Eating too much on MJ?

[bethmoo88]

Hello

I started MJ a week ago, and my experience has been positive so far.

I haven’t had any side effects with the except of slight waves of nausea during the couple of days after the jab.

I’ve been religiously tracking my calories, and I’m having 3 healthy meals a day plus two low cal snacks which has equated to an average of 1500 calories per day. I haven’t been forcing the food in, but I’ve not wanted to eat any more afterwards either.

I average around 8k steps a day but I have a desk job so my TDEE calc shows daily calories of 1862 (I chose the sedentary option due to my job).

With that in mind, am I still eating too much? If my deficit is under 400 a day, I’m guessing I’ll be losing very slowly but if I did eat any less as this stage, I think I’d be hungry.

I am 5’7”, and I weigh 13st 3lb.

Any advice welcome!

But then this isn’t a typical day, as it’s different to what you posted earlier, I was really asking about a typical day

@RoseField1 right. So the OP should

1. eat more chocolate
2. further reduce vegetables intake
3. ignore the nutritional science on adjusted weight which states: The adjustment factor accounts for the excess adipose tissue in people with overweight, which may not contribute as much to metabolic processes as lean body mass. This provides a more accurate estimation of nutritional and medical needs. https://www.healthline.com/health/adjusted-body-weight#what-is-it

Gotcha.

Goodness, some of these replies. How about you just see how you go for a few weeks, maybe try to increase activity a bit? Better to increase activity than to decrease calories.

I never much liked MFP. I don’t particularly count calories, but I use nutracheck every now and again for a check.
Im 1,5” shorter than you, just over 12 stones and I tend to have around 1500-1600 calories. My weight loss started off rapid, went to moderate after a couple of months, then went slower and slower a few months after that. But it keeps on going down…

Weight loss is 80 percent diet, 20 percent exercise, she’d have to increase a lot to make any difference to her weight, and not everyone can do that. The advice to drop cals is gnr correct one.

Yes I understand that. I said increase activity, not exercise. Daily activity can make a huge difference, it did for me.
But as OP has only just started her MJ journey she may find she loses well, without having to cut calories drastically at first. When you start off with low calories, then lose weight, you may need even less calories because you are smaller... then it can be an issue. So thats why I suggested seeing how she got on for a few weeks and increasing activity.

I started MJ in Sept 2024, I take it for T2 diabetes that couldn’t be controlled with insulin and metformin.

Here are my tips that I found kept the weight loss going and left me feeling well.

• Calculate your TDeE, set your calorie goal to 300-500 below that amount to eat in a deficit
• Track your food, some stuff is surprisingly high calorie for tiny amounts
• 2 lots water a day, this one is the most important, whenever I slack on water I gain weight. Your body needs it to break down fat and drinking lots helps you to stay on track with calories
• get as much sleep as you can
• be active, especially short brisk walks after a meal. It helps break down sugar and it’s good for your cardiac system
• eat plenty of protein and fibre. Go easy on carbs and make sure you pair them with a protein or fat when you do eat them.

2.5mg is a non therapeutic dose - based t is simply to get you used to the drug. And appetite restriction or effect is a bonus.

Just by way of an update, I did my first weigh in yesterday and I’ve lost 5lb. I appreciate the first weeks loss is usually high but even with that in mind, I think whatever I’m doing must be working ok (for now!).

Based on the replies, I will aim to cut out the couple of snacks I’m having a day and replace those calories with something more healthy, but other than that I’ll give it a few weeks and see how I progress.

Great first week. I was just suprised that you had only just started and people advising to cut calories already!
Good luck on your journey

That sounds like a great first week and a sensible plan for the way forward. (Starving yourself and cutting calories way below what they should be is not changing habits for the better)

I’d stick at it, you’re losing and able to eat. I started from similar point as you but am 2 months in. Initial loss was quite fast then steadier (which I’d prefer as don’t want loose skin) - lost over 10k. Currently on 3.75 and suppression a bit strong so struggling to eat 3 meals. For some 5 is when things really kick in but it’ seems very individual. I think as long as you’re losing them you’re on right track. Good luck!

