Do you think there is any difference in trying to lose weight if you have always been fat compared to having been slim and then becoming fat?

[GloiredeDijon]

I know five people in real life who are on mounjaro having varying degrees of success so far.

From conversations with them it made me wonder if it is harder to loose weight if you have been very seriously overweight for you whole life, childhood included, than if you were average weight and then gained later in life eg 30 plus.

I wonder if never having known yourself slim is an extra difficulty, or that you have never eaten the amount your body requires to be a lower weight is an issue?

Both a psychological and genetic angle in play.

From the relatively small group I know it seems to me that people who have been very seriously overweight all their life have a harder time losing, even with mounjaro.

Well, I have always been overweight or obese, and latterly morbidly obese, since childhood. I had a brief period in my young adulthood where I was in the healthy weight range, but that was due to basically not eating very much at all and being very active, which didn't last as soon as I got an office job.

So I am one of those people who has been "seriously overweight" for all my life. But, I have had a great success so far using Mounjaro, having lost 11st and now being BMI 25 and getting very close to my target weight. On the support thread that I am on for those of us who had more than 10st to lose, the vast majority are losing weight on Mounjaro as you'd expect and not particularly having a harder time than anyone else.

@SilenceInside I’m really pleased to hear that. As said, my group is only five people so hence wondering about it as an extra level of difficulty.

There are lots of factors in play, but overall yes, it will likely be harder for a person who has always been overweight to lose weight. A few key issues include many genes linked to obesity and the body having set a higher "set weight" that it always try to return to. There's a good overview in this article:

https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/how-your-body-fights-weight-loss

My best friend and I have lost weight with Mounjaro recently. She’s been very overweight (15 stone plus) since her mid 20s (now 53) and has never even attempted to lose weight until 18 months ago. I have been very slim all my life until I gained weight about 3 years ago and ended up at 13.5 stone.

We have both lost 50 pounds with ease and at the same rate. She needs to lose a bit more, I don’t.

So in our experience, we’ve both found it easy despite our different fat timelines.

I have been morbidly obese since 25, almost 25 years. Before that I was obese from about 17/18.

I have lost 8 and a half stone using 2.5mg Mounjaro and found it very easy to stick to my proper eating. Before I could only ever manage healthy balanced eating for a few weeks, months of lucky, but I always regained weight. MJ helps me stick to it. I did plateau for around 6 weeks and then my losses became much slower when the scales did start to move again - this is where I would have said ‘fuck it’s and retired to previous bad habits not the MJ helped me stick with it. Losing 8 and a half stone has been life changing and while I still have a bout couple of stone to go, I’m happy with it coming off slowly.

I was an overweight/obese teenager and young adult. I am now slim.

I had to completely readjust my way of thinking. Portion sizes, snacking etc. I eat far less than my husband because I need less food than him.

I have found intermittent fasting 16:8 helpful but understand that it doesn't work for everyone. It taught me to understand when I was actually hungry and when I was eating for my feelings.

It can be done but it does take some work and determination and learning to be comfortable with being a little bit hungry sometimes. But that's OK because it means you'll enjoy your next meal.

It was almost a eureka moment when it all clicked for me. As somebody who struggled with their weight for such a long time. Eating for fuel rather than comfort is such a massive thing.

I think it’s often a mental health issue. Rather than simply a physical one.

my sil is obese and has been most of her life, since mid twenties, she’s now late 50s. I on the other hand, was always a healthy weight then gained wirh menopause,

I went on the drugs as my health was suffering, high blood pressure, sleep apnea etc, she is also suffering health wise, but it’s more joint degradation, her knees, back, hips now getting surgical work, plus she’s arthritis and asthma all made worse due to her weight, but her bp is fine and no sleep apnea.

she hasn’t went on the meds, for her food is too much part of her life, she loves food, cooking, eating, shopping for it, and she loves snacking, etc and gets her dopamine from it, it’s a comfort, it’s a joy, but she’s catty to me about it, a bit envious and resentful that I am now slim and she’s still very obese.

I on the other hand was never that bothered by food, but due to increased cortisol with menopause, sleep apnea etc my portion size crept up and my insulin wasn’t working well.

clearly for her physical health it would be better for her to go on the drugs, but as much as she wants to be slim, for the aesthetics and she realises, her weight is causing much of her issues now, ultimately she wants the food more. It’s a life long habit she is unwilling to break. So for her mental health she feels it is not better for her to do this.

we also know on the drugs, unless you react badly or take too high a dose, then you can push through and still over eat. So if you do over eat due to pshycological issues rather than just physioLogical, then unless you’re in the right head space, you may struggle and find it harder.

