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

The code I've got gives £60 off first order & what I used to get started from someone on here with a BMI of 27:

https://www.joinvoy.com/r/U-KWR45vcndw

(Ignore the picture that says £50 off - it applies the correct £60 discount when you go into it)

Unless you want to commit to 6 months then you can get £75 off without a code!

I think they sent me a £100 off one. I'll DM if I can find it.

I have so much more energy and feel so well. Problem is I’ve reached my target weight and have no business being on them anymore. Shame if I lose then benefits!

You can stay on a maintenance dose,

My next pen has arrived, and alongside it some extra needles (ordered from a pharmacy, not the WLI prescriber) because I'm not sure I want to go up a dose. I'm in week 3 of 0.25 wegovy and still finding calorie counting/teeny portions easy. I'm guessing though that at some point that will wear off, eg the body adapts to the medication? I know I could lose more quickly on a higher dose but I'm trying to keep to realistic/sustainable eating habits.

I was a bit surprised to see on my voy plan that pen 3 is 1mg, I thought they mentioned the two lowest doses for off label. I might have misunderstood that though. I might wait another week or so to see how it goes and then request a lower dose as I can't see I'd need to go that high.

@Proteinpudding i’m on MJ but I’ve not found that my body has adapted to the medication and the effects have worn off thus far. I’m in my 7th week.

Due to the 7 day half life of the medication, it gradually builds up in your body over several weeks though so you have much more in your system now than when you started. @NinthBestOption did a really useful chart upthread showing this.

Maybe the effects start to weaken once at a steady state?

Thanks @Beachforever yes I've noticed that already, I jabbed Monday morning and felt really full all day, and that's before the supression is 'supposed' to hit, which is said to be after 48hrs. So I'm planning to click count with the second pen. I waited a while before taking my first dose so there was only so long I could delay the prescription and I wasn't expecting it to keep working so well!

Hi all, it’s been interesting catching up with you all on the thread. I am on jab eight at 3/4 of the starter dose still (Wegovy) and I’m pretty sure it’s making zero difference now. I have been so hungry - almost ravenous these last few days. I’ve not lost any weight for about two weeks, I’m just bouncing around the same weight give or take a pound. I’m clearly at some kind of maintenance, which would be fine if I was happy at this weight, but I’ve still got about ten pounds to go - probably more to be honest as I don’t think my body has changed that much at all after dropping half a stone (so far). I think memories of me at a certain weight eight years ago (my best weight), will just be that, as even if I do get down to that weight - I just think my body has changed so much and I’m no longer lean (and it is just age - from mid 30’s to early 40’s, not had any kids in that time. I don’t have any kids at all, so can’t blame it on that!).

I guess the only thing for me to do is increase the dose and get on the full 0.25. I am nearly two months into my ‘journey’ so I guess it makes sense.

Annoyingly, I have been having some side effects of nausea - which, whilst unpleasant, does not seem to have stopped me from eating. At least I don’t have insomnia to deal with too.

Hopefully the mad hunger will ease off after I increase the dose. Just want to get rid of this weight and then titrate down…. I would love to be off Wegovy for good by September time.

Hope you all have a good rest of the day.

@ritala interesting what you say about your body changing, I was thinking the same today. I was last at my GW about 6 years ago, pre my first child (I've had 2). I am now actually quite close to my GW but I don't feel like I 'look' close at all. Which makes sense because I used to do a LOT of exercise; mainly cardio but some strength training, I would have undoubtedly had more muscle then. I am also now nearly 42. That being said I am losing weight very easily (2.5mg MJ) so I will keep going and possibly a couple of kg under GW then really focus and strength and toning. I think being at my GW will be motivating to focus on exercise.

I've been eating fairly normally in recent days too! Have stepped up to 0.375 but it doesn't seem to have made as much of an impact as the starting dose initially, I may go up to 0.5 this week. Hope you start to see some movement soon as well.

I lost 1lb this week, I’ve been doing 15 hour days WFH, I will get back to good nutrition and exercise next week.

I’ve just done jab 7. I’ve got 3 left on the .375 micro dose from the 0.5 pen, Voy will see it as my final dose next Wednesday, although I will have 2 doses left.
I can’t justify the standard Voy cost so I’m either going to cancel completely, having hopefully lost over a stone by the end of the final jab, or find another provider for one more month.

