I've lost 8 stone...ask me anything

[Anonymouskitty]

Hi guys

I've lost 8 stone currently on wegovy. Got another 2.5 stone to hit my goal weight.

If anyone has any questions on it please let me know :) xx

I don't think it was a judgement really. I think health and weight loss is very complex and worth discussing. We all know that obesity does pose significant health implications but so does weight loss. What if I put it all back on again? Will I look flabby and out of shape? How will I cope with cravings? What is a safe rate to lose weight? Should I seek psychological support to bolster my habits and change my habits, get to the root of my eating habits etc, are there side effects both long and short term to taking jabs? What can I use to substitute dopamine hits? Am I doing enough exercise/the right sort etc. or really is a complex interaction of factors.

It is definitely complex and I'm not going to lie, it's definitely a worry to me about coming off the jabs but i don't want to stay on them forever. I have developed my own set of tips/ help which keep me on track and I'm sure everyone's are different.

Luckily my doctor has been supportive and I have a great support system at home which helps me. I would hope everyone else has the same but I'm aware everyone's situation is different.

Hopefully the injections will help more people overall but I suppose only time will tell as the years go by.

Obesity is a disease. Do you no longer have the disease or will you have to take the injections for life?

I’m not sure it was judgemental either, and I’ve lost 6 and a half stone on the drugs, been at maintence for several months and staying on a maintenance dose, so I’m the last person to judge using them

I do feel 8 stone in 8 months is a bit concerning, as is the lack of exercise and on 1000 cals a day , which would indicate potentially not enough protein so a lot of that loss will be muscle. I’d be concerned you were actually below that, as it’s an average of 3.5 pounds a week, which is a deficit of 1750 cals a day.

i understand the urge to drop the weight, i also get the sheer joy when you suddenly can, but id just urge you to focus on body recomp, eat your protein, doing strength training, build your muscle up, a multi vitamin doesn’t make up for lack of nutrients.

if you have lost a lot of muscle you need to be careful when you come off, muscle is active and burns cals, fat is inactive and does not. So our bmr drops if we lose muscle.

we need muscle for all key movements, try to do a squat, drop to your knees on the floor, tuck your feet behind you and do a sitting kneel, and then stand up, without using your arms for any of it. just keep your arms clasped in front of you. This will tell you your range of movement.

good luck.x

I won't be on them for life, I don't want to be. But I can't answer what my weight will be in 5, 10, 20 years.

Thank you this is very helpful. It's on my goal to increase my kcal and exercise. I can't afford it right now but I'm hoping in the near future I can join the gym close to me and incorporate that a lot more. At the moment I just do a lot of walking which I know isn't quite enough.

Congratulations on your own weight loss, you sound a lot more knowledgeable in the fitness side of things than I am!!

Oh, bore off. Op has lost the weight, safeguarding her future health. That’s the important thing.

I’d worry about your reading comprehension rather than about anyone else’s lifestyle choices…

Well done, op!

You can do strength and flexibility exercises at home now - don’t wait for the gym. It’s important.

I have already said in the thread stop quoting me and I wouldn't have to come back to check in.

That's true - it's still too soon to know the long term impact. I wish you all the best.

Just wanted to say a huge well done!
I’ve lost 4st on Mj but I’m microdosing it now as prices as so high. I might switch to wegovy when my pens run out.
I feel amazing and I’m sure you do as well. Any off comments or opinions can bugger off, I haven’t felt this good in 20 years and I run my first 5k on Sunday.
Totally understand what you mean about being there for your kids!
Well done again. 8st is MEGA xx

Do you know why you binge eat? Looking at your calorie intake and rapid weight loss on the jabs do you think you have swapped one eating disorder for another? 1000 calories a day is very low for someone who is 6ft tall and not something that should be sustained long term due to lack of nutrition, muscle loss etc.

Well done on making such a positive step towards your future health OP! That is an a amazing achievement and also thank you for answering all these questions so honestly and with such dignity.
I’m interested in the ‘food noise’ that I hear a lot of people talking about - do you think you used to experience this and has it gone with the Wegovy? If you did experience food noise how would you describe it? And how are things different now?

That is fantastic well done!!! Good luck for your 5k! Xx

My kcal are quite low and im aware of that but my appetite suppression on the jabs has always been high. What i do eat is bran, chicken and lots of vegetables/ fruit.

I'd like to think its not swapping an eating disorder for another one as im conscious its not quite enough but once I get to my goal i will increase intake once the jab stops. That's the plan anyway and im sure I will gain but then plateau into a healthy range, if that makes sense.

I most definitely did have a lot of food noise. If I had a chocolate bar one day, I'd think well I've just ruined it i might as well eat what I want and then proceed to eat everything I could find.

However with the jab it went away almost immediately. I eat my breakfast, lunch, tea but don't snack and don't even think to. Food doesn't rule my life anymore and for that, he jabs have been wonderful. I can still eat the odd thing if I want like a biscuit or two, but I can stop at one and not feel like im missing out.

And thank you, your very kind xx

op, don’t wait for the gym as a pp said, and no walking won’t come close.

the issue is if you’ve lost a lot of muscle, and I’m afraid I think it impossible that’s not the case, then your bmr will have dropped significantly. Which means you effectively can eat much less to avoid regain, than had you maintained or limited muscle loss. This in turn means when you come off the jabs, and hunger fully returns, your daily cal intake will be low to maintain your new weight. Does that make sense? The more muscle you have the more cals you burn, as muscle is active, and thus the more you can eat. So you maybe storing up a very difficult situation for yourself in terms of maintenance.

jt is nearly impossible to build muscle in a deficit. Utterly impossible if you’re eating a few hundred calories a day and in a deficit of 1750. The muscle will continue deteriorate.

honestly you need to take action now. This journey is about way way more than a number on the scale or a dress size. And it will take you a long time to build it when you hit goal. And without the help of the medication you’re setting yourself up for an impossible task.

lastly your appearance, as you get closer to goal the muscle loss will become very visible on your body, loose saggy skin with pockets of fat, bingo wings, wrinkled skin, flat bottom, you won’t like it, right now you’ve still got fat padding it out.

so I’d build strength training in at home, you can use your body weight, even doing 15 mins a day will help, follow some video tutorials on line.

Okay im going to look at some work out tutorials online. Luckily my children are in bed by 630pm so I have time in the evenings now to get this sorted.

Thank you for the information that's very helpful. Looks like it was a good thing starting this thread as its helped me a lot as well. I suppose it also shows a downside to the jabs where regular people like me don't know all this important information about the importance of keeping muscle etc.

Are there any youtube creators or videos you would recommend for a beginner for the right sort of exercises?

TIA x

Try Caroline girvan, her epic series on you tube for beginners, good luck.

i was thinking about you this morning op , did you try a work out? I think it is very common to not understand the importance of muscle

i see it on here, people coming off mounjaro and thinking weight gain is water or inflammation returning, which in part will be true, but I seldom see anyone recognising that losing muscle means our bmr reduces, meaning we don’t get to eat much before we gain weight.

dieting without eating enough protein, and doing strenght work can have signifant muscle loss, as high as 50 percent, meaning of the 8 stone loss, it could be up to four stone of that is muscle. Which significantly reduces your bmr and how much you can eat. Making regain more likely.

muscle as said is active, it burns cals even at rest, fat isn’t, so we want to ensure we lose as much fat as possible and retain as much muscle as possible, it is a protect it at all costs. We will always lose muscle, but minimising it is key.

muscle has many many functions. From core stability, movement, to processing sugar , but in terms of maintaining a weight we wish, it is key, otherwise our food intake would be much much lower to maintain.