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!

Labradors unite!
thing is though Labrador's might be big old chonkers but they are big and muscular (unless they are allowed to eat to their heart's content)
I learnt before Mounjaro that I am a muscular woman naturally and now I'm on Mj I can actually see it :) so we have to be our own good owners and not let ourselves eat like Labradors!

Same with any diet - loosing the weight is comparatively easy, it’s sticking to being “on a diet” for the rest of your life thats tricky!
I’ve watched my MIL loose many stones to then regain them and more many times.
I think people will need a permanent maintenance dose of these injections, which is fine if it works. Don’t suppose the drug companies are unhappy about that either! But better than T2 Diabetes and all the other things you're at risk of being overweight.

Liposuction removes fat cells permanently but you can still gain weight - just in different places. People who've had liposuction and then gain weight look weird as they get fat deposits in weird places!

It was fully my intention since day one to be on this for life( once I knew it was working) it has taken a lot of adjustments to afford it, and I'm using Klarna now to spread the costs but it has got cheaper over the two years, and continues to. I'm not at maintenance yet, still BMI 29 but by Christmas I think I will be so trying to think about it now. I imagine I will titrate down to 10 or 5 and inject fortnightly and see how it goes. I know I won't manage on my own. I've lost over 6 stone many times in my 55 years and put it on again. I gained ten stone in the last ten years left to my own devices.

I imagine many women who go on WLI will have been eating double their daily calorie allowance to end up obese in the first place, so yes, you can compare the two.

@SuperTrooper14you are, yes. It’s just that it doesn’t really carry much weight (pun intended)

But it still varies massively in terms of caloric needs. Right now I burn about 2050 calories a day on average. 1600 a day for me is not starvation. Nowhere near. Sure, there are people aiming for 1200, 1000 calories a day on Mounjaro and they are IMO very misguided but that's hardly what Mounjaro is doing for most of us.

For those that have insulin sensitivity there may be cheaper things that could help - like drinking water when you feel hungry, more fibre in your diet and more use of herbs and spices, including vinegar. Milk thistle is worth trying.

The idea that everyone who is overweight eats for emotional reasons is far too simplistic. Weight loss injections stop people feeling hungry, they are not changing emotional triggers.

The long and short of it is, for them to work long term, you have to stay on them long term. I have lost over 40kg on mounjaro, i have begun maintenance by starting to lower my dose. I went up to 12.5mg, im planning to stay on 5-7.5mg. But in researching them before i started a year ago, i was aware this isnt a short term fix, its a long term solution. The manufacturers state this is a life long medication, as it doesnt fix the hormonal imblances people more prone to weight gain face. Its a synthetic replacement. So for it to work long term, it has to be taken. Much like many medications people have to take for life to resolve a medical issue. Yes, there will be a minority who keep weight off if they stop, but chances are these arent the people with a hormonal/biological issue that caused their weight gain, and that the delayed gastric emptying is what helped them lose on it, those with GLP1 resistence, whos recpetors dont work that well, will need it for life.

I feel people need more education on WLI before they begin, so many people see it as a easy fix, it isnt, it a medication treating a medical issue, but not "fixing" that issue. It only works whilst taking it.

No you cannot. Because 'double their daily calorie allowance' is not the same as the men who were actually burning double the starvation rations they were given! If an obese person burns 3000 calories a day but usually eats 3500, and cuts their calories to 1600 I will grant you that's a huge deficit and not healthy or sustainable longer term. But if that obese person drops to 2000 or 2200 that's not starvation. And it's not comparable to active men who burn over 3000 calories a day cutting their calorie intake in half.

Mounjaro killed my desire to binge.. before that it was very hard to get out of the habit. I had managed it before for extended periods but the 'noise' was always in the background.
It wasn't even like I was heavily restricting.. I know some folk heavily restrict & this leads to binging but my restriction was within the calorie deficit to produce a 1-2 lb weight loss each week.
If I came off the jabs I would be worried that the binging would come back.
I think I am one of the ones that has to stay on this for life unfortunately.
I will attempt to wean myself off at some point but will have no hesitation on jumping back on if need be.

Where did you get they were burning off double the 1,600 calories they consumed in the semi-starvation phase?

This is not scientific but imo there are different groups of MJ users.

I think that people in the group of those who haven't always struggled with their weight, but perhaps had one event that led to gain eg. Pregnancy, then struggled to shift it, might be able to use MJ to get back to their normal weight and if they exercise etc could maintain that again.

However people like me who have always struggled, always yo yo'd, seem to have some hormonal/physiological thing, always struggled to maintain a constant weight (if I wasn't dieting I was gaining) - I think realistically we will need to stay on some sort of dose for life or at least long term.

