How does food suppression work?

[VioletandMauve]

I’ve just taken my first jab this morning.

So I understand the theory behind food suppression but I’m just wondering about the reality and how it works for people.

An example as I understand it - say I have a sandwich and a small packet of crisps for lunch. Does the food suppression stop me wanting (and having) a second packet of crisps? Or does it stop me wanting the first packet of crisps and just eat the sandwich alone?

Or does it stop me wanting lunch altogether (which has never happened to me)! 😂

For me it just makes me fuller. So it's a balancing act of eating enough, but not making too much that you have a lot of food wastage!! I've still not mastered it. It also reduces food noise which you'll hear a lot of. For me, that's thinking oh I'm a bit hungry then forgetting I was hungry 5 mins later and not constantly thinking about what I'm going to eat that day. Basically my life doesn't revolve around food any more

I find I want less food and I can forget to eat a meal.

For me I would only eat half the sandwich and not touch the crisps. It’s like it removes my interest in eating anymore than necessary, and that’s been the key to my weight loss.

For me what's happened is say I had a sandwich and a packet of crisps, I used to be desperately hungry and almost inhale all of it then think to myself 'maybe a biscuit would be a nice sweet treat to make that complete'. Now I'm sort of hungry, I start eating the sandwich slowly, half way through I start losing interest, eat three quarters of the sandwich and decide I'll keep the crisps for later maybe. I'm then not hungry for many hours whereas previously an hour later I'd be thinking about a snack.

Yes. This is it for me too. Im simply no longer interested in food and I don't get hungry very often. I used to wake up and start planning what I'd be cooking, what could I treat myself too. I used to be a chef and I would be constantly looking for new recipes to try out. I've now so little interest its very odd, all my cook books are gathering dust!

Im using the time I'm on this to change my relationship with food and although I hope to regain the joy of cooking when I'm no longer taking it, I hope to do it in a much more sensible way.

Thanks for this thread op. Am about to take first dose on Tuesday .

I wouldn’t be eating crisps on MJ - for lots of people that would cause IBS style symptoms.

You need to change your diet and focus on getting enough protein and veg.

It has stopped me thinking so much about what food I want so it has given me the mental (and plate) space to think about what nutrients my body needs.

It causes satiety that happens faster and lasts longer, especially if you eat protein.

And it changes how you feel about food, so there’s less ‘food noise’ and you’re more attracted to healthy foods.

But for the love of Mike don’t eat crisps.

For me it can be all of the things you describe, depending on at what point it is in relation to doing the injection. And in the early weeks I found the level of suppression to be quite high overall. Now after many months on Mounjaro, it’s not so strong but still has peaks and troughs.

I wouldn’t fancy crisps at all, and I wouldn’t want to eat a lot of bread. It just wouldn’t appeal. I would probably have a salad with the contents of the sandwich instead and have half or less of the bread on the side.

It's allowed me space to make much healthier choices. Before I was so hungry when prepping food so went for a quick sandwich with crisps and something sweet, now a typical day is a small bowl of porridge, salad or soup for lunch then a small protein rich dinner like a homemade curry or duck and veg stir fry with protein noodles. It's been transformational. Dh is benefitting too as his running times have significantly improved even while not losing weight.

I can have a few bites, or almost a full meal and think thanks enough and actually stop and feel full.
Its quite weird and fascinating to feel it in action.

It really helps in relearning portion sizes.

For me I started taking mj along with the same changes to my diet to eat healthy as I’ve done countless times before. So I didn’t have the crisps. However, this time it was different. I didn’t want the crisps, I didn’t even think about the crisps. The crisps stayed in my cupboard so long that I worried they were out of date when I came across them.

However, now that I’ve been on it 6 months I do have the occasional bag of crisps if it’s something I want and it’s absolutely fine. See also small amounts of takeaway, glass of wine, cake. It’s just rare.

that’s the food noise/suppression part. The other, equally powerful thing is the satiety. I can be mid bite and then realise I’m full, and that’s the other reason you need to prioritise eating the healthiest things first as you wont make it to the rest. It’s why you hear so much about prioritising protein and why I no longer order a starter (unless it’s to have as my main).

