Cab you use jabs to lose a little bit of weight?

[ForLoyalCat]

Hi, I'm 37F, mum to a beautiful 15 month old boy. My weight has yo-yo-d through my 20s and 30s, but with good diet and exercise, I got it down to 69kg / 11st for my wedding and have at points been around 10.5st. I'm 5ft 6in and carried it fairly well.

From wedding to giving birth, I put on 3st. I didn't do much differently - my body just hoarded the weight and pregnancy made me hungry. I breastfed for 8 months and lost most of it.

Now I'm 74.5kg (11st 10Ibs) and stuck. I'm exercising to the extent possible with a job and baby, and watching what I eat, but I cannot seem to shift the weight. It's like my body has decided this as the new normal. I'm not obese but I just wish I could be a stone lighter to fit into old clothes, not have chin fat, swimwear stress, not worry about jeans digging in etc.

I was wondering whether jabs are made for people like me? One concern is that I may lose too much, too quickly as I don't want to be a radically different shape - to what extent is it possible to control the weight loss?

What is your BMI? My understanding is you have to have a BMI of at least 27, but I’m no expert.

For people who are not morbidly obese, weightloss jabs don't make you lose weight quickly. They make you lose weight consistently. About 2lbs a week.

But unless you lie, you won't get one prescribed for you.

Good question - yes, I'm 27.4, so just qualify

Only if you have a qualifying condition, otherwise it's 30. Do you have anything?

They re prescription only, NHs if you have a BMI of 40 and 4 obesity related conditions, BMi of 30 if you go private or 27 if you have a weight linked condition like high cholesterol or blood pressure.

to get it on a lower BMI you would either need to falsify your weight or buy it black market which is dangerously as some places sell insulin and other medicines and relabel it as Mounjaro.

i used MJ for 3 months this year and lost a stone micro dosing. I never went higher than 1mg a week and found it very effective. I’ve been off it a month and have maintained so far

I think the 27 bmi applies to some ethnic groups and there also needs to be another consideration like PCOS?

Sorry, I meant condition not consideration.

No.... no underlying conditions. OK, I didn't realise there were this many stipulations around prescribing them. I thought everyone was getting them easily! But I guess they must have had a higher BMI. Thanks for the help.

Yes I don't see why not.
I was 78kg when I started in may and am now 67kg, and will likely try and reduce dose to maintain when I get to 65. I couldn't seem to shift any weight for years before this and it kept going up.

You might be able to get away with staying on a low dose too which helps with costs

There are clinics which legally do microdose prescribing eg Healand in the midlands and Harper I think in London

I’m the same height as you @ForLoyalCat and didn’t qualify for the jabs at 13 stone!

My BMI when I decided to give a diet one last shot was 29.9. I probably could have got the jabs by lying about my height but I started intermittent fasting and the weight started to come off. I then joined a gym and now 11 months later I’m 8 stone 8 and doing my best not to lose anymore! My diet has been overhauled, I gave up sugar and aim for as few upf’s as possible. I feel great and genuinely can’t believe the difference a year has made.

The real bonus is my expensive gym is still a lot cheaper than the jabs and I know I can manage my appetite.

I’d definitely recommend giving intermittent fasting a go, I did 16:8 or 18:6 depending on how I felt. Still fast a couple if times a week.

Depends on the pharmacy. Mine does live video calls of weight and height verifications and sends a letter to GP so you can't just lie. I had to send a screenshot of my height on NHS app and stand on scales via a video call.

It all gets reported back to your GP so you can’t lie.

also, there are risks. Those risks are less than the health risks of being obese, but more than the health risks of being slightly overweight.

I used Healand - found them very good and responsive, and helpful with questions

My BMI was under 27 but I got it through Voy who just require a photo and don’t inform your GP.

I lost 13lb in month one of 2.5 mounjaro. After that it settled into about 2lb per week. My starting weight was 14st 13lb.

Now I'm 74.5kg (11st 10Ibs) and stuck.

The set point theory posits that this might be your body settling to a new set weight. This can last some weeks or months. Coach Viva on YouTube talks about it a lot as a normal and healthy part of the weight loss journey. In short, her advice would be to stick with the programme unless you start gaining.

Not all pharmacists report to GPs fyi

YOu'll only get them if you go privately. I managed to get a microdose prescribed and has worked for me to lose from 70kg to 65 so yes you can but you'll need to pay for it.