Considering weight loss injections at BMI 25 with raised cholesterol and blood pressure

[suki1964]

Im after successfully losing weight , and have maintained for two years through diet and exercise

However Im still top of BMI and I have not been able to drop any lower

Now there are some pharmacies offering to prescribe off label , for my BMI - 25 with High Cholestrol and high blood pressure

I seriously would look and feel a lot healthier with another 10lb off

For the past year Ive been saying to myself Im happy to be where I am. But truth is Im not. Im now getting to the point where Im getting a bit disordered around food , because the minute I take my eye of the ball, I gain, so then Im working twice as hard to get that gain off and stay the same

Has anyone had any experience of starting at a lower BMI with not a lot to lose ?

Am I even mad to think about it ?

how are you planing to get a prescription with a bmi of 25? I think that would be your first hurdle. But in all seriousness this is a prescription drug which has got some awful and serious side affects which at a heavier weight these sort of balance out the negatives of being over weight. They are not a quick fix

Some pharmacies are now allowing people to start at bmi 25-27 now. It’s very risky though I agree

I am using mj and have lost almost 6 stones. Would i have taken it for 10 pounds.... not a chance

I use it because i was obese and the risks of being so fat outweighed the risk of the medication. You are healthy and have maintained your weight. Thats amazing.
I'd try calorie counting and upping steps first before using meds

Crazy imo. What will you do after you have lost that weight? I have lost 8 and a half stone and still a couple left to lose, my long term plan is to remain on MJ for life. Are you planning on committing to that? If you use it to lose 10lbs then stop you may just be aiding a yoyo diet.

Thanks for the comments

I know it really is mad of me to even think about it , I never thought of them when I needed the two and half stone off

I think Im just fatigued with constantly battling my weight, with so little wriggle room for life getting in the road

I just can not , no matter how much I try, get below 9st 2 , always going back up to 9st 6, battling it back down, blinking and back up

I only have to look at a calorie full on and there it lands - on my belly

Steps - I have my 10k down before 10am and add another 10k during the day most days . I cycle

I eat / drink around 1500 calories a day, just have Saturdays where I dont count

I know going lower won't lower my BP - Ive had that all my life , even as a skinny 20 year old, but my cholesterol Im hoping will drop if I can get lower - im getting pressure to go on statins

I know WLI arent the easy answer deep down, just they feel like it right now , just to get that wriggle room to take a bit of the pressure of myself for a while

There are some pharmacies that will possibly prescribe you a low dose off label with BMI 25+ if they feel it is "safe, appropriate and supported by clinical evidence", if they feel the benefits outweigh the risks, there are no licensed alternatives that are more suitable, and you agree have been informed it is off label, not licensed for your BMI, and there is no established safety data for your group.

In your position I would be asking myself, for 10lbs, have I consistently stuck to the diet changes needed lower cholesterol, will I be able to sustain that diet on less calories, is it worth the potential risks/side effects. Also, will it keep those 10lbs off long term without medication or do you plan to stay on it longer term (1-2 years) to attempt to reset your set point (if that theory is true!)

I use WLI because I was severely obese and it was significantly impacting my health. I am now trying to maintain at BMI25 (with a low maintenance dose). If I was starting at BMI25 I wouldn't touch medication for cosmetic/feel better reasons as it is not worth the risk, but if you genuinely believe you need it to lower cholesterol, as you have tried everything else and the alternative is now statins, it is worth a discussion with a provider.

Do you have high cholesterol and raised blood pressure? If so have you spoken to your GP?

I’d spend some money on the advanced cholesterol / cardiac risk blood tests to understand what your raised cholesterol and blood pressure mean. It sounds like you are doing a lot already but it might help you understand what you need https://healthclinics.superdrug.com/services/advanced-lipids-with-apolipoproteins-blood-test/

Why don’t you add in a fast day 500-800 calorie? It’s great for your cholesterol and cancer risk.

You're talking yourself in and around it, you know that if you take it the likelihood is you'll lose weight very easily, most people do, then what? Keep taking it? You get used to the feeling of not having to think about food, and I'm not saying thats not a valid option, but it's not where I thought I'd be a year ago. I thought take it for a couple of months, get the stubborn stuff off, end of, but here I am a over a year later still taking it, because once you stop, all the problems you had losing those stubborn few pounds comes back, so think carefully, not about the immediate results, but longterm.

Are you very short?

My bmi is 23 I lost 7 stone myself without wli as it wasn’t really available when I lost the weight. Obviously I don’t qualify for wli because of my bmi but I actually would really like to try it to maintain the weight because it’s really bloody difficult to track and watch what I eat every bloody day of my life and have to close my ears to the food noise , but if I’d have lost the weight with wli I could stay on a maintenance dose forever and not have to struggle so much.
Not really the point of the thread I suppose.

I would not risk WLIs in your situation.

Your blood pressure you have had since you were 20. Ask about meducation designed for high blood pressure.

