Getting back control after MJ

[WLINewbie]

First up before anyone points it out, I know there's threads for coming off mj but my posts just get lost in them and I wanted to keep a diary of sorts for myself.

So I was on mounjaro from February and got through 3 pens, the third being used to wean down (might have gone over the 30 days...).

At the start I was a BMI of 30, I have ALWAYS struggled with what's not called 'food noise'. I have insane sugar cravings and am never full despite how much I eat. I can eat massive meals, thousands of calories a day and still want a chocolate bar. I pre eat when I go for meals with friends and I can out eat everyone easily.

I also keep myself very active but being only just over 5 foot, a BMI of 30 looked horrendous on me. Ive lost weight through extreme diets, but always struggling with maintenance.

Mj was life changing, I still ate the same things but I felt satieted, could leave the biscuits, looked forward to meals but not obsessively, enjoyed food and actually made progress in the gym.

I also felt quite bad anxiety and knew I didn't want to be on the medication forever. I didn't chase full suppression, for me not waking up at 2am with a rumbling tummy was good enough.

The weight came off pretty quickly and I started to wean off the injection. I got to 9stone which I felt good at.

It's now 2 months since my last jag, im still 9 stone but definitely feel overall more bloated, the food noise is as loud as it was and im starving all the time. Trying to stick to 1600 cals but go over often and there have been some epic binges.

Ive upped the exercise, I just wish food, especially the bad stuff didn't control me so much. As I write this im justifying in my head how its OK to go buy and eat 4 cookie bars as there's a 4 for £10 deal on...

So with the recent news of the price increase i found myself at the order now button on medexpress. I can still order despite my normal BMI. I decided against it in the end as I really want to do this for myself. So here we are, a diary for me to try gain control back. Ive in no way ruled out going back on mj, I loved being on it despite the anxiety.

Today's plan is to start this and look up anti inflammatory diets, the jab obviously helped with that too.

Increase protein to stay fuller for longer and drink plenty of water inbetween. I've ordered berberine as I'm tapering off mounjaro and hoping it works as an appetite suppressant especially as I was prediabetic when I started and craved carbs.

I tried slimpod and it worked for about a stone but my friend totally 'got it' and lost almost 4 stone and has kept it off for 2 years so far.... It retrains your brain so might be helpful?

Do weight training if you don’t already- building muscle increases your metabolism.

Thank you,yes I eat a LOT of protein everyday, sadly doesn't effect my hunger levels. Do need to work on the water intake admittedly. I'll need to look up that appetite suppressant, I've tried a few but not that one, thank you :)

I'll check it out, thank you 😊

Thanks yeah I've been weight/strength training for a few years now. Made some excellent progress whilst on mj. Weight training is addictive:)

Still struggling, maybe MJ was genuinely the answer to all my weight related problems. I feel disgusting, I've only put 2lb on but am so bloated and jiggly like I was before. Plus starving. Ive eaten around 3-4000 cals a day as I'm so hungry.

Years ago I discussed this issue with the GP, they checked routine bloods but didn't really take it seriously. I'm wondering if I should go back, hate wasting appointments but I know it can't be normal to be constantly hungry and to wake up at 2am due to tummy rumbling. MJ stopped all that.

I think it will be normal for a while. I think of it like the fat cells you have depleted sending extra strong hunger signals because they want to be filled again. I would think it does calm down eventually. I read about volume eating, not sure if thats would help.
Would you consider MJ for maintenance?

It might be that you just need to stay on it on a low dose? There’s nothing wrong with that either. It must be better than spending all this mental energy fighting yourself?

When I run out of mj I’m going to try fasting once a week. I absolutely hate doing it but I do find it helps me realise that sometimes what I interpret as hunger is something that can pass or is mental hunger.

i think it’s the only option I can find.

Thanks for the replies @MrsMiagi @SquishyGloopyBum @LittleNoosh

I definitely would consider maintenance dose of MJ. At the time when I had weaned down to 1.25mg I didn't think it was doing much but now realise it was still controlling hunger a bit and giving the anti inflammatory benefits.

I don't want to scare anyone, my hunger levels aren't worse than before, this has always been a constant mental battle but never really taken seriously as id 'only' ever be 2 -3 stone overweight (which takes me to obese) as id end up starving myself to lose.

I tried reordering but wasn't allowed as BMI 22, then tried again but with the messages of it possibly taking weeks to arrive I decided to just keep trying solo. At the end of the day I don't want to be on meds for life but think I was expecting new variations of MJ etc to start being developed.

If we go by the set point theory, then as mentioned your body is desperately trying to get you back to whatever set point it deems you should be. I believe from my limited reading, there will come a time where your weight now becomes your new set point. It's just a case of digging your heels in and standing firm until you get to that point.

This is only a theory, but it rings true in many of my previous weightloss attempts. I'd lose & gain in cycles, but I would never go over 83kg. Which I concluded was exactly where my body wanted me to be (about 20kg overweight unfortunately).

I've heard of this and need to do some research but thanks for pointing this out, its given me a bit of motivation to dig my heels in :)

There are providers that do maintenance, but you have got caught in all the price hike/stock issues which doesn’t help.

im going to stay on a low dose for a good few months so my body sticks to it. The set point stuff is really interesting.

im hoping for the tablet to be released soon - id probably stay on that forever if i could.

Maybe address your gut health op? You could try sodium butyrate after eating.

It helps tackle inflammation and Metabolic syndrome and obesity (by modulating gut flora and inflammation)

Hi

Must admit I'm doing a bit better, kinda found a flow. I decided to stop my calorie and protein obsession and instead focus on just nourishing myself properly, seems to be working and I'm feeling good.

Obviously miss the mj effects still, it just made all this so easy !

I am maintaining post MJ by following the glucose goddess and taking psyllium husk, I think they both help, a bit

@WLINewbieits good to hear things are calming down OP. Lots of the things you said resonated with me. I've come off MJ after loosing 5st starting last September. I always said I would be open to staying on it forever but with the price hikes I don't think I can. I really miss the feeling of no food noise, it was amazing and made me think this is how normal people eat! I'm also perimenapause and recently had a month long heavy period so I just felt ravenous! I didn't feel like this on MJ so the pull back is strong!

I’m just tapering off currently but am dreading coming off completely as I had a huge appetite pre mounjaro.

I eat high protein and low carb currently which I’m planning to stick to long term if I can. I used to be such a carb junkie but can now take or leave bread. I know that’s the mounjaro doing that so will have to be so disciplined when I stop.

At the moment I’m a bit obsessed with the aldi protein yogurts. I genuinely struggle to finish one while on MJ as they are so filling so hoping one I’m off it they will set me up for the day. I am also going to try Berberine. I hadn’t heard of it until a PP mentioned it up thread, but have had a google and it has positive reviews.

Good luck OP, glad things are going well and you’ve found your flow.