Take WLI out of this for a minute. The NHS advice on weightloss is to put yourself in a calorie deficit of 500 cals of your maintenance calories to lose weight through diet and exercise. For my weight and height my maintenance calories currently are 2100 so the NHS advice would be to eat 1600. Is your view that this would be I'll advised. What does one do in these circumstances, just stay fat?

Fwiw I agree that some people use mj to crash diet eating only 800 cals a day and that is not healthy, I also think most people will need to stay on WLI long term. I guess I am struggling with your line of thinking. Is it just don't bother nothing will work?

Damn. Just realised I'm a Labrador.

A previous poster - it could be wrong.

I think it is – what I've read up on it says they burned 1,700-2k calories off.

Here is AI's summary of the experiment. They halved their calorie NEEDS.

Certainly. You’re likely referring to Ancel Keys’ calorie restriction experiments, particularly the Minnesota Starvation Experiment of 1944–45. Here’s a concise summary:

Ancel Keys’ Minnesota Starvation Experiment (1944–1945)

Purpose:
To study the physical and psychological effects of prolonged semi-starvation and to inform post-war famine recovery efforts.

Participants:

• 36 healthy male volunteers (conscientious objectors to WWII)
• Age: 22–33, physically and mentally fit

Phases of the Study:

1. Baseline (12 weeks):
2. Normal calorie intake (~3,200 kcal/day)
3. Monitored to establish baseline health metrics
5. Semi-Starvation (24 weeks):
6. Calorie intake halved to ~1,570 kcal/day
7. Nutritionally adequate but calorie-deficient diet
8. Aim: lose ~25% of body weight
10. Rehabilitation (12+ weeks):
11. Different calorie levels tested for refeeding
12. Measured physical and psychological recovery

Findings:

• Physical Effects:
• Extreme weight loss, muscle wasting, fatigue
• Slower heart rate, reduced body temperature and libido
• Psychological Effects:
• Depression, irritability, obsession with food
• Social withdrawal and in some cases, psychosis-like symptoms
• Recovery:
• Full recovery took weeks to months depending on calories restored
• Many participants needed 3,000–4,000+ kcal/day for full restoration

Significance:

• Provided critical insights into starvation, refeeding, and mental health
• Influential in humanitarian aid and later studies on eating disorders

Let me know if you’d like more detail on the psychological impact or implications for modern dieting.

Sorry to ask a thick question - but what does the jab do? Does it suppress appetite or does it launch additional processes in the body?

It really doesn't. It encourages disordered eating and should be banned.

In my understanding, just the former. It makes it easier to eat less for the period you are having it.

Just to say this is exactly the issue with weight loss - it is incredibly difficult to maintain for a lot of people.
But for those advocating just keep taking monjaro forever I can only assume they have some sort of vested interest or are very misinformed.
No-one yet knows the long term safety profile of this drug - it’s new. But as a medical professional I can definitely say people in the US and other countries who take these long term have regular bloods for things like kidney function etc. We have an unregulated pharmacy market place at moment with no real medical follow up beyond advice. These online services are motivated by money not some humanitarian effort to help us all lose weight and maintain it in a healthy way.

Op even if you could afford it I personally would not advocate long term monjaro. I don’t know anyone having long term success with monjaro without side effects - myself included.

When are you most at risk of snacking? Can you sleep hungry? If it’s mostly evening try fasting for breakfast. And as others said try more protein and veg to fill you up. Cut out white bread and stuff liable to make you crave more carb. Try walking more and up step count to double current daily one.

I also think a lot of people, myself included, need to accept we won’t be the perfect 8/10/12 of our youth. But being physically active, healthy diet and going to docs to check key things like blood sugar, lipids and bp are under control are vastly beneficial even if bmi is in overweight category. For people who are morbidly obese or close to that evidence still shows that bariatric surgery is incredibly effective and safe if done well - ie not botch job abroad!

Sometimes, when I read things like this and the Guardian article yesterday, I almost wish I'd not started taking it. I've lost nearly five stone in a year from a BMI of 40, and I have genuinely never lost anything like this amount before. It's made such a massive difference to my life, but I feel sort of foolish when I think of how short term it might be.

Technically, I could afford to keep taking it, but I feel guilty about the money which could be spent on other things for the benefit of the whole family, and sometimes I worry about the long term effects.

I suppose I just wish I could have lost it without the drugs, but I couldn't 🤷🏻‍♀️. I'd lose a bit and then regain it straight away. So the OP is definitely not alone in feeling like this.

Have a look at Slimpod. It’s really focused on the mind and how it drives us to eat too much. It’s the psychological aspects of overeating that could make a difference.

My brother has been to medical lectures on weight loss drugs. Research shows that when you stop them, appetite returns and can be an enormous appetite. You need to stay on the medication to keep the weight off. Not necessarily a bad thing: research also suggests very positive impact on heart and kidney health.