Moving on from Wegovy

[Candyfloss99]

I've lost 4 and a half stone on wegovy. I've gone from an obese BMI to BMI of 21. I'm so happy. It took me a year. So now I'm going to taper down and stop. Has anyone else stopped yet? I'm going to keep up the calorie counting and exercise of course to keep the weight off.

Well done, you've done great.

I'm going to start reducing my dose in 6 weeks and have been thinking a lot about maintenance. I'm in a really good routine with my food and so plan A is just to work really hard to keep it exactly as it is not let myself fall into bad habits. I haven't done much exercise while losing so plan to increase that.

Yes I stopped and have continued to lose/maintain. It is as a PP said, a lifestyle change with managing your intake and exercising. I have got very into weights and haven’t gone back to all my old habits

you will be hungry, I’m sorry to say. It comes back

That's good I'm the same I started working out to Caroline Girvan while lifting weights. As I've tapered down in dose I've found I have more energy which is great.

@Candyfloss99 yes I also do her programme. I also found I felt much better all round off the drug than on it

That's good to hear @Menora
Wegovy has been fantastic for me and I'm not far from where I want to be. But it makes me so exhausted. Motivation to exercise is hard. I'm planning to dust off my running shoes very soon.

@AhBiscuits yeah I don’t miss that! I slept so badly on it too! The energy is really good for me now. Keeps me motivated

How is everybody getting on? Did you stay on the rails over Easter? After not eating chocolate for so long I now have a dislike of it which is great news to me!

I'll join - have taken my last dose of Wegovy last week and am wondering how I'll manage now.

I've lost 37lbs in total and I'm ready to be done now. Visited family for Easter and I had such awful cramps after being cooked big dinners for three nights. And I'm tired of gagging every time I brush my teeth!

I do still have a taste for sugar though. It never left me, even with semaglutide injections. I'm wondering how I'll get on with heavier meals though - red meat causes such cramps I'm very nervous of eating it now.

I’ve tapered off Wegovy having got to a healthy bmi with some wriggle room. keen to stay where I am and great to hear that energy levels increase! I exercised all through taking Wegovy and ate healthily without excluding food groups or using shakes etc so hoping with steely determination I’ll do as well as Menora.

Hi OP. Such great news - congratulations. Can I ask how long it took you to lose that weight. It's the same the I need to lose :(

I am still losing albeit slowly. 4st in 12 months

Also just cancelled my wegovy having lost 3.5 stone and now at goal weight. Really nervous about the hunger coming back but mildly hopeful that my body/brain has reset and I can carry on eating the same and not go back to my old ways 🤞🏼

I thought you had to keep on it for 2 years when you reached goal weight?

That did sound odd but maybe at the lesser 0.25 for a few months rather than cold turkey?

Or have most of you just gone off and now coping?

I'm 11 days since my last dose of Wegovy. It's a weird sensation when wearing off - like I still have an uncomfortably full feeling for hours after eating but coupled with being really quite hungry again now! And I definitely find I want to cook more.

Yesterday we had lunch catered at work and and for the past few months I've never needed dinner after eating a large lunch. But last night as I was walking back to the train I kept passing Indian restaurants and the smell was INCREDIBLE and I was ravenous.. so I made myself Bombay potatoes when I got in home. At 9pm. 😂 And then I had seconds!

My calories for the day were still about 1600. My BMR is about 1900 now. I'm starting to track again more seriously because I'll need to know now and for the future, but it's nice having the incentive to cook again, and make more balanced meals. I found on Wegovy I was buying salad just to go off in the fridge, because I'd had a slice of toast already and I was done...

So I think originally it was designed for you to stay on it longer term at a maintenance dose. In reality, supply shortages and cost is likely to be a barrier for many people.

I've gone off it entirely because of those. And also, I'm fairly active and don't tend to eat greasy foods so I'm reasonably sure I can maintain (just not lose), and I've discovered that what I lacked was actually the ability to know when I'm full. I'm hoping that after five months on Wegovy, those signals are a bit clearer and harder to hide from now, but I'll only find out if I put in the effort to listen to my body.

That said, I keep getting "re-order overdue" reminders and I'm tempted to keep one last pen close to hand just in case! Is that a sensible precaution or "fat girl thinking" (where I'll inevitably gain again), I just don't know. What I do know is that this is the first time in more than a decade I've been in the healthy bmi range.

I posted this elsewhere but mindfulness and learning about your hunger is useful @MorphandMindy

you should stay in green. Eat at 4, until 7 then stop

No, 2 years is the maximum you should be on it in total.

OP I have 2 doses left. I split my last pen into 6 doses as a vague taper but the pen is only good for 6 weeks once started so I couldn't really taper properly. I'm scared about coping without it but I feel like my mental attitude is in a good place.

