Wegovy success for relatively low BMI starting point

[Pebble21TY]

Hi

I thought I would post something because this website was so helpful when I wanted to learn more about Wegovy, but didn’t find many threads related to people like me with a relatively low BMI (31, and Wegovy threshold is 30 so I only just qualify)

I appreciate some people have had a lot more to loose but after years of yo yo dieting (Cambridge, Weight W, Nutriseed 5:2) I haven’t found anything that keeps momentum and at start of Jan was at my heaviest 12 stone 5. I started Wegovy and took every dose for four weeks as instructed. Am lucky maybe but apart from odd moment of nausea I have had no side effects at all, other than appetite loss obviously. Weight loss has been miraculous by my standards, steady every week and I have lost 1 stone 10 lbs in three months and my BMI sits at a much better 26.4. Was a size 16 now almost a 12, I’m going to keep going until my BMI is under 25 and I’m no longer in the over weight category.

I just wanted to share it to say it’s ok to admit you are taking Wegovy even if you don’t have as much of a mountain to climb as others because if your weight is getting you down you have every right to do something about it, and I cannot believe how easy the last 3 months has been. I don’t think about food much at all, I don’t snack between meals, and by the time I eat dinner I have a small portion and I’m full and content with that.

Would also add it took me a while to see a healthcare provider say this but the website I buy my pens from say if you find a dose that works you can stick with it you don’t have to keep going to max 2.4. I am loosing roughly a 1lb a week and I don’t need to go faster than that so have learnt how to manage my dose and lower it slightly now I’m on the 1.7 pen, in fact they have a table on their website that tells you how many clicks you need to reduce the weekly dosage and therefore you can actually extend the life of the pen from 4 to 5/6 weeks (pen must be used once started within 6 weeks) so instead of taking 4 x 1.7 doses a month I bought extra needles and I titrate the dose to 1.39, it means I get an extra week from the pen so costs me less but actually I’m finding that dose a bit strong and have lost 2lb this week which is a little too fast for me so tomorrow I’m bringing myself back down to 1.0mg

so whilst it’s an expensive drug it’s adaptable to your own journey - am not advocating that anyone changes the dose suggested but if you have been using it a while you can absolutely tell when the dose is too much (based on the volume of food you can eat before feeling stuffed), and it’s ok to stay at the lower dose.

i hope someone finds this helpful, and wishing everyone good luck on their own journey to feel good about themselves xxx

I think most people on these boards understand this and no one really is judging if you want to lose weight you still qualify for using the drug with your initial BMI.

I still ask people ‘what next’ though, as I am not sure those people with lower BMI’s understand the drastic change that’s going to take place ones you stop taking it or taper down. 3-6 months isn’t very long to make real changes to your lifestyle long term, while the drug is helping you feel less hungry.

the trials so far have not been good in terms of long term maintenance of weight loss. Perhaps people who spend 2 years on it with a lot of weight to lose can end up actually having better chance at long term changes because they spend a lot longer working through all the trials and tribulations of a true lifestyle change, time will tell. And look I say this from both sides. I had 5st to lose, I’ve lost 4 and it’s taken a year and the first 6 months of it was on ozempic. I lost the most weight during that time on the drug, I’ve still lost off of it but it’s been so, so hard carrying on losing and maintaining a loss. The hard part is what keeps me going in all honesty, having put in so much work it’s now my motivation. No way am I going to undo the past 6 months of how gruelling its felt, vs the first 6 months which felt similar to what you described. You need to make sure you have a contingency plan for 6, 12 months from now because the hunger comes back. There are threads here on the next step of coming off but don’t wait till then, you need to do the work NOW whilst you take the drug so you are prepared. Your post is still mostly focused on what the drug is doing and not what you are doing.