Is microdosing worthwhile?

[CVVFan]

I’m in a fairly decent shape, and have actually increased my fitness. However as much as I look better than before (as in shape) my weight just seems way too high (at least in my head).

Yes, I do exercise, yes I do look semi muscular, but looking at my mom (who’s visiting) and looking at myself I can’t believe there’s 20kg between us (she’s thinner). My grandma died because of being overweight. My mom has diabetes but she doesn’t look after her diet…

Also according to the NHS I’m now officially obese.

but I don’t know if I’m just being uber paranoid.

Microdosing does nothing for weight loss, right? It's more that it may have other health benefits.

I’ve heard it’s better for maintaining muscle mass, and given I’m a competitive hybrid athlete that would be my #1 priority

Depends what you mean by the oft misused or confusing term "microdosing"

To me it means tiny doses such at 1/10 of 2.5mg for benefit such as anti inflammatory or other conditions, not for weight loss or maintenance. To others they consider 2.5mg microdosing as it is allegedly sub therapeutic (was defined as that in trials but not in real life).

If I, for example, decide at the end of my journey to try to maintain on a partial dose of 1.25mg I won't call it microdosing.

What do you mean?

How would someone who is not significantly overweight get hold of it for the purposes of microdosing? Just curious

Even though your BMI is in the obese range, presumably because of your ethnicity, if you are a competitive athlete and looking at your figure that would presumably be down to body composition.

Have you had any body composition scans or tests done to see if you are actually obese? Surely that would be a more sensible first step than deciding you need to microdose an injectable obesity medication?

OP is in obese range so the numbers say she is eligible. If she has been prescribed before she can continue to be prescribed to maintain even when she reaches the healthy range. If she hasn't been prescribed before she will need to submit photos/perhaps have a video call/other evidence and the prescriber will decide if with her height, weight, physique she is eligible.

Nowhere online will prescribe off license "microdosing".

I’m not sure it would be the right fit for you.

If you th8nk about the mechnisms of Mounjaro, it has a couple of functions:

1 - it enables you to create more insulin in response to excess blood sugar and makes you more sensitive to the insulin produced so that it’s more effective
2 - It slows down digestion so you feel fuller for longer and supports the goal of eating less so that you can stick to a calorie deficit.

As far as you’ve said, there are no indicators that you have any kind of hormonal/metabolic need or that you have high blood sugar, as it works in the presence of high blood sugar this would be unlikely to offer you any benefit.

You've also said that you are an athlete so you need calories in order to ma8ntain muscle mass and performance. Taking something that prohibits your ability to eat those calories seems counter productive.

Mounjaro does not speed up fat breakdown, it reduces the conversion of excess sugar to fat by reducing high blood sugar, and it increases your ability to eat less calories than you use so that you can then break down the fat for energy.

I’ve always wanted a dexa but there’s nothing local and I don’t trust the ones in gyms.

That’s my upper body so I DO know part of my weight is muscle but I still think I’m too heavy for my height

OP is a competitive athlete.

Thank you that explains it really well!

I guess I could potentially eat less, but obviously I tend to eat protein heavy foods which aren’t that low in calories.

I have no real cravings beyond alcohol, but I tend to be “save it” for the weekend.

You have to send photos along with bmi requirements. There is no way you look anything other than athletic and plenty of athletes come under the category of obese inappropriately.

I think you need to get more person focussed information about your situation. I agree on the Dexa just travel for it. Mounjaro is incredibly expensive a deca will save you a fortune once you can see that your body composition is excellent.

yes, which is why I said going by the numbers she is in obese range and eligible, but the provider should/will check her physique with photo/video evidence to further confirm eligibility.

so you’re saying there’s no chance they’ll prescribe it based on how I look?

Providers must be able to justify to the GPhC with documented commentary on their decision and evidence (photos, verified weights/heights etc) they are prescribing safely to patients. They should/will take into account both your BMI and physique when deciding if you are genuinely obese and eligible. At least that is the way it should work!

If they believe your BMI is due to muscle rather than fat, they shouldn't prescribe. Whether they would prescribe to you personally would be the prescribers clinical judgement - though I would expect that will be hard to judge remotely for some people, they might err on the side of caution, or they might put more weight (excuse the pun) on the BMI number.

It does for some people. I had to microdose because mounjaro effected me so strongly. I couldn't eat at all on 2.5. I had to halve the dose. I still lost weight rapidly on what was supposedly a microdose
And I'm far from alone in that being the way it effected me

I really don't think you'll get prescribed it based on your photos.
I was nearly morbidly obese and I got rejected based on my first photos I sent because I didn't look big enough.
I had to retake photos and try again. They don't just do it on BMI because as some people have already pointed out, atheletes or people who are particularly muscular can often fall into the obese category erroneously

Interesting! On Reddit they said probably someone like Asda would prescribe them as long as made myself look overweight

@CVVFan try enough places and you’ll find somewhere who will prescribe them. Will it be worth spending £100+ a month on and risking the side effects and probably negatively impacting your athletic performance.

You’re an adult, only you can make that call.

@CVVFan why would getting this medication be a priority rather than getting a DEXA scan or finding some other accurate way of measuring your actual body composition and finding out what your body fat percentage actually is?

I’m not saying it’s a priority, but do consider given my family history and my weight.

the DEXA scan is something I’ve always considered but the closest one is 3 hours away (each way!) so it does come with a lot of planning ahead (plus the costs of travelling)

theres a London clinic that also calculates metabolic rate, etc but again, it would have to be part of a bigger London break or something as its a whole day + £500 for the tests