BMI under 27 - Off Label/less to lose

[ritala]

I am mid 40’s and just can’t lose the weight like I used to. I’m fed up of losing and gaming the same two pounds. I’m about a stone and a half more than my happy weight (where I would be approx bmi 23).

I have tried to find a thread for people who have been approved ‘off label’ Wegovy or Mounjaro with less to lose but couldn’t find one, so thought I’d start here. I have a BMI higher than 25 but less than 27 with a couple extra health conditions. Hoping to start after Easter. I’d like to stay with a very low dose if possible. Half a pound a week loss would be good for me. I really want to avoided side effects.

Anyone who is in a similar boat and wants to share experiences or ask questions, please join! X

Thank you! The program I'm on encourages the use of their food, which is nutritionally complete, to be used alongside GLPs.

So, I just don't know really who to ask about it since the plan is going to encourage it for product sponsorship, I guess, and no one else seems to be announcing that they're using both methods at once.

I agree with this. I only count calories, carbs, protein etc to ensure I’m getting enough of them, not in order to restrict them.

I’m still in week 2 but have also been thinking about this. I haven’t been feeling much suppression this week, but also not had any SE. I’m going to wait and see how I feel next week but think I might move up. I suppose it also depends on the scales and whether they keep moving down! I’d like to keep my dose as low as possible, but also want it to work so it will definitely be a balance.

I'm wk3 day 1 wegovy. They are sending me a 0.5 pen next but I plan to stay on 0.25 to see what happens and only move up if I can't lose weight.

I've minimal side effects and my weight loss has plateaued this week but period is due so I'm going to give it a while.

I would have said I had minimal suppression but yesterday I was starving so actually there's more than I realise. I want to see how I manage on a low dose, self control is definitely needed but I'm managing.

Having said that, why not move up? The SE bother me, I want to avoid if at all possible. But in general I feel comfortable with using the jabs and if I need to move up to get to a healthy weight then I should.

You can always do a consultation with a GLP provider, SwiftDr do them for £30, obviously they’ll have their own biases but they’re medically trained I believe.

And an update

Wk 3 day 1, I actually took the dose at midnight before I went to bed because I was so hungry yesterday I'm in danger of falling off the wagon!

Weight loss about 2kg. That was mainly in the first week, no change for 5 days now.

Minimal SE, 'throughput' has certainly slowed which worries me slightly because I aim for 30g fibre a day - where does it go??

I get a little nausea in the few days after jabbing but nothing really.

Sleep has been poor for maybe days 1-4, I hope that improves.

Its all going OK really, I've 2 weeks more on this pen before making a decision to increase.

I’m sticking at 0.25 for my second pen. It’s feeling like the right balance of suppression and fullness while having minimal side effects and managing to eat enough good stuff!

@NinthBestOption I’m thinking I might get the .5 but take the first dose as .375 to see how that goes first.

Wk 1 day 3. Some slight nausea. Still eating normally but not snacking.

Is anyone worried about hair loss? I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole researching this. Most say attributed to fast weight loss but some are saying the medication can cause it? Another worry to add to my long list 🙈

I haven't had any issues so far @JT1987. I think most of the worst side effects are associated with rapid weight loss rather than the medication itself, so I'd just aim to take it slowly.

Question - I am having more constipation (sorry!) now - I am tempted to take a dulcolax overnight but slightly worried about the effect! Has anyone done this?

I researched and bought all the constipation medicine when I first started but whilst things have slowed I never feel I need to go and can't.

If that's you dulcoease might be a better option, to soften so you can pass? Movicol (or generic version) does the same over a longer period or can be taken daily to prevent it.

I think real laxituves might be quite explosive but they'll solve the issue.

@aquitodavia I find magnesium glycinate surprisingly helpful at getting things moving.

Week 3 day 3 for me. Suppression isa bout the same, it’s helping me not snack and eat small meals.

Got hit by bad nausea this week only lasted 24 hours but I was really struggling so hoping it’s not going to ramp up each week.

@hellobaby24 Week 3 day 3 was the absolute worst for me. Had to leave work and go home. I took a half dose week 4 and everything has calmed down. Now I'm wondering what to do for this week's injection. I hope you're feeling better.

@aquitodavia constipation has always been a problem for me so when I started on WLI I also started dosing with metamucil to prevent it getting worse but that just backfired on me and I got horribly blocked up. I did use dulcolax then and found it works well- no sudden emergencies! Since then I’ve just stuck with getting a good amount of fibre from my food and accepting that frequency has reduced with my food intake. I haven’t felt any bloating or discomfort etc though so I actually am much better on that front than before I started.

So some anecdata for you. I did 5mg (for the first time) in my thighs for 2 weeks, no issues, I’m going down the doses now did 3.75mg but decided to go back to stomach. Hit with nausea really bad today 😩

Have heard anecdotally on various threads that thigh jabbing tends to give less side effects. Not sure if it also has an impact on rate of loss.

on the SE, chia seeds soaked - a couple of spoons a day helped me with constipation. I was finding that the constipation was leading to more reflux/acid for me. Hair loss- my hairdresser noticed that I lost a bit more this time. Maybe a coincidence but I have been a bit lax with my biotin for last few days. So getting back to being more consistent with biotin, collagen and vitamin D.

Does it hurt more in your thigh? My belly is flabbier than my thigh which is quite firm so I worry about it hurting more.

(I realise I’m being a baby as it’s the tiniest needle in the world!)

Definitely didn’t impact suppression nor indeed weight loss, but I had less SE compared to today, coincidence or not I don’t know. Unfortunately it made me bruise quite badly though.

No it surprisingly didn’t hurt, I thought the same as my thighs are quite muscular but it was fine, but I bruised badly and it’s still showing 2 weeks later!

So I did jab three today! I am
late as I was meant to do it on Tuesday and forgot, and then delayed due to work commitments on Thursday as I was scared of any SE. Weight loss remains at 3lbs but I am so constipated 🙈 going to take some cosmocol later.

Food wise I’ve been around 1500 calories, good steps, one fitness class and one 20 mile cycle ride.

I haven't started yet as I'm away, but was wondering about the SE of constipation/feeling discomfort as they seem to be very common. Is it advisable to eat a lot more fibre to help move things along, or is the 'point' that things should be slowing down to aid with weight loss? I've seen a few articles talking about how that's one of the ways the drugs work, so I wasn't sure how much we should be combatting it, if you see what I mean.
I'm hoping to use the WLI for a relatively short time to really work on good eating habits, so I'm trying to think ahead about my food choices.

@Proteinpudding i struggle with the mechanics behind it. I get that it slows down but surely that just means you go a few days without then it's daily again but has been in there longer?

I've noticed that on days 6 and 7 I have much increased throughput, which has deterred me from doing more frequent jabs, it's probably a good thing to get back to normal for a few days even if I eat more.

I aim to eat 30g fibre a day, a mix of soluble and insoluble. I sometimes end up mixing chia/psyllium/linseed in a glass of juice and downing it but generally can get it from seeds I eat with yoghurt, a few prunes and veg.