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.

She has given her BMI and it is in range.

What are you on about?

This would still be within healthy weight range for a white woman who is 5 foot six!!! Did you get confused and think it was pounds?

Ridiculous. I am a 5ft5 white woman and my healthy weight range is 50-68kg according to the NHS. So it is an absolutely average weight for a healthy woman of average height.

@LolaLouise

Have you ever thought about having therapy to tackle the root cause that made you overate?

I'm a MJ user and I know in my heart of hearts I'm only treating the symptom and not the cause.

I'm still a few stone from goal weight but was wondering whether to shift my MJ funds from medication to therapy when I get to GW. I'm a classic comfort eater. Food has always been a reward / crutch / bargaining tool to myself (you do X you can eat Y) and that hasn't changed.

I am losing weight as I'm suppressing my appetite (not to crazy levels, I'm on 10mg and have had only the odd period of not feeling hunger at all. I swear I'm quite unaffected by MJ comparatively speaking. I eat 3 meals a day but I eat smaller portions and make better choices) but I haven't changed my mindset? I haven't put the psychological work in and I fear that will be my undoing. I don't want to spend the rest of my life feeling deprived and miserable - which is my usual non MJ "dieting" m.o.

No. As there is enough medical evidence that shows that obesity is often biological, and you van be genetically predisposed to being overweight. Therapy doesnt change biology. Having been overweight my entire life, battling the food noise, and feeling hungry despite knowing i had eaten enough, i dont think therapy will have any impact. Its about learning to react to those feelings differently, actively listening to my body closer to stop when im just full not stuffed full, making better food choices, and exercising routinely instead of sporadically.

I’m 5ft1 and could be a whole stone and a half heavier than 52kg and be classed as a healthy weight. I would be a size 6-8 at 52kg.

Im in a size 8-10, i dont look too small for my frame, i look in proportion. Im also fully expecting that weight to increase by a few kg as i gain back the muscle i lost.

I’m 49 kilos and 4 foot 10. And my bmi is 22!

I absolutely agree with this. We are genetically built to eat eat eat when its available which is why we are still here and other lines have died out. Now we are faced with excess available ALL THE TIME, we are programmed to make the most of it. Hence we are overweight...we don't have lean times to even the balance. It's not our fault....its genetic.

That's very interesting- American doctors are reporting more severe cases of meralgia paraestherica (severe thigh pain linked to DM) due to rapid changes in diabetes from weight loss injections. Can be very disabling.

So you basically didn't follow the instructions and then had side effects. World’s smallest violin for you. You are fear mongering for people who take them appropriately.

What?! No. Maybe officially. I've never technically been overweight by government standards but was definitely fat. Got mounjaro off label and now 5'7 and 50kgs and my arms are still enormous. At least another 2kgs needed down.

Errrr what? I’ve come off anti depressants when my depression got better. I can’t imagine wanting to stay on medication forever when it’s no longer needed.

Amazing stuff @LolaLouise, im a similar starting weight, no plans to use WLI, especially after reading those side effects, however near impossible to move the scales at all

Is there any way to reduce the chances of kidney stones etc? They sound horrific! I had a kidney infection once and went into shock and had to be rushed to A&E, I very much don't fancy anything like that again!

The only thing i didnt follow was i moved up 1 week early on the lower doses that didnt have any affect on me at all really. I got most side effects on 10mg, which was after 10 weeks on 7.5mg.

its not scaremongering. The nerve issue has happened to others too. And thats not the main reason for posting

my main reason is to share about coming off mj, and the battles to maintain. But that maintaining is possible.

Sorry i put that wrong. I got side effects on 12.5 which was after 10 weeks on 10mg.

Are those side effects going to get worse or stabilise. Will there be any others? Missed your age. Obv swapping one set of issues for another set but the weight loss is positive.

Rubbish. It's over 8 stone and a healthy BMI up to 5'6" tall. The blood service won't take blood donations from anyone weighing under 7 and a half stones.

Ive seen some improvement in my nerve function and hopefully with gym it will improve more. The neurophysiologist i saw last appointment said its unlikely i will regain it back fully, but initially i had no feeling and complete foot drop. Now i have enough range of movement to walk properly and use the gym equipment. It does become painful if i use it too much. This is weightloss in general related though, not mj specifically. Like hair loss etc, it was a known risk, albeit small risk before wli.

the kidney stones the dr suspected was weightloss and diet related, however he couldnt say definitively. He just mentioned there was potentially a link and why he wanted to do bloods to check electrolytes and bone profile. They were normal, however i couldnt get an apt for a blood test until a month later.

The gastro side effects have fully resolved now, they did as soon as i started titrating off them. And the pots symptoms are no longer something i experience daily.

I have gout (lucky me) which is caused by high uric acid same as kidney stones. gout can certainly be triggered by rapid weight loss x

Silly question but were you not tempted to stop losing once you got to 65-70kg? Or is it kind of addictive like you just want to keep dropping more?
(I am currently 84kg but feel like I would be absolutely chuffed to get down to 70kg and then would probably call it a day!)

That is such incredible weight loss.
I have a question as I’d love to go on the jabs, but can’t afford it right now….. do they work just by you eating less, or do they do something magical to make you lose weight faster? Everyone’s faces seem to look so much tighter and more attractive on it. Would I get the same effects if I just limited my eating? I am 54 and have 2.5 stone to lose. Many thanks.

Not for my height no, im also quite small framed with small ankles and wrists. My og goal was 60kg but even at that i was in a 12, and i felt i needed to lose more to be happy. At 55kg i was happy but lost the few more coming down the jabs again and stuck at the 52kg. Though it does fluctuate some