I’m thinking of SwitchDoctor. Can anyone give any advice on using SwitchDoctor or any other provider where the process is really straightforward and they will allow me to sign up at a decent price, based on showing evidence of previous prescription, or maybe a phone call. I don’t mind if they will only offer 0.25. My BMI is now in the green, so I need a provider which will accept me with that. I also don’t want it on my GP record, which I know is optional with SwitchDoctor.

in terms of timing, how does it work if my Voy prescription would be due to start a new pen on 17 June, but because of getting an extra 2 jabs from micro dosing I wouldn’t need the first jab from the new provider until 1 July? Would I need to switch while still an existing patient at Voy, to tie in with when the old prescription would officially run out, but keep the new pen unopened for 2 weeks until I need it? Will I have missed the boat if I cancel Voy and then try and sign up elsewhere at the end of June when I no longer have a ‘live’ prescription?

Thanks for any info, it’s all so complicated! 😂

@maybethisway- definitely my body has changed. I put some old shorts on last night thinking ‘these will definitely fit now!’ And they don’t - even though I have weighed the same as this weight before and they did fit. Don’t get me wrong, they actually do up now compared to two months ago but there is no way they actually fit. I couldn’t sit down in them and they were far too tight.

im not doing any exercise - cardio or weights, so need to address that but I just feel very depleted at the moment. I’m thinking of getting my bloods done as I have low Ferrus levels (I’ve spelled that wrong, I’m sure) and need to see what the deal is with that.

@aquitodavia- yep. Basically eating very similiar to a couple of months ago now and also low level (and high level) hunger all the time. I’m just worried about upping the dose and increasing severity of side effects. I’ve also been enjoying ‘letting my hair down’ a bit at the weekend with friends and family where we have shared a drink (nowhere near as much as before I was on Wegovy), and that’s been nice to be honest. I always find the summer months harder when dieting as there are many more social occasions and unless it’s boiling hot (as it has been recently), I tend to want to just pick at stuff all day.

I’ve had a big craving for chocolate this past week which is a new thing for me as I’m very much a savoury girl. A new temptation to navigate!!

ChatGPT recommended Lotus as top choice for being accepted for switching while in healthy BMI range, flexibility with delaying next deliveries and competitive pricing.
Dows anyone here use Lotus and can share their experience? Thanks.

@ritala I didn't notice any difference on 0.25mg of Weygovy until jab 4 and even then it was only very slight (less food noise but appetite much hte same and no symptoms) I then did 0.4mg for jab 5 and got slightly better suppression but still not what I was wanting especially given the price! I went up to 0.5mg and just done my 3rd 0.5mg today. I've lost 12lbs since starting of which 10 are in the last 4 weeks so it's clearly working and I'm honestly not struggling at all. First week on 0.5mg I has some slight nausea but took the anti-sickness tablets they give me and was fine by day 3. I am able to fast 9pm-1pm every day without any bother at all and then only have lunch because I know I need to eat and get sufficient protein/calories in.

@IDontKnowWhatYouMean I'm also looking at Swift Doctor to switch so be interested to hear if anyone has done similar. I messaged them and they said allow 3-5 days from first order to receipt of pen with a consultation appointment within 24 hours.

@IDontKnowWhatYouMean- all I am thinking of now are the delicious Lotus biscuits 😅 clearly need to up my dose!

@lechatnoir- That’s such a good loss, well done! I can’t imagine fasting for that long, but good that it works for you. What I wanted to do was take a low dose to drop a few pounds and build some good habits and I feel like it’s half worked except the old habits are definitely creeping back in now. I felt such strong suppression on that very first 0.25 dose and then for a couple of weeks after I was really struggling to eat. My body has got used to the dose now, so need a new approach.

I got my first “you’re looking tiny!” comment today, enjoyed it far more than I should 🤣🤣

Weirdly I tried to swap to them before SwiftDr and the automated form outright rejected me. No idea why. BMI was 24 I think (transferring for maintenance).

I’ve just switched to Lotus from MedExpress and had no issues getting approved. Just had to upload 2 photos. I was a bit crafty and put my height down as less than I am so my BMI came out at 27 instead of 26.

I’m with lotus and I’m bmi 22.9, they’re a maintenance pharmacy so it wouldn’t be because of your bmi

Yeah it’s strange I’m not sure why it would be, wonder if I accidentally ticked one of the medical conditions, no reason to not be accepted! Getting on ok with SwiftDr anyway.

This stuff is magic. I just weighed myself three days after upping my dose to 0.375, but was expecting to have actually gone up as I feel like I've been eating pretty normally in the last few days, finishing my dinner etc. But I've lost 2-3 pounds already since the weekend! Under 10 stone now for the first time since I had my child. It clearly isn't just working on appetite, it can't be.