we really don't need a lot of food....

[JustPinkFinch]

Are any other females 40+ quite surprised - after taking MJ or similar - at how little they actually need to eat in order to lose weight?

I am eating a healthy lunch, healthy dinner and a snack (either fruit or nuts). On this I am losing 1-2lbs a week.

It feels restrictive vs what I am used to and there is no way I could have done this without MJ.

Once I reach my target, I can increase intake a bit in order to maintain. That I can probably do without MJ, but if not I will stay on the drug long term.

I am very grateful this drug is available, but at the same time a little sad at how little food I actually need.

I am active too. I do not lead a sedentary life.

All my thin friends eat like birds, so I shouldn't be surprised. But I am!

I completely disagree. I’m not on WLI and have been on around 1600 and I’m starving every
fecking day!

@JustPinkFinch , if it makes you feel any better yesterday I consumed about 500 calories. If I had 1600 calories in a day I would gain weight. I’m 62 so post menopause and 5’1” and weigh 138Lbs presently.

I think 1600 feels restrictive. i generally consciously lower my calories during the week so I can relax on the weekend a bit. It’s very easy to go over 1600 calories.

@hippospot - that’s why I mentioned genetic and historical metabolism differences in my posts. As well as being 50+. My aunt was the same as you ( though got bigger in her 60s as sometimes happens .). If you have never had weight issues and never dieted I wonder how you found your way to a weight loss injection forum. It is also probably true that children from homes where food is of excellent quality and very healthy are more likely to be slim and healthy weight most of their lives, obviously, but I think this is the case in a minority of homes (usually affluent, caring, stable homes or traditional, simple societies), and things can still change for above reasons also age, temporary lifestyle changes, health issues; even smoking then giving-up-smoking can do this i believe.

I know it’s not like this for everyone but for me to loose weight I have to eat a lot less and I have to get used to feeling a bit hungry. This is what makes it so hard. People do not want to eat less and people can’t cope with feeling a bit hungry.

I feel really sad when I see very overweight children as it means their parents are letting them vastly overeat and setting them up with terrible habits. There are girls at my daughter’s dance group who despite doing a lot of physical exercise are still really obese. People are not realistic about how much food most people need.

I think we’re so bombarded by advertising of fast food, snacks, videos (TikTok etc) of “taste tests” and people trying various snack foods and calorie laden meals, people having “a sweet treat”, cooking programmes with calorific recipes etc that it’s just so normalised to eat and eat and eat that the actual amount our bodies need seems restrictive in comparison.

Yes eating is the main way to socialise, it’s really hard to restrict it.

@PastyPasty yes I definitely think that’s one of the reasons that as I’ve got older I find it harder to lose - I’m simply not doing the daily formal excercise that some of my younger friends ( 40 somethings) are doing - and to be honest I find it much harder to do as a result of being overweight and more ‘fagged out’ with a few more aches and pains in the mix too . I have added 2 excercise/ dance classes a week in the mix now - about kill me , but force myself as prefer it to gym etc. one thing I am conscious of though is I do see plenty of pretty skinny much older women who really eat like birds ( half a sandwich is plenty kind of thing) and always seem to be quite weak, pale and doubled over etc - that’s why I will be happy once I hit it to stay at 10 stone odd and a size 14 and concentrate on being moderately fit and ‘well presented’ and vitamined up , rather than thin for sake of it.

@Bagokbun I think that’s the other big issue too - it’s become normal socialising to meet for drinks or a meal with friends - and when I think about myself, typical Saturday with H ( no kids at home) - pop out for breakfast , nip to farm shop - will then be a cake and coffee or cheese scone etc, nice healthy homemade dinner of reasonably substantial size, half a bottle of wine .

it’s this kind of lifestyle on which I’ve gained weight - it’s not a constant Maccy D fest plus chocolate and crisps plus pizza etc - I’m sure I’m not the only one either- I think it’s why I decided MJ after a month for me wasn’t really the right call - I don’t get food noise. And I don’t snack - I just needed to eat less good stuff , cut the wine right back etc and be consistent about it for a year or so .

Yes @Crikeyalmighty its how we live our lives, so many trends for young people also centre around food. Everyone is also obsessed with snacks! I have managed to cut out snacks as the reality is i might like them but don’t need them.
The change for me has also been that one of my children has a lot of food intolerances so where we eat is really restricted. This has been hard but also meant that we don’t centre our leisure activities around food as it’s just not possible. Eating out has become a very occasional treat and we can’t indulge in the easy snacks that everyone else does. It’s an eye opener.

Yes it was a bit of a revelation on how little food is actually required to function well. I am maintaining at about 1700 cals a day but that’s with a workout every day on top of 10-15k steps (strength training 4 days plus Pilates, yoga, etc. on non-training days). But my appetite and my diet has changed too, so that 1700 cals is plenty of the sort of stuff I eat now and I do find it hard to go over unless I’m eating something like fast food. It’s been fascinating.

I now generally eat breakfast, I don’t eat lunch unless I’m going out somewhere specifically for lunch or I skipped breakfast, always something for dinner and a couple of small snacks during day. I usually have a sweet thing after dinner too, a couple of chocolates or something. I’m maintaining off medication at 21 BMI.

I’ve got a lot better at adjusting my food intake to cover what I’m doing, so if I know I am having lunch out then I generally won’t have breakfast and will have a light dinner. Or I’ll happily have a scone and hot chocolate at the cafe with a pal but mentally readjust my intake for the rest of the day to accommodate it. Before I would have just carried on as normal so it’s been a mindset shift. Eg this morning I am meeting a friend about 11 for coffee and cake so I won’t have breakfast. I think a lot of people just do that naturally but I never did before, so they were all additional calories, not substitute calories, going in.

