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.

This is so interesting, I also developed kidney stones after a couple of months on it. They’re gone now so I’ve gone back on it.

Can I ask about loose skin? It's a prospect that terrifies me and is putting me off trying MJ. Is it bad? Did you do strength work the whole time? Do you think you'll need surgery?

My endocrinologist has recommended I take it long term at a maintenance dose. I don’t know when I will stop, if ever.

I am guided by HCP and I know there are new drugs in the pipeline so…

I go in the mornings before work. Thankfully all my kids are now 17+ and i have a new wfh job which is started 2 months ago. I go to the gym 6 or 7 till 8am then work 9-5 and have my eves free. Works perfectly. I hated going after work, mornings is definitely better for me!

@Robin67

i have a fair amount of loose skin on my stomach and upper thighs. But, it has reduced more over time and with the gym. It will never go fully without surgery though. But, i have bodysuits for under clothes and its barely noticeable. I have the tummy flap from 3 pregnancies so i learned to live with that a long time ago lol

Well done

i lost 9.5 stone ‘naturally’ - ha bloody ha! On 800 calories a day

came off and went straight back to my old eating habits as I’d learnt nothing and hadn’t developed a healthy relationship with food

within 6 months, I’d gained over 5.5 stone

10/11 weeks on mounjaro, I’m 1.5 stone down but eating WAY healthier

I had dinner out last night and had grilled fish, two baby potatoes, veg then strawberries without cream for pudding. I drank water as I chose to drive so no temptation to drink. It’s allowing me to chose wisely.

im finally learning about smart food choices, huge salad with grilled fish over tiny portion of chips & battered fish and still got calories to spare

ive found mj is allowing me to learn about foods that fill and keep you full rather than a massive portion that’s massive in calories.

you should be so proud OP, thank you for sharing your journey, it spurs me on to keep going (may have to switch to wegovy due to cost but while I can stick to 5mg we can manage financially)

Sorry i meant to tag you in the above post too.

Congratulations on enduring all you have.
The side effects you mention are terrifying. I wouldn’t have thought of any of these in relation to WLJ before I’d read your post!

@LolaLouise Jolly well done. That ain’t easy at all, but how inspiring.

Can you share the trajectory of your loss?
Like how much you lost roughly each month?
I’ve never made it past a four of months because it just does little for me. The ‘food noise’ doesn’t leave me. Im interested to know whether you had better loss at ‘full’ dose?

I think i have been quite unlucky. The “standard” side effects were debilitating at times. The sickness and diarrhoea i experienced was something else. There was days when i couldnt keep anything down for 2 or 3 days at a time. But that was generally the 2 weeks after increasing doses. I also suffered with pots which i hadnt prior, my heart rate would go to 180 just standing, but it appears that was all diet and now my food intake is healthy and appropriate calories the pots symptoms have all but gone. But whilst on the jabs i wasnt even hitting 800 some days.

i was genuinely very very irresponsible with the jabs though. I think looking back, i was sucked into the trap of loosing weight as quickly as possible and being thin was worth the horrendous side effects. Now, in maintaining, i can see beyond that, focus on being healthy and how to achieve that long term. I was very blinkered on the jabs.

My first few weeks were pretty slow, but once it kicked in i averaged 1.5kg a week which is about 3.5lb. Some weeks id loose nothing others id loose 4 or 5. My over all graph is pretty steady though. I definitely had more consistency at 7.5 and beyond but i got to that dose very quickly. This doesnt show my true start weight as i got the scales 6 or 7 weeks after i started. And the maintenance is squished as i was weighing daily on it now i weigh once a week and this is all my measurements not over time if that makes sense.

I’ve also managed to maintain but I need to lose about 1.5st more. Anyone have any tips? I’m happy I’ve maintained I’ve never done that before and so determined to not put the 2st I lost back on but I can’t drop another lb despite signing up to RH and being in a calorie deficit!

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Wow @LolaLouise Bravo to you 👏. That must be so satisfying to see.
That’s ever so kind. Thanks for sharing.

Diet-wise, did you turn onto full protein?
What did a typical day look like?

I need to know where I’m going wrong. I still feel hungry and don’t know why. I’m desperate to lose my excess baggage - many stones.

