Weight loss injections after two years and feeling stuck near goal

[Stuckoncrossroads]

Hi fellow warriors😊

I’m hoping to hear about similar experiences, advice, support….i’ve been on MJ 15mg for 2 years (apart from during holidays),I lost 30kg in the first 10
months, and nothing since then. After decades of yo-yo ing,to lose any weight, I had to eat EXTREMELY little, then every holiday, I’d gain about a stone in no time ( while still being active& reasonably careful what I eat 😖😑),then I’d spend months near fasting to shift the extra weight, then again …
The last few months, I’ve been doing everything to lose that last stone I would like to lose to be in the middle of my normal BMI, before a surgery in July. ( & for a bit of holiday buffer!), and it’s just going nowhere ..I do spin classes twice a week , walk a lot , eat super healthy and very little, I’ve spent a small fortune on maximum MJ ( & banned myself from
holidays till then)..and my weight is still stuck at just under BMI 26😖. The jab affects my mood ( depression), so I never intended to take such high dose for so long, and can’t wait to stop and feel
hoy again!
I’m wondering what worked for other people and how they stayed motivated etc… any input is greatly appreciated- thank you all 💓

I'm a bit confused, I read it as you have been on 15 for two years, presumably you started on 2.5 etc. And went up the doses,? how did you respond initially? Some people just don't respond very well to mounjaro, if you didn't respond until you got up to the highest dose it would seem you aren't very receptive. It's definitely not working if you're taking 15 and not losing or feeling any benefits, I take a very small dose every two weeks and I know when I am due and when I have taken it, 1.25 is enough to keep me maintaining, I know everyone is different but most people I know who are taking it and maintaining are doing so with a small dose.

Yes, I’ve started with the smallest dose and increased gradually till 15mg. For maintenance I only need to take it every 2 weeks or so but my metabolism slowed ( in late 50’s 😤) and my body is used to so little food now, that to lose weight i need to hardly eat, I get hungry and weak and agitated with hardly any results..not having enough energy to exercise as much as I normally do while eating so little- i I know I should persevere but it’s extremely frustrating. My young niece lost 22 kg almost effortlessly on 0.5 mg Ozempic, like you, she now takes it occasionally to manage her weight/ appetite and it’s been life changing ( and great value for money!), it also doesn’t affect her mood, so yes, not everyone responds the same, but it’s still been life changing in muting the food noise.
there is a new triple action jab (Retatrutide) that’s supposed to be released, far more efficient than the current glp agonists, so this may be my hope for the last stone 🥳

@Stuckoncrossroads im late 50s too, never expected anything much from mj, but it's been miraculous for me, I lost weight extremely easily.
Maybe try a triple agonist,? I'd be really pissed off at having to take 15 to maintain lol,

Could you try switching to ozempic for a while then if necessary go back to mounjaro and work your way back up. Just to maybe give your system a shake up?

Thank you for your thoughts - I’ve tried Ozempic initially before Mounjaro, and had acute severe depression&suicidal ideation, it was instant and bizarre so I had to stop and wouldn’t touch it again. it’s mentioned as a rare side effect, but it’s not that rare. MJ affects my mood but it’s manageable,nothing like Ozempic. @Exportall That is so great to hear that you shedded weight so easily and in late 50’s! (I am so jealous!! And yes,super peed off 😂 ) ,it was never easy for me because of how little I had to eat to see results (3kg/ month) , but the hunger was muted, and I’m forever grateful for the miracle jabs. I will try to get hold of Retatrutide as soon as it hits the market , I’m near my goal, determined and hopeful! 💃 ( &my surgeon said I should lose any weight I intend to lose before my procedure, not after! I got just over 2 months).

Need more info

1. are you taking 15mg every second week?
2. how many calories are you eating a day, and are you logging
3. describe a typical days work of food
4. are you prioritising protein and doing strength training
5. are you hungry. Do you eating when not hungry?

You need to come down in Dose and take weekly. 2 weekly won’t work for the majority of people. Take a good hard look at what you are actually eating. It may be more than you think/remember or it may be that you need to increase food intake slightly. If none of this works. I would stop it altogether unless you have other conditions which may benefit from a small dose

Have you tried reducing carbs? For me I have had to, to lose weight due to prediabetes, but a lot of people also have insulin resistance undiagnosed and non-symptomatic, so lower carbs works well for them. Age especially plays into that too, so if you've tried everything else maybe try that. Sometimes if you eat too little cals, you won't be fuelling your body and will lose muscle mass so then your body requires less cals to fuel it. Increasing protein will help your natural glp as well as maintain muscle.
I also agree with previous post who said about taking the dose weekly, reduce it maybe to 10mg and take it weekly as 15mg every fortnight is just up and down concentration and you won't get the full benefits

Your dose levels would stay higher if you took a lower dose each week rather than 15mg every fortnight. There are online GLP1 plotters you can use to plot and compare different dosing schedules. Just wondering if that would make any difference.