As others have said it makes you feel fuller especially from days 1-5, though wegovy could be all week as it has a 7 day half life. I will wake up and just have a coffee or protein shake on a work day during my 1.5hr drive. When I'm off work, I have a small lunch around 3pm as I'm not hungry! It's changed my taste buds and cravings, everything tastes sweeter and I don't crave carbs anymore. I try to have higher protein. On a work day this week I've been buying protein wraps and having chicken, avocado and beetroot in it. Sometimes I have chicken skewers with steamed veg, or salad and grilled chicken or an omelette with salad or if end of week and I want carbs, half a baked potato with tuna because I get full quicker.
On an evening it usually air fried food or a high protein ready meal because I've completely lost my interest and enthusiasm in food. In a year on mounjaro I've cooked maybe 3 times from scratch!
I don't snack anymore, not had pasta or cake for a year and maybe a handful of biscuits in that time! Barely touched chocolate and occasionally had crisps. I used to be a cheese addict, would buy it weekly-fortnightly, now maybe bought 5 packs in a year! Started buying multi snack packs so they don't go off.
My food shopping went from £150 a month to £85 because of the reduced volume and less treats being bought.

This is me too.

I will generally eat whatever is put in front of me. But if nothing is put in front of me, I'll eat nothing.

I find fasting for full days really easy (except I do still have milk in my coffee, so not true fasts). It wouldn't cross my mind that I'd not eaten. Even the following day.

I've been learning about the health benefits of fasting. Previous to WLI I wouldn't have considered a 24 hour fast physically possible so wouldn't have considered it. Now I know if I have a "feast", I routinely fast afterwards and don't experience any negative outcomes.

My concept over what a "feast" I'd has also changed, because I eat much less. For example the Sunday Roast we have every week is a feast. It's enough to sustain me throughout Monday too. Previously a feast would have been chocolate, ice cream, biscuits - I've fully weaned myself off sugar so never even fancy these.

Thank you to everyone who has responded - your comments are helping me to understand how it works! I’m so looking forward to my life not revolving around food anymore!

Hearing all your examples has been really helpful - thank you all 😊

@Anditstartedagain and @ShrankLastWinter - the sandwich and crisps thing was just an example, I do know what not to eat and what to eat on a weight loss programme!

Well quite 😂 i still have a treat at the weekend, glass of wine and share a bag of crisps in the pub with my DH. It's about learning balance its not a punishment, which is where I've fallen down so many times in the past by restricting so much. (That said I actually cant eat anything too greasy or fatty as it will make me unwell)

Another example op is last night my husband and I went out for dinner. He is on mounjaro and in active weight loss phase, I’m on it also but through weight loss and now into maintenance.

before we’d have starters, mains, and then want pudding and often deny ourselves rather than not want the pudding.

last night we had starters which we shared two different ones between us, we usually avoid starters now, but this restaurant has some fabulous ones, and we started to feel full, then got about half way through our mains and felt stuffed. So stopped. It doesn’t mean the meal wasn’t fabulous, or worth the money as we didn’t eat it all. We enjoyed what we ate and it was worth every penny. Pudding didn’t even cross our minds.

so the drug helps us ensure we eat a reasonable portion of food. We still enjoy every mouthful still get hungry for it, but we don’t over eat.

amd the same for snacks. It seldom crosses our minds to snack. But if it does, it’s usually fruit. Grapes, mango, melon, strawberries, pineapple, etc. now gives all the sweetness we need and we feel satiated after. My husband however will occasionally have crisps or nuts, but he now portions in a ramikin dish, eats that portion and is done, he doesn’t want more. Before he’d eat a large part of a sharing bag.

we shared a bottle of wine, so half a bottle each, a couple of glasses, and Neither of us continued drinking when we got home. Which before we would normally get back and open a bottle of wine to share. Now that idea doesn’t even enter our minds.

usually after a night of a few drinks we would be even hungrier the next day, today there is no difference in our appetites, so immediately back on track.

