Lost nearly half my body weight and ive maintained for nearly 6 months

[LolaLouise]

Hi all

I started mounjaro at 99kg and finished at 52kg which puts my BMI at 21. My HBA1C has gone from high 40s to 28.

I was quite unlucky with side effects - they were debilitating at times. I powered through them and became successful. Some however, have left me with permanent issues but on balance its a small price to pay for overall health

Ive changed many things. I was an iced coffee addict, now i limit myself to one a day. I hate drinking water but have found a low calorie flavoured water i can drink. I go to the gym 5 mornings per week. I have to chose to actively engage with every meal. I cant eat infront of the tv mindlessly anymore. I have to pay attention, eat slowly, and the second i start to feel full remove the food.

Its hard going to without MJ, everything is a choice, i have internal battles every day, at every meal, and every drink, every morning in the gym. Its never, ever easy. It goes against what i want and what my brain tells me. Food noise still exists, the hunger still exists. I have to actively decide to ignore it.

i wanted to post purely to share my journey, but also, to offer real honest advice to people. None of my journey was easy, not taking it, not side effects, not the permanent physical problems i have, not maintaining. It’s been hard - but i figured some people may want the open honest answers to their questions.

Congrats on your achievements! It must still feel very new and strange.

Sorry to hear you strugged with side effects. What were the permanent issues of WLI that you noted in your OP?

You sound really determined. Well done on your weight loss and on your maintenance I think the point about not eating mindlessly is interesting and stopping the minute you feel full both excellent tips. Thanks so much for sharing.

I have some nerve damage - i lost the fat pads around the nerve in my leg, then developed foot drop which made walking very hard. Initially the neuro team suspected MS but after alot of investigations, scans, nerve conduction testing they diagnosed fibula nerve palsy as a result of weight loss. The nerve function in my leg is around 25% that of my good leg. The gym is helping me regain muscle in the leg, but with how long its been going on now, the neurophysiologist i saw recently doesnt think ill ever regain full function in my foot again. So not an MJ specific side effect, but one from rapid weight loss.

the other is i developed kidney stones. The dr i saw said he thinks that is also linked to weight loss, however, he couldnt tell me how exactly. I wouldnt be shocked if a link is discovered though as i have never has kidney issues previously. And the risk of having more increases once you have had one. So it’s something i need to pay attention to as passing the stone was horrendous. Again, maybe not MJ specific, though it could be.

Thank you for sharing your experience. What an incredible journey! X

Thank you for this! I am so, so interested. I’ve lost 5 stones with MJ and have kept it off for a year now with some maintenance dosing, but I’ve also had some numbness in my foot. I had various tests and the conclusion for me was potential arthritis in the small bones in my foot causing the issue as there was nothing concerning in my nervous system. But now I’m wondering…

That's awful, OP. I'm so sorry to hear that. Can I ask how old you are? And how quickly did you lose the weight? Were you on the highest dose of MJ? Do you feel that you would have had a different outcome if you'd gone slower?

Sorry to bombard you with questions! I've been on MJ for about 6 months and lost just over three stone (with another 3 to go!) but am now titrating down because of the massive price increase and worries over side effects. I think it's hard to balance the health impacts of MJ and rapid weight loss with the health impacts of being obese and getting older. It's hard to know what is the best course of action.

Im in my early 40s. It took 7.5 months to hit my goal. I went up to the 15mg. I went through the does very quickly though as i didnt stick for more than a month till 10mg, and i rather stupidly only did 2.5mg and 5 mg for 3 weeks each, so week 7 i was on 7.5mg. In hindsight not my best plan!

i then titrated back down using the 15mg pens, down to 5mg every 10-14 days for a month. By which point it wasnt really doing anything so paying to stay on it seemed pointless as i maintained the month with will power

I can understand why you stopped taking it OP, sorry you were so badly affected.

I have no plans to stop. I know that if I did, I’d regain the weight. For me it’s the same as taking anti depressants. You wouldn’t stop taking them because your depression has gone!