Also, would trying to build some muscle help with the slow metabolism? So add in some weights or resistance exercises as well as the cardio?

I don’t understand why are you taking it every two weeks. It will drop very low then jump up very high. You must feel shit. You need to take it as prescribed.

and I am sorry to say it but I’m sure you know deep down, you consume enough to maintain your weight, so it won’t be very little, it will just feel like it.

Thank you for your thoughts, this actually is a really helpful reality check , i definitely should start logging everything I consume, have more protein and do more weight training.
I am currently on 15mg weekly (fortnightly didn’t work for weight loss, only for maintenance, although I am sure I can maintain weight on a smaller dose),and yes I do get hungry throughout the day 😑, but get ‘full’ v quick, so I often find myself snacking on small amounts of healthy food, rather than defined meal times. Low carb, but also fairly low protein ( mostly vegetarian,lots of beans,chickpeas,broccoli, kefir, light no-mayo salads , yogurt, cheese, olives, my carbs are 2 slices of whole meal bread/d, banana,occasional salmon/ tuna,no junk food, no sugary food or drinks, no cereals, pasta, sweets etc..).
I do 2x high intensity spin class a week, and a little bit of weight lifting ( arm dumbbells, not daily- thinking that I can’t eat so little and build muscles at the same time).

I will take your thoughts on board, start making changes and hopefully soon be able to update on my amazing breakthrough 😁😊

But that’s why you’re not losing, if you are snacking on cheese, olives etc

honestly I think you do need to start weighing your food and calorie counting as you’re clearly consuming more cals than you think.

The frequency of your hunger is worth thinking about perhaps?

Have you heard of the theory around frequent eating which keeps insulin elevated and high insulin leads to more hunger and increases fat storage.

I’m in no way an expert but I would look at lowering your dose and doing some form of intermittent fasting to try and regulate your insulin levels, whilst eating decent amounts in one or two meals rather than constant snacking.

Eat at set times, same every day. Don’t be drifting about wondering if you’re hungry.

Plan in advance what you’re going to eat each day.

Don’t eat bread.

Do strength training. Every day if possible.

That’ll do the trick.

There is absolutely no need to give up bread. Carbohydrates are part of a balanced diet.
Also, most experts agree that such exercise should be interspersed with two days rest per week.

Hmmm,yes,I think there is something about me grazing bits throughout the day rather than eating planned satisfying meals at set regular times. I will work on this.

I never eat between 10pm-11am (except a coffee around 10 am), so what I eat is within 11 hours, but instead of sitting down & looking forward to my meals, I’m eating bits throughout because I’m hangry, I believe I’m on less than 1000Calorie/d but it will be good to log& verify. ( with cheese, it’s an occasional slice or a ‘mini’ cheddar, not every day, few olives, 3 nuts .. just trying to make sure it’s varied…I’m not eating bits of cheese all day 😂- I wish!).

Thanks everyone, good FOOD for thought 😊..this has been helpful, it’s a new day, I will try more structure/less feral& will be logging every single thing plus more weight training.

Final stone, here I come ! 💃

The other thing is to accept being a stone overweight. It sounds like you have done really well and made big changes, but they have to be sustainable. I’d consider being a size 12-14 if I could keep it up for the est of my life, rather than constantly struggling to be a size 8-10.

@Seriestwo said what I was going to say. I am settling at a bmi which is around 26. I am short and not that active (office job, v long hours) and in my 50s. But my waist/height ratio, waist size, blood pressure etc are all good. I am exercising fairly regularly now and my fitness is improving. The calories I will need to maintain this weight (which is a size 12) are not high as it is and I worry about nutrition so I have decided to stop here.

that said, I did move from 10mg to 12.5 to get the last few lbs off and it gave me bad side effects but no weight loss. I came back down to 10mg and ate a bit more (1200 rather than 1000 cals per day - I track) and I lost half a stone - I think because I had more energy and slept better. So upping calories may help a bit.

I am also a pescatarian but mostly veggie. I focus on getting protein in - low fat dairy is helpful because the protein is higher and I do eat more fish that I would ideally wish to. The odd protein shake to top it up if the week has been bad. Don’t love it but find it helps.