I’ve noticed I do this now, when I went out for dinner before, I always has the heavy food, now I nearly always go for the grilled fish, on Friday I had garlic king prawns and asked them to serve it with rice, which I barely touched as the veg was so lovely, and I’m in maintenance, I always look at the fish now, and love things like Seabass, king prawns, lemon sole, monkfish etc, I honestly don’t think I ever ordered fish before mounjaro, unless it was battered fish and chips, as I would not have been full up, now it’s just right.

Absolutely fantastic, well done!

Typical day is a protein bar in the morning before the gym.

An iced latte after the gym with no sugar but i do have semi skimmed milk.

lunch is usually 3 scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach with chilli flakes and one slice of toast. Or a wrap with chicken or tuna and salad and a low fat dressing.

dinner is whatever im making, just smaller portions of tha carb. If im doing pasta for the kids ill have a small portion and fill up on salad and the protein. Ill still have the pasta though. Ill still have the potatoes etc too, just less of them. If the kids are having pizza or something my go to is sticky rice with tuna, cucumber salad, spring onions and siracha as i never get bored of it. My gym also sells prepped high protein meals that they make in their cafe fresh so sometimes ill grab one of those and get the kids a take out as they feel like a “treat” meal for me too as they are amazing lol

i also try to have 2l of vitamin packed flavoured water. I think i used to confuse hunger with thirst a lot. If i get hunger pangs mid afternoon ill drink more now

Really well done to you. Such a brilliant achievement. Most people who are slim have this constant battle/ deprivation of “treats” and prioritise health and exercise over lots of sugar. I think it can get a bit easier after a while although there is just so much temptation everywhere. I’m on 68kg and trying to get to 60kg!
Youve done so well xx

Apparently you can. MJ is a GLP2 medication. Ozempic and Wegovy are GLP1, the same medication but licensed for different reasons. Ozempic for diabetics and wegovy for weight loss. It is only recommended for 2 years. MJ on the other hand does not. You can stay on it long term.

Sorry but I find this thread so depressing. I’m really pleased for you OP that you lost weight but it sounds like you have lost your health along the way. But all I’m seeing is congratulations… oh don’t worry about the fact you have pots symptoms and nerve damage you’re skinny! This is not an attack on you op but I don’t think you being slim and ill is something to be aspired.

Well done op

though I'm sorry you suffered

I had a hideous time for the very short time I was on MJ and wegovy. Had to stop. I ended up having a gastric sleeve and have lost 54lbs in 9 weeks. Im happy this is a permanent solution and I don't need to worry about long term drug use that didn't suit me

really wish I'd been one of the ones that didn't suffer. I'm so impressed you've gone it alone now, well done x

I think is part if the reason i posted. Because i was so focussed on being thin - but it came with more than just monetary costs for me. Now ive had to shift the focus from how i look to health - because my health on the jabs was so affected too and i was so blind to it the entire time. The nerve damage is something that i have accepted now, i was so angry initially, at myself mostly, but its been coming up to 5 months since it happened and whilst i regret that i pushed the loss so far so quickly, i cant go back and change it. But, maybe warn others it is something that can happen

Now i have lost and im in the maintenance phase, its bow easy at all. But its doable. I was overweight from childhood. Obese at 6 years old. Its a life long battle. But now i feel i have the chance to be successful.

The jabs got me there as a stepping stone, but with a huge price. I wanted to share that it isnt all sunshine and rainbows easy weightloss for everyone, but, also, as hard as it is, maintenance off them is possible but it takes a lot of effort too

Would you do it again? Knowing how your health has been impacted now… genuine question no right or wrong answer for you personally.

Well done!
I've got to say though, the bit about actively resisting all the time/depriving yourself of food you want/making yourself go to the gym when you don't want to does sound a bit miserable?

Aren't there any ways you can make it a bit easier for yourself? E.g. I'm not sure why an iced coffee would have to be more calorific than a hot one. Can't you just make the coffee cold rather than doing it with an espresso and lots of milk? You can buy Flavoured sugar free syrups etc.

Same with the gym - isn't there any form of exercise you actually like doing? Rather than forcing yourself to go 5 mornings a week couldn't you go twice and then do a dance class/paddleboard/long walk somewhere nice with friends or something.

Would it be so bad if you treated yourself occasionally and maintained a BMI of 23 or 24 rather than 21?

If you're expending this much time and energy constantly thinking about your weight it's just changed from being a physical unhealthiness to a mental one.

Sorry it posted twice for some reason so edited the second one