Another summer weight gain upset

[Pearlss]

I lost 4 stone over 2 years.
Went from clinically obese to BMI of 25.
I did this with 2 years of MJ and achieved my goal at Easter this year.
I was beyond frustrated that it took my body TWO YEARS to lose 4 stone but I am a very slow loser even with WLI.
The money spent on MJ was a fortune for me and I can no longer afford it, especially at the increased priced. I stopped using it at Easter.
And now.....since start of May I have regained 3 stone.
3 stone.
How have I gained 3 stone in one summer?
It took me 2 years to lose 4 stone and that was with 100% discipline and daily calorie tracking to ensure a minimum of 600cals deficit daily and non stop CV exercise 5 x weekly and still it took 2 solid years, yet I've put 3 stone back on in just 4 months!
Just tried a cotton top and trousers on that I last wore at Easter and both were loose fitting and floppy on me. Today, neither of them fit or do up, I can't fit into them, and I can see in the mirror I look obese all over again.
Oh help.
I'm beyond upset.
And I can't afford any more MJ.
It's all over my back, like someone has picked up a slab of 2 foot x 2 foot of lard and hung it on my back. My breasts have ballooned. My abdomen looks like a giant enormous apple. My upper arms look huge. My face is fat. My bum and legs remain thin.
Please be gentle - I am very vulnerable in my mental health due to childhood neglect, so please go easy on me. I know I'm fully responsible but I really need help and advice here.
I spent 10 years on diets, Slimming World, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Cambridge, regular calorie restriction, all 100% disciplined yet never lost weight. I thought I must have a metabolic disorder as I was sticking to plan better than anyone else in the group yet they'd all lose weight at the weekly weigh-ins despite "Oops I had a cheat day this week!" Whilst I remained the same weight despite 100% dedication. Then MJ came along and I did it, I lost 4 stone that I'd tried to lose for a decade. It took 2 years but I did it. And now, 4 months later, I have regained 75% of the fat. I haven't even binged at all. I simply started eating 'normally ' again without calorie counting.
I am severely beating myself up this morning.

Firstly take a breath, accept this isn't the weight you want to be but that you can change it. Your weight doesn't affect your worth as a human, you can still be a beautiful and special person regardless of your bmi.

You sound like me, I just couldnt shift weight without wli. I literally went up and down the same 2 pounds for years, I think perimenopause has made my daily calorie base so low its not realistic to maintain a calorie deficiency.

Wegovy changed that for me but I suspect I'll also put the weight back on once I stop treatment. X

Don't beat yourself up, that's not helping.
The most important thing to remember is that your body is evolutionarily adapted to store as much energy as possible so that you survive the famine of winter. Eating "normally" will always result in weight gain because that's normal - don't blame yourself for this.

My situation isn't quite the same as yours but similar - I lost an enormous amount of weight a few years ago and put almost all of it back on during a year where I was going through hell and couldn't deal with the effort of eating healthily on top of everything else. I am now focusing on re-losing the weight and it's slow but it's working. I can't bear the thought that it might yoyo back again. Thankfully I have qualified to get Wegovy on the nhs this time

What I am doing differently this time though is that I am not calorie counting or "dieting" but making permanent lifelong changes in how I eat - high protein, low carb, low fat, no UPFs and lots of veg. The weight is coming off slowly and I'm seeing this as a good thing - I'm only having a low dose of the WLI and it's just taking the edge off my appetite and making it possible for me to have slightly smaller portions which are sufficient to create a small calorie deficit. My hope is that once I stop the WLI, I won't be going back to "normal" at all but will keep eating like this with only a small increase in my portions because of the lack of WLI which will hopefully only result in me maintaining the weight I reach rather than putting it back on. I don't know yet whether this is over-optimistic! But the coaching I have been getting has been emphasising that I shouldn't perceive myself as "being on a diet" but changing my attitude to food in a permanent way.

When you lose that much weight you need to weigh yourself every single day not just ignore it all summer. First thing I do in the morning is stand on the scales and if you have gained more than 2 pounds you need to deal with it immediately, not wait until you have put on three stone.
Ive lost 6 stone over 2 years on MJ and this is the only way I can keep it off by daily monitoring. Its not obsessive. Its common sense.

I am 6 months in to my MJ journey have lost 40lbs so far but am already dreading the day l have to come off it.

Be kind to yourself op.

Hard though it is I think you need to strip out the emotion and try to work out the science of what's happened. You say that calorie restriction hadn't worked in the past, but you did lose weight on Mounjaro, albeit slowly.

Can you look at your typical daily food on Mounjaro - say, a week's worth of everything you ate - and calculate the calories you'd have been consuming? In theory, if you are able to eat at the same level without the Mounjaro, you should start losing the weight again. I say 'in theory' because calorie counting hadn't worked for you before, but it is worth testing the theory - try to do this for a couple of weeks - and see if it sets your weight back on a downward trajectory.

@Gettingbysomehow is spot on with the advice to weigh regularly so weight gain doesn't creep up on you. It's so easy to think 'I've had a bad week, I won't weigh myself till next week' - and then you have another bad week and another and before you know it you're terrified to weigh yourself.