This!

Please please please. Look at what you are saying . Look at what you are doing to yourself to lose that ' last stone'

You have lost loads of weight . Why not change your goal now to maintaining this loss in a way that is manageable and where you are not always obsessing about it

Again,I’m finding your experiences & thoughts really helpful and thank you also for reminding me what a great achievement it is that I am “normal”-ish weight at last! It’s easy to forget how far we got when so consumed with the next goal. I was v happy being size 10 for the second year, but the shocking speed I gain weight during my holidays is a huge wake up call about how v easily I could find myself back near where I started- my weight always creeped up on me, slowly but surely ( horrifying thought, makes me never want to go on holiday again , I LIVE for my holidays! 😂), so ideally I would I like a stone buffer ( so I can be naughty freely 😂) then to lower to maintenance dose (health wise I am also really fit /good, and eating mostly ‘clean’, wholesome and light feels great).
Today, day one ( weigh just over 65kg), it’s past 11 am, there’s already a change in my behaviour,not going for my first bite of the day because I can’t be bothered to weigh&log a tiny piece of anything 😆, (I can always deploy my inner feral rebellion for a good cause it seems 😂)- next, I need to PLAN my next meal, this is good. Thank you so much for taking the time to share, ‘challenge’ and inspire 💓🐳

@Stuckoncrossroads just to say, you made me laugh, you sound like a lovely positive person, and the thought of you being feral around cheese really made me chuckle, enjoy your holiday and I know what you mean about not wanting to put the weight back on, it's hard losing and staying the same even with WLI!
I find it helps to have the same boring meals every day at the same time and I have a snack built in to my plan too if I need it, I eat the baby biscotti which are only 20 cals, feels the same as a proper biscuit for hardly any cals. I let go a bit on Sunday too, but always back on it on Monday.

You've done so well op, massive achievement!

I'll echo a few thoughts from pp. Although I totally understand your wish for a buffer etc, a bmi of 26 is pretty good. A slight bit of extra weight post menopause is associated with longevity. I've even seen something written somewhere that altered a healthy bmi according to age group. So post 50, a healthy bmi (according to the article I read) was considered to be about 19 - 26. Just something to consider! My bmi is currently about 26. I'd like to lose another half stone, but if I really couldn't, I know I'm happy like this (tall, size 12/14), and if I maintain it, i'll be delighted. Remember too, that the lower your weight, the less food you need to maintain it.

But if you do really want to keep going, I highly recommend intermittent fasting. I lost weight with this initially before starting on MJ. And now that I'm nearly at goal and things have slowed right down, I'm doing it again, and so far so good. Slow, but reasonably consistent. I fast from about 7pm until lunchtime the next day. It might make it easier to have more consistent meals too. A proper meal at lunchtime to start.

Also, how about one day a week of upping your calories a fair bit? A bit of a re-feed day to give your metabolism a boost? I seem to get a bit of a whoosh of weight loss after a short period of higher than usual calories followed by being careful again.

And don't forget plenty of water!!

The average BMI for women aged 55-64 is 28.8 (right about where I am now, as it happens - having been as much as 48.5 at one time). So you have already gone from being obese (morbidly so?) to being below the average for your cohort. That is a stunning achievement, and you will have massive health and quality of life benefits from that.

And, as already mentioned, the healthiest BMI for older adults is slightly higher than the usual range. So another voice here suggesting that switching your goal to “not regaining” is worth a long, hard look.

Good Sunday fellow warriors, it’s only day 2 for me, but reading your thoughts , achievements and suggestions have proved massively helpful in resetting my ways (& my hangry brain 😤). Now I started logging& counting calories properly, I feel aware and accountable and also less hangry. ( less self pity 😆). I had definitely been consuming more daily calories than I thought. Grrr.

@Exportall boring meals at same time is an excellent tactic to incorporate in my new strategy! And baby biscotti .. how did I forget about those ?! I am glad I made you laugh, we got to! 💓

My secret weapon which carried me through my darkest hours has 18 Calories ( but no bite sadly), sachets of Miso soup with algae, it’s a satisfying just-add-water hot drink that really helped me again and again,maybe it’s the algae in it, it’s hydrating and tastes great . I add chilli flakes, sometimes few crunchy veggies.. it’s been so good for me while losing weight, it’s worth a try.
( see the photo, there are few other really good makes as well on Amazon).

Thank you all again, this has been super helpful and I’m excited again ..💃

Miso soup