That’s actually not true. It’s supposed to be a long term drug the same as you would take a medication For blood pressure or heart problems. And this is what was advised to me by a consultant.

i stopped taking it last year purely due to shortages) and Id love to say I had the will power and had learned the things I needed to continue on without it. But truth is I struggled without it. Immensely more hungry, food noise back so I’ve accepted that I’ll be on it long term.

Reading this with interest. I started Ozempic in Feb 2022. Lost three stone relatively easily and quickly. Stalled then for the last year really. Went up to 1.5 of Ozempic and then switched to Wegovy 1.7 which seemed to have no greater effect than 1mg really so I dropped back down with a plan to reduce further and come off completely. I still have weight to lose.

I recently went down to 0.5 of Wegovy and could not stop eating. Meals still ok but picking constantly. Carbs mainly. The food chatter is back big time.

So I’m going back up in doses and will try the full dose of Wegovy to see how that works.

The Boots pharmacist said my recent pen had probably expired as it had been prescribed in January. I took two 1mg doses from it in Feb and then went to Australia for a month and my friend is on Ozempic and she gave me a 1mg pen to save me travelling with mine (and it only costs her 30 Australian dollars!). So I used that in Feb/March and when I got back used two 0.5 doses from that January pen in March and a 1mg dose last week. So maybe it had expired. Even the 1mg dose isn’t having the same effect it did. I’m aware (and tell lots of people on here) that the hunger suppression wears off but the carb cravings have surprised me. It feels compulsive again.

So I think I may well be one of the people who has it take it for life. Current plan is to go up to full dose of Wegovy and see how I go. I have gained 3pounds in the last couple of weeks but actually have regained almost half a stone since last July. So that needs to go first and then I’d like to lose another stone.

@PineappleTime - I think it’s just the UK NICE recommendations to only take it for two years as the NHS will then only have to prescribe it for that time. (Ironic really as the NHS aren’t really prescribing it.). The manufacturers actually say that for some people they may need to be on it for life in the same way you would expect to be on blood pressure medication for life. I initially took that with a pinch of salt but maybe for those of us who are insulin resistant like I think I am, it needs to be a long term medication.

Sorry that was such an essay!

@Peridot1 agree completely with what you’ve said. I live in Ireland but yes think the 2 year thing seems to be a NHS rather than a manufacturer or medical professional advice

One thing my consultant says is we’re only at the very early stages of weigh loss medications like this. And that the medications that are coming down the line and that will be available in 5/10 years will be vastly superior to wegovy and the like.

Id love to think yep I’ll get to goal and that’s it done and dusted but the reality is without it I can’t control my relationship with food so I have accepted I’ll be on it for life. Once I’m at my goal consultants plan is to taper back and try and find a maintenance dose that works for me

That's so funny, I was in Ireland for Easter and I heard exactly that from family members working in healthcare - that the recent breakthroughs in obesity have been groundbreaking and "we expect to have more or less resolved the obesity crisis in the next 5-10 years".

Isn't it amazing really?

I appreciate that if you're getting a private prescription you can do whatever they will give you but the NICE guidelines are 2 years

Well I’m in Ireland so not governed by NICE guidelines. Obviously things are done differently here to the UK. In Ireland a consultant or GP can prescribe Ozempic unlike under the NHS (I’ve read things about on here about pathways etc). I was initially prescribed by a consultant and once I was successful taking the drug have been referred to my GP who can now prescribe

https://svph.ie/healthcare-professionals/consultants-directory/dr-karl-neff/

This is my consultant, to clarify this isn’t a pay for a private prescription online thing. And his advice is semiglutide is a drug for life

What is your contingency if you can’t take it anymore? It’s common to cause gallstones and can even cause gastro paresis. So you might be able to take it for 2 years or more then not be able to anymore. This was happening to me. No one knows what might happen so it’s probably better to try to work on your mindset around food for a long term future proofing rather than just succumb to a negative mindset around food forever

I can’t speak for everyone @Menora but I’m not sure really. As I said I have been on semaglutide for over two years and I have frequently warned people on the Ozempic threads that you need to change the way you eat for life. It’s not a quick fix. If you go back to eating the way you did before then you will regain the weight. Like any diet. The manufacturer says some people should expect to take it for life. As it’s such early days we don’t really know much more. Although Ozempic has been prescribed for diabetes for quite a few years so I suppose they have that data regarding long term usage and issues arising from it. For me it has scared me a bit how quickly carb cravings came back. The constant food noise. The compulsion almost to keep picking at things.

@Aliflowers - it’s great you have a consultant to speak to. I think I’m going to try to get an appointment with an endocrinologist here in the UK.

@MorphandMindy - it is amazing really. Fingers crossed it will be easier. And less expensive in future!

@PineappleTime - I appreciate what you are saying but that is not information from the manufacturer. Only NICE. And I would say it’s about cost more than anything.