I took my second jab yesterday and today I’ve really had to force my breakfast down and I’ve only just had it at nearly midday. That’s enough suppression for me at this stage so I’ll have to see if it wears off/I get used to it.

Have you lost 10lb in 2 months?

No, I lost 10 kilos so 22 pounds! I find that day 1 of the jab is not much suppression, but the next 4 days are much stronger, then starts to wear off slowly before the next jab.

Ahh sorry, 10kg, that’s amazing and feels like a healthy amount for 2 months. I’d be more than happy with that. Well done!

I had a similar experience in my first week, I’m doing it on a Friday so I have best suppression over the weekend when I’m most likely to eat rubbish.

I think you need to see how you go. Everyone is different. I lost 2 stone on 2.5mg. Have now edged up to 3.75 as weight loss has stalled and lost another 12 pounds. I will stay at this level unless I stall again but only really looking to lose another 1/2 stone. I don’t really get suppression like I did initially but I do eat smaller portions now as I get full quicker. However I try to stick with the same meals as the rest of my family rather than doing something completely separate.

5lb in your first week is good. I think I had something similar. I decided quite early on that as long as I was losing I would stick at that level. I had a couple of weeks off about 3 months in as I had really bad side effects, and then gradually increased back to 2.5mg and have had minimal side effects since.

I was the same in my first week on MJ and kept worrying about the numbers. 1500 didn’t turn out to be “too much” for me at all, especially since I wasn’t really hungry doing it. When I tried eating less I actually felt more snacky and less consistent. I’ve also got some structured support alongside it with check-ins, which helped me stop over-analysing everything and just focus on what felt sustainable 😊

I’m now at the end of my second week and I’ve lost 7lb consistently eating 1500 cals a day (along with min 8k steps, and some strength training) so it seems to be working well for me.

I don’t really want to consume much less calories than that, so hopefully the losses continue!

I’m using Mounjaro with a women’s health support programme and was eating around the same at the start,🙂 I still lost steadily without feeling starving all day, which made it much easier to stick with.

Hi, you weren’t sedentary when you first calculated your TDEE. A lot of people put sedentary if they have an office job but if you’re doing 8k steps a day you’re not. Don’t eat less than you already are, ideally you don’t want to eat less than your BMR for long, so work that out with your new weight just so you’re aware of it. Muscle wastage is a big problem on MJ, keep your protein high and keep going with the weights, the more muscle you have the more cals your body burns in a resting state making it easier for you to burn fat as well as looking better

It absolutely is, it just didn't result in the highest weight losses in the Lilly trials. It was shown to be theraputic at 1mg, which was the lowest they tried. Many people have had great results on long term 2.5mg.

You need a deficit of around 3,500 cals to lose a pound. So if your deficit is around 400 cals, then you can expect to lose around three quarters of a pound a week on average - depending on the accuracy of your TDEE and the accuracy of your calorie counting.

Just thought I’d give a little update on where I am.

I have been consistently eating 1400-1500 calories a day, minimum of 100g protein (this could do with being higher), walking minimum 8k steps per day and strength training 3-4 times a week. My weigh ins look like this:

Week one: -4.5lb
Week two: -2.5lb
Week three: -2lb
Week four: holiday
Week five: -3.5lb

As a previous poster suggested, I think my TDEE calculator was set up wrong because although I do have a desk job, my steps are relatively high and I am exercising regularly. When I changed it to lightly active instead of sedentary, my calories burned are approx 2100 which puts me in a deficit of 600-700 a day which I think looks about right with my losses.

Another quick check in from me, I’ve taken my 8th jab today and I’m 18lbs down since 15 May (starting weight 13st 3lb, current weight 11st 13lb).

I’m eating 1400-1500 calories a day, hitting my protein goal, walking as much as possible and weight training 4 x a week so I do feel I’m throwing everything I can at it.

I still have good suppression on 2.5mg (if anything, it feels a bit stronger than it did in the first few weeks) so I’ve no plans to go up to 5mg as it stands, hopefully it stays that way but I know I’d be one of the lucky few if it does!