Food noise- urge to snack/something to do

[BleachedWail]

I understand the jabs make you feel full but I can’t imagine how they can stop the urge to eat when you are not hungry. I constantly eat just out of boredom, almost just to have something to do- I’m not hungry, I just buy and eat things out of habit, for comfort, it’s not related to being hungry at all.

I’ve ordered the medication but I’m really concerned that my brain/habits will tell me to snack and eat regardless of whether or not I feel full, and I might make myself ill as a result.

Can anyone help?

if your eating out of boredom then thats the side the jabs wont help you with, however its good to change up your routine so that you keep busy or find a hobbie that you do with your hands. knitting etc will help you keep your hands from being idle and reaching for snacks

This absolutely wasn't true for me. I did eat out of boredom, and that all stopped immediately.

In my case, WLI helped enormously. I ate for all sorts of reasons, including boredom, none of which had anything to do with actual hunger. MJ completely changed that for me.

The other thing that's great is I can eat only what I need - I've just had a thin slice of bread with soup, and pre WLI I'd have kept going and had more bread, cos it's nice...but I feel fine with just the one slice and actually don't want to eat another one. I know that it would feel too much, and that I wouldn't be pleased with myself for doing it...and that's enough to stop me, whereas previously it wouldn't have been, and I'd have had more without really knowing why.

I was the same, snacking for something to do. Monjaro killed that, now I look at food and wonder what I'm supposed to do with it! I need to remind myself to eat so I don't starve.

It does help me with it massively. It's much easier to say no.

I no longer get those horrible cravings on the higher doses of mounjaro, I start craving something then look at it and then feel disgusted and can't eat it.
If I get a craving now I just eat half a carrot and that does the trick.
I used to stuff bags and bags of sweets and crisps but I can't stand any of those things now.

Right I just need the courage to get going with it now, thanks for the help

I was absolutely amazed that within a couple of weeks, I’d gone from thinking about nothing but food for most of my adult life, to having to try really hard to think about food. The impact on my mental health has been immense - I no longer have the constant nagging background noise of food in my brain.
Over Christmas I did slip up and eat too much crap out of boredom on a couple of days - the after effects were enough to put me off doing it again in a hurry!

I was the same as you before I started but now I’m one of those people who can forget to eat.
I could never understand how people could do that before, but now I just don’t think about food and don’t mindlessly eat. It’s completely broken the habit for me.
Good luck, I hope it works well for you too.

Me too, although it’s not as simple as I forget to eat, more I tend to eat at certain times and if I’m busy with work, then I can keep going and realise I haven’t, but then I do quickly as I do get hungry, but I can easy delay it.

Sums it up perfectly

Ok I need to add a slight counterbalance to all the amazing stories on here (which I’m very jealous of). I’m the weirdo that MJ doesn’t have these amazing effects on. I pressed on but it took until 10mg until I noticed any affect and still wouldn’t be noticeable the week before my period. I’m on 12.5mg now and there is slightly more effect but I can still snack happily if I want to and I have to dig in hugely with willpower. What it has done is to help me feel full earlier and stay full for longer.

Now I’ve still lost weight and I’m still choosing to be on it because it helps, but I’d rather you also hear that sometimes it can take time to make a difference.

I was really discouraged at the start so I think it can be helpful to hear the full range of experiences. I really hope you get a magnificently quick effect though. I just wanted to say don’t give up if it takes a little longer to affect you. Good luck!

There is a percentage for which W or MJ do not work. It's a little higher with W. Like with any drug there are non responders.

Definitely some people need the higher doses to get any effect at all, as already mentioned. There is also a percentage of people that these medications just don't really work for, around 10% who in the trials lost less than 5% of their starting weight by the end of the trial period.

It works on the reward receptors in your brain so if’s great for mindless snacking - you no longer get anything from snacking. It stopped it completely for me but now I’m off it, the snacking and food noise is really bad!

I’ve been on Mounjaro since May 29th 2025. I was 13 stone 12 on that day, today I am 10 stone 4.

Before I started my journey I’d skip breakfast and eat rubbish around 10am - those pain au choc bun things or white toast and butter - all empty calories and I’d be hungry again at 11.30 and have to eat a Twix (or two). Lunch would be white bread, ham and crisps. By 2.30pm again I’d get the overwhelming food noise and would snack. Tbf I’d eat a healthy evening meal, just too much of it. I was probably eating 2000 calories a day, little or no exercise.

Since last May I changed my diet. I simply do not buy the rubbish food.
Every day I eat 10% full fat Greek yoghurt (the Aldi version of the thick Fage kind) for breakfast plus a banana and some chopped apple. That’s it - I literally do not think about food (or get food noise) until lunchtime. I then have one of the following, tuna salad or scrambled eggs with Ryvita. No snacks in the afternoon, I actually ‘forget’ that I haven’t had my (before Mounjaro began) half a pack of biscuits or more crisps.

My evening meal is high protein, high fibre and low carb. I calorie count everything and it comes in (including tea and coffee with Milk and 1 spoon of sugar) at between 12-1400 calories a day.

In September I joined the Gym - I now go three times a week and to a Aqua fit class and a dance class.

I’m over £1000 worse off financially (more if you take into consideration I’ve had to buy smaller clothes too).

@maddiemookins16mum You must have saved some money on pain au chocolate, twix and biscuits though? I do hope so because I’m hoping to justify the costs with food savings, at least partially!

Well, you’d think so wouldn’t you….but my shopping bill is pretty much the same!

😭😭😭