You have lost it once - there will be a way to lose it again even if you can no longer afford the WLI, you need to find out what your body needs. Once your weight is back on a downward trajectory you will feel better.

Did you keep up all the exercise after stopping the jabs? I think it’s a case of trying to keep as much the same when you come off them, so monitoring weight, weighing food and calorie counting, exercising and trying to gain some muscle. If you stop the jabs, return to ‘normal’ eating and back to no exercise, you do end up back to square one. It’s frustrating but nothing changes long-term with your body from the jabs, it doesn’t make it harder to regain weight. As soon as things slip, it’s just the same as if you had dieted without the jabs. Hence why so many people will stay on them forever. Could you have afforded a lower dose to keep something there?

This is the hard truth. It is the only thing that works to maintain in my view. It might be difficult and I really don't want to get on the scales first thing every morning, but I do. I have manage to keep off around 6 stone for 9 years by doing this. I didn't use WLD but have nothing against them at all. There were a couple of blips where I gained a stone but one is easier to shed than 6. The other key for me is running. When I stop running, I eat more and then I gain. When I run first thing in the morning 4 x a week I am on the straight and narrow.

Good luck. You did this once, you can do it again.

You know you can do it, so like a previous poster said, separate the emotion to facts and start again. You know how to eat a calorie deficit and have done it in the past. You will have been eating around 3000 calories a day to put on 3st in four months. Exercise has little bearing on weightless, but it’s good for your health so keep it up if you can, but you need to focus on a calorie deficit.

Another vote for weighing yourself every morning religiously. It’s the only way to see immediate change and correct it quickly.

I’ve stockpiled some bigger pens and recent pen is 12.5mg. If I use this for 2.5mg, it will last 20 weeks, which makes it much more affordable. It’s in the fridge and I’m using sterile wipes and needles (and importantly the medication is in date, just not disposed after the 4 weeks the manufacturer wants us to stick to!).

My 12.5mg pen cost me £276, so will be £13.80 a dose of 2.5mg. The 2.5mg pen by comparison is £165, so £41.25 a dose of 2.5mg.

Appreciate you'd need to work up the doses again, but that could be a more long term option for you to maintain!

Another thing I find useful is to calculate TDEE and BMR accurately for your height and weight. I track my useage on a smart watch. I am very aware of calorie intake but do not always measure/weigh but always always look at packaging.
https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/bmr-calculator.html
https://tdeecalculator.net/

These have taught me that my daily calorie intake simply can't be very high! (I'm short and, now, pretty light)

It’s incredibly important for people to understand how GLP-1 weight loss jabs work. Especially when you have been obese or severely overweight. If you are very slightly overweight and need to lose a stone or so then WLI will help you do that and careful monitoring when you stop is essential. Literally daily weighing. Then you have a good chance of maintaining .

However, if you were or are in the first group your weight gain will be almost certainly related to insulin resistance. The tell tale signs are that the lower doses of MJ had little effect or like OP took an extraordinary amount of time to get to a healthy weight. Your weight loss only really started to happen from 10mg and upwards to 15mg. Therefore if you lose on the higher doses, or very slowly on the lower doses - the moment you stop, you WILL pile it back on. Because you are still insulin resistant.

MJ is like any other drug in this regard. I for example take thyroxine for an underactive thyroid. The drug stops this condition. If I stop taking it, then it will be underactive again. It’s really not rocket science. All the details and research is there for all to read in the SUMMOUNT trial.
I lost 8 stone. BMI 38 to BMI 23. I knew before I started that I would have to remain on MJ or its subsequent reincarnations for life. I maintain on 7.5mg. It’s expensive but for me it has removed my sleep apnoea, weight related arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a whole heap of self loathing. So it’s a priority expense. (BTW 2.5 and 5mg do nothing for me. I could eat a full Sunday roast with all the trimmings and pudding. 7.5mg means I can manage a quarter of that. )

Weight loss has very very little to do with exercise. The amount required to lose a lb is just not sustainable. Exercise is excellent for health, strong bones and well being. Weight resistant exercise is especially important for post menopausal women like me who have lost a lot of weight and muscle. It’s got bugger all to do with weight loss. That is entirely down to how many calories you consume. You will consume more calories when you are hungry. Blood sugar levels affected hunger. MJ controls that. So you eat less. Think about food less and lose weight.

Please can you explain insulin resistance to me in idiots terms. I simply do not understand what it is, what it means, or how it links to weight gain.
Does it make people gain weight more rapidly if you've got it?
Someone upthread said I've eaten 3,000 cals a day to gain 3 stone. This simply isn't true. No way have I eaten 3,000 daily for 4 months. Yes I've had days eating as much as 2,000 cals, I've had other days eating a few hundred less than that, but I've never eaten more than 2,000.

Agree, daily weighing is the way forward.

I think if you really look at TDEE carefully it might help you. I don't agree that you would have needed to eat 3,000 calories a day for the gain. I asked AI and this is their estimate of the calories that caused the weight gain. It's usually reasonably accurate for this sort of thing but you'd need to know your TDEE.
Here's the AI explanation in case you're interested. Just ignore if this isn't for you, I find personally find it helpful.

