fish, chicken, vegetables, noodles, and rice.

Get outside learn to play golf, go cycling, join a gym, learn to ride, run. While you're out exercising in the fresh air you're not at home eating.

I do think the issue about swapping one form of disordered eating for another is a valid concern, exemplified by the PP who reports having developed an ED. I didn't really have disordered eating when I put on weight, just a bit fond of sweet stuff and mostly because I drank way too much wine. I only put on weight after childbirth followed very soon by menopause. (I had a BMI around 21 all my life before that, up to the age of 47, and no struggle to stay that way). But I was very clear with myself when I started MJ that I would not seek to go below BMI of 21, so as not to get obsessed/addicted to weight loss (I am an addictive person with several challenges of that nature in my history) and I haven't. It is important to bear this in mind though. Like any powerful medication, care needs to be taken to monitor both expected and unexpected adverse effects.

@PrincessofWells I think you have made a mistake and wandered onto the wrong thread. This is about people who need and have been prescribed WLI because of a medical condition, not those who can lose weight by "just saying no" and playing golf.

What?
I literally can't grasp the point you're trying to make. People who pay prescription charges via the NHS pay a flat fee. Private prescriptions cost more. What is your point?

I think they should absolutely be available on the NHS, and so do all the endocrinologists I have spoken to (I come across a fair few in the course of my work). But this would require a great deal of initial financial outlay for a gain only a way down the road, and that would be unpopular politically (just look at some of the attitudes on this thread).

Shhhhhhhhhh 🤫

I'd start a new thread within the WLI section asking for advice and support if I were you. Then it won't come up in Active threads and you'll get actual helpful responses. On this thread, you're likely to just get some judgemental twonk telling you to learn horseriding and get more fresh air. 🙄

@PrincessofWells would you go onto a forum for heroin addicts and tell them to "just say no"? Why not? Presumably you would consider them to be "choosing" that life.

Oh but wait...if they were "choosing" it and so they had the option to "just say no", why on earth would they not just do that simple and free thing, rather than be desperately seeking complicated solutions in therapy/support/medications etc?

You can assume that if people are seeking actively therapy (including medication) and support for a problem (which the WLI users here are doing), they have (a) already tried simpler and non-medical solutions if possible and (b) found that they did not work adequately.

Exactly proving my point . . . 🙄

I think they want to believe we're buying them off a dodgy stranger in the back alley behind Home Bargains! That way, it makes it all so seedy and they can feel 'faux' sorry for us. It's like the poster who reckoned that she'd seen track marks on people using Mounjaro. You couldn't make it up, it's hilarious!

Back in reality, we use online, bona fide pharmacies, staffed by fully accredited pharmacists, who provide professional consultations and prescribe safely within the correct guidelines. But that doesn't sound nearly seedy enough, does it?

I'm maintaining well now I'm a size 8. Yes, I could stop MJ but why put myself through the hassle and stress of increased hunger, cravings and the constant food noise again? Why shouldn't I benefit from the protection is provided against dementia, strokes, heart disease, kidney disease and some types of cancer?

Taking MJ just makes my life very much easier thank you. I guess I could hand wash laundry in the local stream (but no, I use a washing machine). Or I could do my own house work (but no, I have a cleaner). I will continue to maintain on Mounjaro purely for the convenience it gives me.

I do think it is a bit mean of people who are not on WLI, don't need them and are not thinking of going on them, to hop with their judgement onto a thread that is clearly marked as a discussion about how maintenance might work on this medication. This is not for you! I am not diabetic so I don't know, but I wonder how many people go onto diabetic support forums and opine on treatment when they are neither diabetics nor medical professionals? Maybe go away and enjoy your superiority elsewhere?

Imagine how incredibly difficult it would be for you to 'just stop' being a judgemental, self righteous arse @PrincessofWells ?

Well, that's how incredibly hard it is to just ignore the cravings and food noise for us.

@Arraminta exactly so! I also benefit hugely from the complete indifference to alcohol that MJ has given me. It's no struggle at all now, whereas before it was a constant fight with myself.

You idea of what MJ does is wrong. I still have to wilfully chose not to buy the sour patch kids, the full fat full sugar extra cold foam ice latte, every time im in the supermarket i look longfully at the speculoos ben and jerrys ice cream, i have to decline dessert, actively chose to drink water over the 3 litres of coffee i drank before. It still requires choices, it still requires the user to actively chose what to eat in 99% of cases. It stops over eating in meals, it stops mindlessly consuming things between meals, it hasnt stopped me wanting foods i enjoyed before, it hasnt stopped me missing them. I still get hungry, and have to decide what meal im making that sits in a calorie allowance instead of ordering wagamammas. People on MJ are making the same choices, it just makes the parts around those choices easier.

WW just filed for bankruptcy in the last week or so. That probably tells you everything you need to know about how they’re doing… 🫠

If you’re able to get a good personal trainer who can support with nutrition, I’d recommend it. But make sure it’s someone who specialises in your age category so they understand all the hormonal challenges to be overcome. (There’s so much around training in accordance with your cycle, all that is of course different to menopause & post menopause etc.) If not, you might find it helpful to look into TDEE calculators, and optimal protein intake.
I hope that’s helpful, but I can testify to it being much harder as we age. I’m starting to notice this and I describe it as the fat cells getting stickier 😬 (no science there before anyone jumps on that!)

Yes, I understand it's being very successfully trialed in people with addictive personalities, as it seems to just switch off that craving.

And for those who say that the pharma companies are "lining their pockets" off our (formerly fat) backs, companies like WW and SW have made an absolute fortune over the years, and as far as I know have their programmes have had no better success in the longer term. My XH was on WW for years. He stayed obese, just by varying degrees, and is probably still so to this day (well, maybe not, he might have gone on WLI of course!). The amount of money he spent on WW was prodigious.

By the way the UK does not recognise obesity as a medical condition. Read the article in the Lancet as to why. But to sum it up, it says the danger of classifying it as such means people fail to take responsibility for where their own choices have led them, and by calling it a medical condition, the responsibility in their mind, then becomes an outside force over which they have no control. It's interesting and food for thought (pun intended).