I would definitely request a nerve conduction study if you havent had one. It waa a pleasant experience, it was uncomfortable with parts verging on painful. But it gave me that definitive diagnosis

I’ve had one, which was clear, and that generated the arthritis hypothesis, given the location and the fact I already have arthritis in other joints. I don’t think anyone mentioned my weight loss at all at any point though or whether I ever said anything about it other than to say in passing that I now cross my legs a lot more than I used to.

I titrated back down to lower doses, by which point it felt like i was doing it with 95% willpower anyway, so paying to inject something i felt no longer was having an effect on me seemed pointless. Staying on the high dose was never my plan, but i was definitely team im going to be taking this forever for the same reasons you mentioned. However it turned out for me after the year i spent taking it the lower doses just didnt have enough effect to justify the costs

Congratulations on the weight loss and the maintaining. It's good to hear of someone who is maintaining without using mj.

Can I ask how quickly you were losing weight, I understand it was 31 weeks for 47kg, but suspect maybe it slowed as you got to goal. What was your calorie intake like to lose so fast? And what made you do it that way, could you not stomach the drugs, that seems unlikely as you were moving up monthly, or were you deliberately eating very little to do it rapidly, either due to lack of understanding, a previous eating disorder, or cost of the drugs making you wish to get done?

“I have decided to actively ignore it”

I love this. I’ve 15 kgs still to loose before maintenance - this statement is going to be very useful thank you. It’s something simple& actionable my brain can hold onto.

well done op & congratulations on your achievements

Well done op on your honest appraisal, I too will be ditching the mj soon after 4 stones down, I started six months ago and it's been slow mostly, apart from the first couple of weeks, I have never gone above 5, deliberately because I had the effects quite strong g from the start, nausea was a bit of a problem so I didn't want to go higher. I am titrating down now and like you am being mindful of what I'm eating and drinking, no more biscuits wine and sweets / chocolate to get a dopamine hit, it's definitely helped to jettison that habit. The only thing I I have noticed when I have missed a dose is the inflammation and water weight comes back, anyone else have this and how do I combat this when I stop the jabs completely,? I can't afford to carry on with them at the prices they are at, I would have paid 100 for a pen and micro dosed I think just for this benefit.

I guess if you are going to the gym a lot and are maintaining rather than losing weight, you have significantly more calories each day so that will help as well. I'm planning on similar coming off.

My average ended up being around 1.5kg a week, i had weeks of high losses and weeks of no losses all the time though, it didnt slow down really. Now my weight does fluctuate by about 2kg, but my monthly average is sitting at the 52kg

I dont count calories, but im mindful of what i eat and always eat the protein in my meals before carbs etc but the gym is definitely helping with maintaining. Its also helping with the skin, it has gone down but the gym seems like it tightened it more. And changing my shape, as i do mostly strength training, only 1 day a week is a cardio day.

That sounds fantastic @LolaLouise, very well done.

This is brilliant, well done. I lost 30 kilos and have maintained for 9 months. I have another 20 kilos to lose, but my heart isn’t in it (am going through a separation/divorce).
I have started drinking lager again, which I wasn’t interested in and I stopped exercising so much. I know it’s because of stress and my head not being in the game anymore. Let’s see… encouraging stories are great to read

So will you take it forever? Genuinely interested.

Wow congrats! How do you manage to squeeze in 5 gym sessions? By the time I'm in from work & made the kids dinner I'm shattered. I've just started getting up to 3 evenings and even that's a struggle but perseverance is key! Wish I had your will power. Great work!

You must be so proud, that is an incredible achievement.

I have just finished MJ. I am happy with my weight. I have bought some scales, and I am going to weigh myself every day and eat exactly the same amount each day. I have a litre bottle of water with lemon ready for hungry moments and a cast iron determination not to do this again.

Good luck - please keep us updated

You might stop taking anti depressants because you felt like a strange verson of yourself.

Please may I ask about loose skin? I am virtually at your starting weight and I also need to lose a lot. How bad was the loose skin for that much weight and loosing it that rapidly? I am also in my 40s