It sounds like your high cholesterol could be genetic or diet as you are more than active enough, so I would consider statins.

Both have medications that have decades long track records of being proven effective and safe. WLIs are newer, riskier and would not directly address your medical issues.

I’d guess unlikely your BMI at 25 is connected to cholesterol. You might be able to improve that with diet/more exercise (weight training). But otherwise what are your concerns about statins?

I’d also review your calorie intake. My BMI is just over 25 and I’m a stone heavier than you, and eating 1500 cals to be in a deficit. Even taking off a couple of hundred a day might help. I would try all of these things - weight lifting, statins, shaving calories - before you even consider WLIs.

Good call @FurForksSake
I've been on WLIs for over 2 years now and my cholesterol has got worse and worse during that time, from fine to bad, despite low BP, eating really clean and exercising (and losing 40% of body weight, and getting bmi down to 20). GP is not concerned as every other marker is excellent. But, for peace of mind and to get a better understanding of why, I'm planning on going privately for more sophisticated tests. Clearly something other than diet and weight can affect cholesterol and after two years, this obviously isn't the temporary blip a lot of people see when they lose fat.

Yes I do, High blood Pressure since my 20's - weight has no bearing on it at all, cholesterol has been high the past 5/6 years which is why I changed my diet and upped the exercise

5ft 1 in stockinged feet - shrinking with age - I did once get to 5ft 1 and 3/4 :)

Have you spoken to your GP about statins? That would be my first thought if you have significant raised BP, cholesterol and you are early 60s. Your weight sounds fine.

You may want to have a look at this thread too, https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5499941-how-did-you-lower-cholesterol-naturally?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

I started with a BMI of 25.1. Just 2.5mg of Mounjaro. I’m active and eat a mostly good diet, have always been in a healthy BMI until recently. It’s my snacking and dopamine seeking that’s the issue! (And getting older probably!) Dropped 10lb in 8 weeks, I want to lose another 8lb to get to the middle of my BMI.

I just love how it takes away the food noise and enables me to just focus on healthier choices, and just life in general, I’ve spent too much headspace thinking about my body vs food! It’s very freeing.

I’m considering microdosing long term.

But a valid response

I guess that's where I am right now, struggling with having to track every morsel and feeling guilty when I go off track and so start skipping meals

95% of the time I eat a very well balanced diet, I scratch cook, plenty of veg and fibre, decent amounts of protein, I get the oily fish in, healthy oils, eat a rainbow of veg and really do keep the plant intake as high as I can, and I can keep around the 9.2. Then life happens , and I need to resort to a jar of this or a ready meal that ( been hospital visiting and sleeps and now a funeral and everything that goes along with it ) and within a few weeks - weight has gone up to 9.8 so now I have to get working twice as hard to get back to the 9.2

So its the constant battle

When I was losing, it went slowly and I happily settled at 9.2, just within the healthy BMI and a lot less then I had been for years . But two years of not getting any lower, and whilst 9.2 is a healthy weight for my height - keeping it there is a struggle

So I know its pure madness, but when I read I could be prescribed off label, I just thought - answer to my prayers

Which is why I posted here I suppose - to be told outright it is pure bloody madness and to wise up

Gp has been pushing statins at me for years , which I have been putting off

I guess now Im coming retirement and I realise life is so very short , diet and exercise isnt going to do it and Im going to have to go on them. Trying to get an appointment with the nurse for the past month - not easy here ....

Look I have a BMI of 27, it’s not crazy high but I have been in the same situation, I already lost weight, and it’s so bloody hard I regained 1/3 of my loss due to menopause over a few months (after over 2 years of stable weight!) and I’ve never been much under BMI 25 since I was a literal child. At my lowest I was 24.5 and I made peace with that.

I’m on a low dose of wegovy short term and boy I feel grim for it, I’m not sure if I have made the right choice but I will not be going up to high doses - I don’t really want to put myself at more risk for a very small reward. I’m considering microdosing longer term as many others are, perhaps half the low dose of wegovy but in an ideal world I would rather not

As others say - what next? I thought I was doing ok for 2 years maintaining my weight until it all started piling back on. You seem to be doing ok for your weight it’s your other health issues

I would take the statins first - surely this is lower risk, lower cost in the first instance

1500 is quite a lot of your 5 foot 1. I’m 5/5 run 3 xs a week, do 13k min steps a day. Track all week and I only loose weight on 1500. The wiggle room has got a lot smaller since I got older. Even on those cals and activity it’s often only 0.3kg a week.

Being shorter makes it much harder as your cals need to be lower and it’s really difficult to eat say 1300 a day.

OP it's not madness, but it isn't short term, imo, I think that's where a lot of people who struggle to lose a few stubborn pounds trip up, using WLI, but it's perfectly doable if you keep taking it, which lots of people do, me included, if you can afford it, on the board of starters that I am on most have struggled once they reached goal of what to do, titrate and come off, or stay on a small dose, a lot have stopped and started again due to regain, or struggles with the same problems they had before.