@Brightlittlecanary that's a startlingly similar tale to me, including the sil!
I was slim when younger and then illness depression and menopause saw me gain an unacceptable amount, I was OK being a bit overweight up to a size 14, but I was creeping into size 18, I lost very easily, my sil has not, she drinks still, and bought all the supplements thinking mounjaro would just melt the fat off, but obviously that's not how it works.
My diet is completely different now barring the odd blip with alcohol and I'm still on a small dose. I think I actually found it way too easy to lose, I never took a high dose, and am actually underweight now, something I'm having difficulty with, never thought I'd be in this position.
Sil is beyond jealous, because I found it so easy, and she didn't, but she's alway so been chunky, whereas my frame underneath all the fat has always been small. So maybe that's something to do with it.

yes im scarily similar, I was also up at an 18, I’ve lost 6 and a half stone, now a size 8 but my bmi is 20, I lost at a pace of about 1.5lbs a week, and worked out, so I do have that shape about me where you can see i work out if you know what I mean, my frame is also very narrow,

my sil, eats a lot, no judgment, I did it too when I started menopause, my portions crept up, but at dinner she will eat about 3 times what the much larger men do, and we all sit waiting for her to finish. Then she snacks, I will put for example a sharing bag of crisps out, she picks the whole bowl up, puts it in her lap and eats it all, so I always now make sure I put many out, but I ve seen her sit there and eat multiple in one sitting after dinner, and it does piss me off, as they are meant for sharing. I find it a little rude. She stops talking, puts her head down, and just eats,

my issue with her though is the catty comments, but also she stares at me, I can see her doing it, her eyes going up and down me, staring at my face, my body and it is so so uncomfortable, then she gets a cats arse mouth on her. She’s never once paid me a compliment, where as I always do, if she’s wearing something nice etc, and if someone compliments me she sighs loudly and looks away, and then people get uncomfortable.

my husband is rhe most laid back person ever, and the most unaware, and I commented on how she looks at me and her comments, and he said “yeah I spotted that, she’s got issues, it’s about her and her issues”, which I guess is right but still this is a choice she’s making and it’s not my fault.

I could have the same sil😂😂, re the catty comments, and snide looks, she was a 'model' 😂 when I first met my husband, with that I mean her mother paid hundreds of pounds for a portfolio, and she posed in kays catalogue once😂
She is very pretty, but now late fifties she has had work done on her face which although when it settles looks OK but new ly done and caught in a photo unaware she looks like micky rourke, the weight has always been a problem for her, and her sisters and mother were slim to the point of obsession, and I think she thought the advent of mounjaro would be her saviour, but I don't think she understands how it works.

Some good posts here. I understand that a generally slim person has efficient fat cells that correctly process any food with maximum efficiency. A fat or overweight person doesn't, and it takes a while for those fat cells to mutate and become efficient. Maybe six months, maybe more. So someone can be successful in losing weight via restricted food (I wouldn't call it diet, that's not helpful, actually I wouldn't use terms like 'lose weight' either normally) but given the fat cells have not become more efficient during that time, it's like the weight is just waiting in the wings to pile on again.

Only if you can keep eating efficiently for a year or so do the fat cells change and become efficient, such that a small amount of food is enough for many hours.

Naturally, someone who's been overweight all their life has a tougher time turning the ship around. Similarly, some people can just 'diet' and lose weight if in effect they just ate more over Christmas, it's just a blip and with less food for a bit, the body can quickly readjust because the fat cells stayed efficient during that time. Talk of diets isn't helpful for those of us more than a stone overweight because it just won't make any difference, if by 'diet' we mean a temporary restriction or deprivation of food.

Instead, as other posters have asserted, it requires a complete reset of food intake, and boycotting alcohol, junk food like chocolate, cappuccinos, fruit juice, buttered toast and pastries etc and concentrating instead on fish or chicken on brown rice with bits of raw onion or garlic and cooked kale or spinach, green teas, pints of water, just keep to that if possible.

You will lose a bit on that but even then - and this depressed and astonished me - even then with running at the gym, my weight just plateau'd for many months, no breakthrough. Then I sort of forgot about it and lived in another city for a month or so, kept to the food regime, and it suddenly came off - this is because I think the fat cells suddenly wised up and became more efficient and at that point, things really started clicking.