"To gain 3 stone in 4 months, you would need to eat roughly 1,200 calories over your maintenance level every day.
Your exact total daily intake depends entirely on your starting Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), which is the baseline number of calories your body burns through your metabolism and daily activity. To find your target, you must add 1,200 to that baseline number."

Ive got to agree with insulin resistance. People who say eat less move more dont understand this. The modern diet does not help at all. Ive had to give up all ultra processed foods to control it, alcohol and added sugar. Its really tough but I just cannot be large again.

I'm 5ft 7
52
Now weigh 14 stone 7 pounds
Sedentary job
Exercise 4 x weekly

I think it would be useful to know what eating “normally” means for you, in terms of calories per day. Would it be worth calorie tracking for a week based on the way you’ve been eating since you stopped Mounjaro at Easter? Then you can see where you’re at in terms of calories per day/week and work out what’s been going on.

I would go high protein low carb diet and drink fruit and mint tea and plenty of fluids inbetween meals to keep hydrated. If you have insulin resistance, which means your body is more prone to storing glucose from carbs and sugar as fat rather than utilising it as an energy source, low carb works really well and high protein increases satiety.
Use myfitnesspal app to track your daily food and macros, I lost weight prior to mounjaro by tracking and reducing carbs.
To reverse insulin resistance, we have to get to lower bmis. I was prediabetic at bmi 32.8 and needed 10mg and above for it to work and resolve my high blood sugar symptoms and reduce my carb cravings and give all week suppression and satiety.
I ended up going all the way to 15mg until I hit bmi 25 and the doses were too strong for me so I started tapering down and 9 months later I've lost a further stone and down to 4mg bmi 22. I've had strong suppression and satiety throughout. My hba1c is now normal.
Did you taper down the mounjaro or stop cold turkey? You clearly knew how to lose before so get back on it asap.

These are the calories to maintain your current weight - your TDEE. I do not know if this helps.

I totally understand your dilemma (when you say you don'teat more than 200kcal/day).
My TDEE is 1600kcal (lightly active) 1400 (sedentary), but i can not eat that amount. I will gain weight even if very active.

Thank you that's so kind of you. But gosh I could never maintain my weight eating 2,154 cals a day. It's eating as much as 2,000 a day that's made me gain 3 stone!
Oh I hate my body. It gains weight eating what TDEE says should be maintenance!!!😫

TDEE calculators are helpful but your reality also needs to be factored in, as individual people will vary from the statistical averages.

Also, you don't know how many calories you were eating since you stopped taking Mounjaro. You describe it as eating "normally" and not calorie counting. Clearly, on average, you have eaten more calories than your system needs to maintain your weight. Even if that seems like it wasn't over eating or bingeing.

The key thing is whether or not you think you can stick to a sufficient calorie deficit long term in order to lose the 3 stone without using Mounjaro. Or, can you afford Wegovy, injections or tablets, or Foundayo? They may not be as effective as Mounjaro but they may stop the weight gain and help you start to lose it again. You'd likely need to be at 1500 cals to lose weight depending on how active you are.

I've just done one for you classifying you as sedentary - I find that, regardless of how active I am, anything above 'sedentary' and I would gain weight. This gives your maintenance at 1876 cals per day. In theory that means you should lose if you stick to 1500 a day - does that sound achievable? I would personally aim for 300 cal breakfast, 500 cal lunch and either 700 cal dinner, or 500 cal dinner with 200 cal to use whenever you like on healthy snacks.

Yes I can easily stick to 1,500 a day but honestly I won't lose on that.
I have to eat no more than 1,000 a day consistently day in day out to even lose a pound a week. If I go above 1,000 on even one day of the week then I won't lose that week.
I swear to God I've genuinely got something wrong with my metabolism.

All those TDEE online calculators are rubbish and misleading because one shouldn't use their overweight weight to calculate it as excess fat has not the same metabolic need as your organs. You need one that calculates your adjusted weight first.

What do you eat " normally"? Don't write it here if you don't want, write it down on a piece of paper. Is it takeaways? Crisps? a chocolate bar in your handbag? What about drinks? Protein shakes or bars?

Try to ditch the normal and go vegetables heavy. Raw, steamed, lightly oven roasted. Make beans of all kind your friend. Have a piece of chicken or fish.

It is so unfair how hard it is to lose and shockingly easy to gain back.

I’m the same. I run marathons and 50k ultras and was putting on so much weight. I’d seen dieticians, naturopaths, drs, any specialists I could get to , and my bloods still were high for heart attack and pre-diabetes. Like you I could eat nothing and the weight piled on. If one more person said eat more salad or calorie deficit I was going to hit them! I ate perfectly . I’ve lost 25kg on Ozempic and wegovy (I actually don’t eat less with them but it does do something obviously internally that fixes what is wrong, it got me off thyroid meds too.) But soon as I stopped, the fat on my waist and thighs came back first. I had to go back on it. My levels are still trying to be pre-diabetic despite losing weight. It’s just my body at this point in time. I think I’ve been on it 2 years and hope one day my body will just behave X