I always told myself that I would feel faint etc not eating for periods of time or cutting calories below a certain number but it turns out that was rubbish! I was overfed and undernourished for sure.

@Bagokbun it is - I had to go gluten free a couple of years ago post Covid as I suddenly got loads of neuro issues and doctor told me to go gluten free for a year and see if it helped recovery - it did , so now I am ok with gluten again but need to keep it down or I get pins and needles in feet a lot and sore eyes - it meant that I ended up not automatically grabbing stuff when out , but yes it requires a big change in mentality and habits- I cooked a lot more, way less ready meals , and a coffee out was often just that - no filled croissants or cookies etc

Yes @Crikeyalmighty I am in the habit of drinks only now. I meet a friend for a coffee and literally just have a coffee. So often the cakes and croissants in cafes are not even that nice, I don’t miss them anymore.

Only speaking for myself, I have never been into snacks, very rarely eat out, one small gl red wine a night. I do have a sweet tooth but indulge rarely, etc. But still was 40 lbs overweight. (just 20 lbs overweight with the help of Mounjaro 😄 ). I think there is a view that if you are overweight you must sit at home getting through packets of biscuits or regular pizzas/take aways and other processed food. In my case not true at all. Portion size might a factor on occasion - but I have also cut back significantly there - one egg in toast rather than two. However there is only so low I can go without feeling starved; that’s the issue for me. Hence the need of MJ to help with that.

@PastyPasty not mine- I don’t eat chocolate or fast food and maybe a packet of crisps type thing once a week

I’m surprised by all the snippy comments you’ve had considering the topic we’re on but maybe that’s the hunger talking 🤣

I’m disappointed by how little I can eat to lose weight or even maintain my weight. I’m 5ft2 but my appetite thinks I’m 6ft. Last week I met friends for dinner at a local chain restaurant with calories on the menu. The veggie main meals were 1,000 - 1,500 calories alone. With home cooking, I find it easier to stay on track by skipping breakfast. If I try to spread 1400 calories across 3 meals I never feel full.

Yes I agree. My portion sizes were not massive, massive. No I was not someone that should be featured in Secret Eaters. But to lose weight, I had to get used to comparatively minuscule amounts of food. Like spoonful of this, tiny piece of that. I also use an app for my calorie counting and was clearly underestimating calories in various dishes - most people do, by a significant amount.
So I really don't think that if counted properly, 1200/1400 kcal is a lot and no restrictions needed. We would not be on MJ if that was the case, would we.

I have gotten used to small amounts though - physically cannot finish even tiny gourmet restaurant dishes.

@PastyPasty i confess I do think that, I feel that there is over eating going on somewhere and people are in denial about it. Although I am sure it’s not the case with everyone. I also tend to think people are feeding their children too much when I see very overweight children but they tend to have overweight parents as well.

I'm 5' 2" too. We can eat so little, especially at my age of 60.

My weight had crept up to 11 stone. I was eating a lot of snacks and portion size was too big. I didn't have the 30 BMI to go on WLI so have, in the past two weeks, started to cut down. I was 10 stone 8 lbs this morning.

My new regime is no crisps or chocolate, cakes, biscuits. Limited alcohol, no breakfast, which is fine. This will have to be for life. I'm not hungry but eating so little.

Went out for a meal last week. It was hot so I had a cold Asian bang bang chicken salad. Even that was 751 calories. So little food for the amount of calories but I suppose that is peanut butter for you.

The reason I've cut out breakfast is I love bread so would have toast with marmalade, jam, peanut butter, honey and all with butter as well. I don't miss it.

I don't think I'll eat pasta again once the little I have at home is gone. I'm on brown rice (which I've found I prefer) and about 1/3rd the portion size. A lot of thinking is going into it - I'm learning as I go along - and I have room to make some further tweaks to help the weight loss such as walking a bit more, reducing portion size slightly, checking calories a bit more. The food noise has been bad but when I get it and look in the fridge for something to snack on I say out loud "food noise, food noise" and have resisted so far. I hope I keep it up.

I'm going to Home Bargains later or B&M, can't remember the name, and would usually pick up Ruffle Bars but can't now. Also, going into M&S and would usually pick up some dips etc, can't do that now. Phew, it's hard.

God, sorry for the length of my post above.

Depends what you mean by “overeating” @ Bagobun. If I ate salads and soup all the long day I’d probably be thin …. Jackie O allegedly ate v little (she allowed herself cake when she was dying of cancer). Joanna Lumley quips she hasn’t had a proper meal in 30 years 🤷‍♀️

@KarlaKK my H buys Waitrose tomato sala and sticks it on dark rye crisp bread when he gets that snacky feeling -

@GuestSpeakers yes that’s what I mentioned below- it’s way easier to stick to 2 relatively decent 600 cal meals than it is to try and cram in 3 for so few calories.

Agree with the meal skippers, we simply don't need three meals a day, especially over 50. I was a skinny child and up to my 30s,bad life events then got a hold of me and food and alcohol became a crutch. Well I've put the crutches down now thanks to mounjaro. I don't know why I'm surprised that eating so little is the only way to lose weight, it's what I always did when younger, but I agree that food is everywhere, always bombarded with it, a coffee plus cake, etc. We don't need it. I just have the coffee now, no cake, puddings are fruit, and no crisps while mindlessly watching telly, I'm about to get rid of sack fulls of size 16 clothes, so I can't put it back on lol.

I almost never have “coffee and cake”. Once a year if that. But still overweight. Maybe I am the exception that proves the rule 😣!