For me, the hardest thing about losing weight having always been very overweight was the psychological aspect of becoming a person I didn't physically recognise. I was delighted with the weight loss but found it incredibly unsettling to look (genuinely) unrecognisable. My weight has been relatively stable for a year now and it's no longer an issue, but it was a huge challenge for me along the way

I find this, as much as I’m back to the size I was, I find the difference in my appearance startling. I look very different indeed, and it basically took me 5 years to gain it, so a slow ramp up, where the difference wasn’t that apparent day to day week to week, even month to month, then a year to lose it.

i look very different to what i looked like before i gained, my body is much more toned, my face slimmer and jaw tight, even though im in my fifties, im leaner now, i always had a little pot belly. Now is completely flat.

i also dress differently, much more current, so wide leg trousers, fitted tops or slouchy jumpers etc, no more black, always more softer colours, olive, tan, cream etc.

ive been maintaining for a year and due to focusing on body recomp my weight has stayed stable, but my body fat dropped and my muscle increased,so I’m leaner than I was when I first hit goal.

so even I find it startling, so I can’t imagine how much more startling it must be for someone who was always heavier, and it’s why I am absolutely fine with anyone who comments on it, as long as is not bitchy.

I was obese my entire life since I was a toddler, I was a size 24 at the age of 18 and never managed to lose enough weight to take me out of the obese category despite trying every diet available. I started MJ last January and lost 13.5 stone, bringing me to a healthy weight and a size 10, which I am now maintaining. I have titrated back down the doses and think I will need to stay on a low dose for life, which I am happy to do as it has been so incredibly life changing for me, I am a new person now and it has opened up a whole new world for me. It really is a miracle drug in my opinion.

@MummyInTheNecropolis so pleased to hear that. Also for others who have found the same with mounjaro.
I agree it is indeed a miracle drug.

I think I might be a little bit of both categories, not really fitting into one or the other.

I am 50, and have gone all the way up to a size 16 at different times in my life. However, the times I was a size 16 were usually only for a year, and then I would lose the weight, then hovering at a 12-14. I guess around a 3-4 year up and down cycle overall. However, since various injuries and changed to circumstances several years ago impacted on my activity levels my weight ballooned to the highest it had ever been, although still a size 16 for the most part. Some smaller 16s were tight/unflattering. Despite being able to exercise at my usual high levels, being in peri, I managed to stop gaining weight, but couldn't lose it. This is despite having a relatively healthy diet, but eating too much clearly.

I would say regarding my success I also don't fit into one category or another. For the most part it's been really successful. I am now, for the most part a size 10 (sometimes a 12), I think I look good, I am often in the smallest third in a group not in the largest 10% of a group. I am doing weights and can see my quads and biceps developing and my muscle/fat percentages are going in the right direction. But in other ways it's not working as well as for others. I am still, frustratingly and stubbornly overweight, hovering at BMI 25.3 ish. I gained a Kg over Christmas/big birthday, and only now back to the weight I got to a couple of weeks before Christmas. Essentially I am stuck in a plateau and I'm not even in a healthy weight yet. I still have belly fat, upper arm fat and inner thigh fat. I just can't shift it.

@PurpleCoo with respect, a size 16 is not seriously overweight. In fact for many people who are seriously overweight this would be their dream.

@GloiredeDijon At my highest, my BMI was >35, which is morbidly obese. In my opinion, being morbidly obese is 'seriously overweight'.

It depends on your height as well. Being 4'10 and a size 16 is very different to being 5'10 and a size 16.

Regardless, hopefully sharing my experiences answers the question and is helpful information for people.

Size 16 for most women is obese, I was obese at a 16, yes there will be outliers, and very tall, but for the majority it is past overweight and into obese.

With respect, I was a size 16 at 14.5 stone which is BMI 33 so yes, that is seriously overweight. You can't judge weight or BMI by clothes size.

To answer your original question, yes obesity absolutely makes it harder to keep weight off. That's why it's considered a disease.

I agree with you on size, seriously overweight is a bmi 29, obese is 30 and over, most women are seriously overweight at a 14 and obese at a 16. And as you say people are starting to lose sight of that and can’t recognise it any more as so many are now in this category it is seen as normal.

but sorry to correct. The relapse, that’s not why obesity is considered a disease, and I think lots of people get confused on what a disease is,

this is the definition of a disease

“an abnormal condition that impairs the normal functioning of a living organism, characterized by specific symptoms, physical signs, or cellular changes. It involves a deviation from health affecting body structure or function, distinct from simple injuries”

and obesity falls within this definition. I think a lot of people think diseases are only infectious and cause by pathogens, or some other meaning, but this is what a disease is and obesity clearly falls within this category,

Yes, and the relapse is because it impairs the normal functioning of a living organism, characterized by specific symptoms, physical signs, or cellular changes
We are saying the same thing. I didn't mean relapse was the only thing that made it a disease - I was simplifying

That’s fair. Yes, I agree,

I don’t use the word obese (bleugh just used it!) because the sound makes me queasy.

I have realised people may mistake my saying seriously overweight for the bmi criteria terminology.

I will endeavour to be more precise in future.

I was really asking about people with a very high bmi, eg 40+.

Ok that’s morbidly obese, I am not sure most people would recognise you mean that to be fair.