Considering GLP1 for weight loss with a healthy starting BMI

[Dipytique]

Does anyone have experience of starting a GLP1 with a healthy BMI to start with? I have a BMI is 24.6. I’m really not comfortable at this weight and have lost the 10lbs -1st that I need to lose many times, but always found it hard to maintain.
A doctor I know has an obesity clinic and has offered to prescribe/sell me the GLP 1 injections. As much as I’d rather lose the weight naturally, so far it hasn’t been possible. I’m seriously considering it and not sure what to do.
They also mentioned the new drug called retatrutide which sounds like it’s something I would prefer but it seems like it may not be legally available for a couple of years. Any advice would be great.

How much heavier are you now then when you recovered from your eating disorder (“being underweight?”) and how long ago was it? I will share my experience but want to urge a lot of caution.

I also had an eating disorder(under eating and When I was pretending I was functional I moved into orthorexia). I took mounjaro more recently, about 5 years after I truly recovered and had been happy with my higher weight. I took the mounjaro as I had gained 11kg from steroids for endometriosis and IVF, rapid weight gain over just 10 weeks, it was wild. I then had a miscarriage and had a gap before I could try again (more of the same treatment which made me balloon before) and I took mounjaro in this gap. My IVF clinic only requires you to stop mounjaro a month before you start treatment so I had a defined window when I would have to stop using mounjaro. I lost 9 of the 11kg in about 9 weeks. I also find it hard to diet having struggled in the past and I’m looking at more rounds of this treatment (for god knows how long). My GP said she had seen women gain about 8-10kg going through the same medical treatment protocol as me so my weight gain wasn’t unexpected. It took my BMI up to 26.8, none of my clothes fit me, I felt rubbish on top of horrible miscarriage hormone crash etc.

I want to add a major qualifier to this though. I had truly recovered from my eating disorder and been at a stable higher weight point (a good 18kg heavier than I was) for 5 years. There’s a point you have to reach where you have to accept a healthier and happier weight for you is higher than you might like it to be. I’m not sure what you were at your lowest and how that compares to your 10lb gain. A BMI of 24.6 isn’t high at all. And remember BMI is a crude tool. There’s a weight our bodies all sit comfortably at - a set point - and it can be very hard to keep it below that without extreme measures. If these 10lbs keep going back on, it might be this is your set point your body likes and you’re fighting a losing battle constantly trying to lose it.

One of the things that really helped me accept my body at a larger size was weight training. It really can change your shape. And it made me care less about the scale weight and also see how being “bigger” could actually look more attractive and healthy. If you don’t like your shape, it can help and it’s one of the best things you can do for your long term health too. That would be better as an approach for maintaining a shape you like and your health too long term, rather than needing mounjaro to keep off these 10lbs.

I think I felt safer taking mounjaro too because I had a hard stop date as I had only a limited amount of time before I needed to start treatment again. I do think without a reason to stop it could be a real slippery slope. I would seriously give pause and think about that in your case.

One difference between an eating disorder weight loss and GLP-1 is that the injections make it easy to lose weight, whereas for me a lot of the eating disorder was a distraction from what was going on in my life. It took up so much time and thought, because it was so difficult actually to live my life in that way so it was a very effective mental distraction. Mounjaro stops all food noise and makes it easy to lose weight, so my eating disorder wouldn’t have been able to serve its function.

I do think it can be a slippery slope too with body dysmoprhia. Everyone with an eating disorder doesn’t see themselves with reliable eyes and is prone to body dysmorphia. I had an eating disorder age 12-18 and I relapsed aged 27 which was triggered by a sudden weight loss. I had been in hospital with a gut infection and then had a toxic liver injury from the medication for it. That weight loss just turned on the light bulb in my head again around eating disorders and I had a lot of stress in my life at that time, my own health and family. But the sudden weight loss really made me think “gosh I was fat before and didn’t even know it” (I look at those photos now with completely different eyes). I then couldn’t see how thin I was getting. My worry would be you wouldn’t be able to see the weight loss and wouldn’t be able to stop.

honestly for “this 10lbs” I would try weight training rather than mounjaro. You will likely tone up, improve your health and it will rehabilitate your relationship with your body and stop worrying about the scale number. The other thing about weight training is you can’t build muscle and get the results you want if you are under eating. It helps you see food as fuel and prioritise what your body needs. I assume you really fought to stop the worst of the restriction and you don’t want to find yourself back in the middle of it from a jolly into mounjaro.

Good luck xx

My advice would be too look at diet first
My trainer talks about foundation meals- things that are healthy, quick to make and you are likely to make the effort making when you can't be bothered
Things like stir-fry, omelette, spaghetti Bolognese (vegi can be ready in 15 minutes), butter bean and halloumi stew (takes a few minutes to chuck in a dish and 30 minutes in oven).
For breakfast I have 200g greek yoghurt, 45g no added sugar brain kind granola, 50g raspberries, 50g blueberries and 50g pomegranate- which has 404calories, 24g protein and 10g fibre in it.....
I would look at some of these for all 3 meals a day- and make sure your pantry and freezer has stuff you would need for these rather than go straight to medication

It’s available in the U.S., but not in the UK.
it won’t be long before everyone will be able to buy tablets, because there will be so much choice out there.
i know friends who have used other friends golden doses to lose that last stone. But you need to be really careful if you do this
Try the Cambridge diet for a month, it needs enormous will power, but that will shift the stone.

If you try a higher protein and lower carb diet, it is filling and really helps with bloating and water retention. It's more of a way of life as you can do it easily long term without having too high of a deficit. My maintenance cals are 1500 as im 5ft 3 and office job so at 1800 you have more of an achievable target to maintain after losing without WLI.

@SlightlyTerrifiedButPolite thanks so much for sharing and what you’ve been through sounds really tough. This has given me a lot of food for thought, I do agree that I might not be able to stop before it becomes unhealthy. I will say the effects the under eating had on my body were not great and even when I had gained weight I was still suffering the consequences.
Thanks for all the other responses too, I really appreciate the advice and suggestions. I think I need to give myself the opportunity to really try and lose the weight and maintain again naturally before I consider using a drug to help speed it along. I know pretty much all there is to know about how to lose weight from my ED days but something has not been clicking in my brain for a while. I think due to high stress that I’ve been under.