Reached a tipping point back in March when I literally felt like John Candy whilst trying to play five a side. (56yr old, 18.6.5). Decided enough was enough and am now down to 15.2.2. I will admit to Mounjaro assistance for the first five months, it helped massively. Jog, cycle and walk regularly now at better pace/distance than before and generally feel a hell of a lot better.
I've lost 14kg in the last 3 months. Mainly down to replacing my lunchtime sandwich and bag of crisps with a salad and lean turkey/chicken/ham. Although, to be fair, some of that could be down to the effort and stress of moving house. Doctor has started me on a low dose (2.5ml) of mounjaro, to stabilise my glucose levels and get me off insulin and metformin, so I expect I'll lose more weight on the coming months. I hardly eat bread nowadays and I've halved my consumption of rice and pasta, so I hope this habit will stick after the mounjaro treatment and keep me on the path to being less porky.
Love hearing the progress above! I'm intrigued about mounjaro, though. Not something I personally would go for but interested on if there's been any side effects? I weighed in around 111kg this morning. Lowest I hit this yeah was just under 110kg in July, just before a holiday. My progress this year hasn't been what I wanted in terms of weightloss this year but I'm healthier, stronger, fitter and the disc bulge in my back appears to be back to about 99%. It's also been an incredibly difficult 15 months so any progress is a win.
Mounjaro was actually developed to stabilise blood glucose level for diabetics - the weight loss thing was apparently an accidental side-effect. I get it prescribed but it's bloody expensive if you're buying it for weight loss, although that's usually a much higher dose than what I receive - that dose can be as much as four to six times as much - 10 to 15ml, I believe. My sister has fibromyalgia which initially stopped her exercising due to chronic pain and fatigue and progressed to her being unable to work because she'd crash and be bed-ridden for sometimes days, which made her gain a lot of weight over a period of ~6-8 years - she went from size 10 to 18 - which increases exertion and the resultant fatigue and pain she suffers. She's lost almost 6 stone through Mounjaro and her quality of life has improved significantly. My old neighbour has lost 4 stone with it, and I know someone else who has lost enough weight that he can run again and has taken up jogging. Some people cannot take it - due to digestive side-effects.
Similar to David I was put on MJ, it was try this or insulin, not up on weightloss trends etc, so it’s side effect of wiping your brain of the desire to eat was quite interesting, it totally smashed and stabilized my blood sugars and also lowered my blood pressure, so I was able to drop some other meds, it’s witchcraft. I’ve had no issues taking it, I have to make sure I am taking in enough calories each day because I can forget to eat, because of the impact of this you have to make sure you eat the right stuff because you can be eating things feeling you don't want anymore. This has had an impact on my weight, it is dropping, it is not magic though you still have to do stuff to really help it. Though its fair to say the loss profile is fairly similar to my 2019 loss where I went from 147kg -> sub 100 but without the hard work. Started on it at 125kg 3 months ago and down at 115kg now, it's a lot easier on the brain, you don't lie there at night thinking of food etc, tummy going nuts etc. there's nothing. It's weird doing this with the missus not doing it, you are sat there thinking blimey no wonder you're fat you're always eating and knowing that was me too There are some bad potential side effects, none of which I have felt yet, but some like muscle loss, you won’t notice, I will be trying to resume old habits I had prior to covid where I nailed a training routine, get some resistance stuff in etc.
I'm really looking forward to stopping Metformin because it makes me itch, really badly. I have to take anti-histamines daily or I will literally scratch myself bloody.
There are a couple of drugs being used for weight loss, and I can’t remember which ones go under which brand names both here and the US. One of the podcasts I listen to, Skeptics With A ‘K’, did talk about weight loss drugs a while back (it’s a UK based podcast that talks about science, science communication, and critical thinking). The overall stance was relatively positive: it’s another tool in the box for weight loss, and it’s a particularly valuable tool for people who may struggle to lose weight through “traditional” methods, regardless of what causes them to struggle. There were some relatively credible indications of possible pancreas issues as a result of prolonged and extensive use; but there’s a lot of caveats to that since they’re very early and very preliminary indications of a possible link, and I can’t remember for the life of me which drug that applied to. I’ve been meaning to try and create a transcript of that episode for a while, my other half has started Mounjaro and I’ve been tempted myself. I can read a transcript quicker than I can find time to re-listen to a 40-60 minute podcast when I already struggle to keep on top of my podcast subscriptions.
Ah, the hotly-debated subject of body fat percentage! There are other reasonably accurate ways to measure (or track) body fat percentage - I used the navy method, which is very popular. You can also measure yourself with a cheap caliper and get acceptable results (better than any scale will give you, for sure). Both of these methods are very good for consistently tracking fat-loss progress. Going by the most recent pic you posted I'd say you were definitely in the realm of 13% but unlikely to be as low as 11%. Having developed muscles can make a higher body fat percentage appear lower (which is the same case for me). In the pic below I'm at around 16-17% but I look a lot leaner thanks to the lighting and the pump (after an ab workout).
If anyone is interested in Mounjaro, happy to give some feedback on my experiences although of course we are all different. This is an interesting video about it which explains quite well how it affects you etc. For us unlucky ppl with the 'fat gene', the reduction in the food nag in your brain is nothing short of incredible. You simply lose interest in food. Supermarket visits are different as nothing stands out that you want to eat. It does fade over time of course but I saw consistent losses over the 6-7 month period. I do cycle a few times a week (Probably between 40-60 miles a week in total on a hybrid as I am not a fan of road bikes), jog a few miles on a track and walk my dog every day around 2.2 miles, so this has helped as well.