I find myself not fancying carbs as much. So I may eat half the sandwich, pick the filling out of the other half (attractive…) and no crisps. Some days I eat the whole sandwich. Some days the idea of the sandwich repulses me. Very very occasionally I would eat the crisps.

quite often I plan very nutritious balanced but low consumption days of food and I eat bugger all of them. Other days I eat 3 square meals and a small pudding but half the portion I used to.

10 months in I still get a lot of suppression but it hasn’t led to massively fast weight loss. About 4 stone since mid Jan so probably just over a lb a week.

Interestingly @VioletandMauve when I first started I ate very clean. The idea of crisps/chocolate/cake repulsed me. Like I wasn’t choosing not to have them, I genuinely couldn’t face the idea of it. Around Easter I deliberately made myself have a little bit of chocolate (half a galaxy egg - the creme egg size ones iirc) because I figured life wasnt going to be clean and I needed to find balance and not be all or nothing about food. I’d trodden that path too many times before.

so now I have a few treats. I had a Chinese last week, I have a pizza in the freezer and a plastic box of mums chocolate. However the mj means the chocolate has been in the box for 2 months because it’s too sweet and dds are going to eat it, the pizza has been cut into quarters and I’d rather have home made soup and the Chinese I had 2 prawn crackers and cooked my own small portion of rice. It’s genuinely a very weird drug

For me, I consciously wanted to eat better and WLI have made that easier. So for example, I would choose a chicken salad for a main meal, and perhaps have a single slice of bread or 2-3 new potatoes. During previous attempts to lose weight, that wouldn’t fill me up and I’d be wanting a lot more carbs or a dessert to avoid being hungry.

What I’ve found great about WLI is that not only am I not constantly hungry, but when I do eat, I’m wanting fruit and vegetables, not fatty, sugary, carby junk.

I have reduced carbs though not eliminated them, and try to choose whole grains where I can.
I have protein at each meal, including beans, pulses and nuts to regulate my blood sugar and give me energy to exercise.
At least half my plate at lunch & dinner is vegetables. Lunch would be a salad or an open sandwich with a single slice of sourdough bread and salad on top, Dinner is a half portion of whatever the family is eating with extra veg.
I don’t snack or eat UPF unless I’m away from home and have no choice.
I have dessert on Sundays and 1-2 glasses of wine most weekends, but am not bothered if I miss it.

Good luck with your progress OP - I hope you are successful.

I'm vegan and I eat pretty clean most of the time. A few treats do not hurt anyone. I just went on holiday for 3 weeks and ate plenty of crisps. The difference is that now I rarely finish a bag in 3 sittings let alone one. I didn't really worry about what I ate too much as long as it was vegan. And I even had a few sweets. I didn't gain an ounce (didn't lose either but I'm happy with that).
I find suppression for me is not being that interested in food. Sometimes I still fancy something so I work it into my calories. The jab allows me that control. I really don't eat anywhere as much as I used to.
I don't even look at dessert menus anymore because I can't finish my main course. I've even taken to ordering sides or starters in restaurants as it's a waste.

I still think about and eat a bit of chocolate every now and then but it’s 1 square and I’m satisfied. I’d have eaten a whole 100g bar easily. I have been concerned that I needed to go up a dose but I think suppression and food noise come and go. This week on 5mg I have felt full quicker and satisfied. I do not want to go up to higher doses and have really strong suppression as I’m training for a half marathon and want to fuel properly. I’m no longer obsessed with thinking about food. The biggest suppression symptom is that I am completely and utterly repulsed by alcohol. I would easily have 3-5 glasses of wine a week but now I could not put any wine in my mouth. I do not want alcohol AT ALL.