Advice on what to do?

[mounjaro2025]

So I am about 6-7 stone overweight. I tried mounjaro at the beginning of this year, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I gave it another go in August but I just didn’t like the way it made me feel.

I NEED to do something about my weight and I am considering joining Slimming World - not because I can eat unlimited pasta but more for educating myself about what to eat, building long-term sustainable habits, and also for the accountability of weekly weigh-ins. I am thinking of doing this alongside using ChatGPT as a tool to help me with recipes / shopping lists / weekly meal plans etc.

I know there are other programmes out there hence why I am asking for some advice / ideas on where to go to next…?

I do not want to give mounjaro or any other form of “skinny jab” another go. I did not enjoy my experience on it, and I think long term I would end up piling all of the weight on anyway.

Honestly? Until you are in the right frame there's no point trying. You need to want to lose weight, rather than just thinking you need to, and be prepared to put in the work to achieve it. I say this as someone who has tried and failed (and regained more than I lost) because I wasn't mentally prepared. At the moment I'm not following any diet but I am keeping a (loose) eye on how much UPF I'm eating and trying to be guided by my hunger and fullness cues. I'm also occasionally weighing myself (once every few weeks) to check that I'm maintaining rather than gaining more. At some point I'll try again but only when I feel I can really do it. It sucks!

If you do go down the SW route, maybe wait until they roll out the new programme next month.

High protein, low carb diets work really well. They keep you fuller for longer and reduce the blood sugar spikes. Also drink plenty of water. You can use tdeecalculator.net to work out daily calories to lose 1lb a week, if you can cut calories further than suggested safely, then do that, depends on your starting weight and height.
Move more too like walking or get a walker/cross trainer to use inside. Youtube have plenty of beginner free exercise sessions, I use Growwithjo and Lucy Wyndham-Read and I bought a cross trainer from Argos.

I agree with the previous poster who said you need to be in the right mindset. Don’t ask me how often I’ve started losing weight but didn’t go beyond a few kilos (and piled it back on), because I just wasn’t. Of course being obese and a size 20 I knew I needed to do something about my weight, but unless it really “clicks” it just doesn’t work.

I have lost just over 30kg now between Jan and October (wanted to lose another 5kg, but missing the drive right now - I am at a healthy BMI so it would now be cosmetic) and what works is very individual. For me it was “just” calorie counting and cutting back on crap (takeaways, eating out, chocolate…). I couldn’t do a diet plan or fasting. Neither would I be happy with any of the groups, but for others they obviously work! So I think you need to find what works for you and, more importantly, what you can stick to.