Are we calorie counting?

[LabOwner95]

I've just completed my 7th week on 2.5mg Mounjaro and I've lost 1 stone, so I'm really happy with that. Didn't really lose much this week or last though, but I did make the mistake of eating A LOT the night before both weigh ins because my food suppression was reduced and because I'd stupidly weighed a day early as a little treat and then thought "oh great I'll have a takeaway". A healthy takeaway, but still - I think water retention from salty food has affected the past 2 weigh ins. Anyway... I haven't been calorie counting, just going off vibes and naturally eating less and making better choices. Are people calorie counting?

Was it a person (as in one of their advisors) or the online form that required you to agree to this with MMP @memoriesringliketinnitus ? There are quite a lot of other posters on the threads I'm on who use MMP and haven't mentioned this so far.

I've used three other suppliers and none of them have asked me to agree to calorie counting at any point over the last two years.

I calorie counted from 12 stone 7 down to 8 stone 7, and have continued to calorie count for maintenance without WLI for the last 6 months. Currently 8 stone 5

Now that all my regular meals are saved into the app I use (ParrotPal), it really doesn’t take me long to track each day 😊

No calorie counting here. I just eat whatever I want, whenever I feel like it. The GLP-1 makes me feel full so I don't eat that much.

I lost 50 pounds and now maintain with a microdose. No diet plan at all. I never had a terrible diet anyway just a bit too much on my plate probably.

Thanks for all the responses! I think for now, I will just continue to eat mindfully as I want to leave calorie counting for further down the line when weight loss properly stalls. I agree, you don't "need" to count calories to be in a calorie deficit. Of course, you do still need to BE in a deficit!

There was also a comment about needing to move up a dose if it's worn off by day 7. The medication has a half life of 5 days and at any dose, is only designed to be effective for 5 days. That's why a lot of people (including me!) struggle on days 6 and 7.

This isn't correct. A half life of 5 days means after 5 days you have half the dose in your system so it's absolutely not designed to be effective for 5 days! It's also cumulative so the higher the doses the more you have in your system from previous doses. It reaches steady state after 4 weeks. You're on an initiation dose so your experience is by definition limited. Almost anyone who is on a higher dose will tell you it doesn't wear off by day 5.

You don’t need to count them to be in a deficit, though.

I don’t count them, no.

I am continuing with the approach which took 5 stone off me before I plateaued and eventually started MJ. Real food, low carb (but I don’t count those either) and intermittent fasting.

MJ has meant slightly smaller portions, and less inclined to have the little extras such as very dark chocolate and/or a handful of nuts after my main meal, plus easier to do slightly longer fasts once or twice a week. That’s got my BMI from 30, where I’d been hanging out for over a year, to 27.5 in 9 weeks.

I’m on wegovy so may not be comparable, but what I found was on the lowest 2 doses it was wearing off on day 6/7 and as a result I was eating more (but still losing weight gradually). Once I went up to the third dose this stopped and I now have suppression all week (and I’m still no where near the max dose).

For me, calorie counting makes it feel like a diet, and time limited, and what I want is to learn how to eat intuitively in a way that feels maintainable long term. I haven’t calorie counted and I’ve lost 2 stone in 3.5 months (3 stone to go). Perhaps it might have been faster with calorie counting but I don’t feel like I’m dieting, just making better choices about what to eat, when and how much. It feels like I’ll be able to carry this on, in a way I wouldn’t if I was debating whether or not to allow myself another apple when genuinely hungry.

This, op a half life does not mean it is only effective for 5 days . And as this poster says it’s cumulative,

you’re also on the initiate treatment half dose of 2.5. The first full dose is 5. Plenty make it work on a half dose, but it could be why you’re struggling,

I have lost 80 pounds and am maintaining. I haven’t counted a single calorie. I really hate calorie counting, it just makes me obsessive. MJ has reduced my appetite so I eat smaller meals and don’t snack. That’s been enough for all the weight loss at around 1lb a week after the initial big losses in the first few weeks,

I do weigh food, log in nutracheck, track my fibre, protein and calories. Because that works for me.

I am, however, open minded enough to believe others (who have been at this longer) that they don’t do it that way 🙂

I do because i could easily overeat otherwise. And there arw times i could eat too little. Just helps to keep me on track

I tracked calories and macros for the first month or so only. I had intense initial suppression, I wasn’t eating enough and wanted to track how I could get more in. Then once that had settled down and I could eat more normally I tracked to get a rough baseline for calorie deficit, protein, fibre. Then stuck with that approx way of eating for 2+ years with no further tracking.

If I had stalled at any point I would have recalculated my TDEE, protein and fibre and tracked again, but I didn’t need to,

So ime no, you don’t need to always track as long as you know already what/how you should be eating and you are meeting your targets - nutrition whether losing or maintenance. If you are concerned you are not, then tracking is invaluable information.

During the weight loss phase, I didn’t count. Didn’t need to. Now that I’m in maintenance, I do. Maintenance has been much harder to manage.