Personal Health: Mounjaro Week 1

Background

One week ago, at 9pm, I overcame my not-inconsiderable fear of needles, and took my first jab of Mounjaro. I’d done enough reading to be just as worried about the side effects, which was only getting worse with each YouTube video I watched… but then was the worst fear of them all – that it wouldn’t actually help.

I’ve struggled with my weight since university, but it’s gotten markedly worse over the following 20 years. I was fortunate enough to be 6ft 2”, which hid it for a bit – but now, outside of family, most everyone in my life has never seen me even close to a healthy weight. Now I’ve recently hit my 40th, on the heels of a bit of a health scare, and feeling the effort it’s taking to keep up with my toddler niece – I knew I wanted and needed to get healthier – but just couldn’t make any progress.

After countless recommendations (big people tend to be recommended weight loss ideas a lot) I decided to do some real research into these new “magical” weight loss drugs. Other than needles, the list of things I was afraid of (unknown long term side effects, not to mention the short-term ones, and that thyroid situation in rats 😳) – I started to realise the risk of staying this size far outweighed that of the drug.

I started to realise that most of the conversation around concerns and risks were really associated with people who very much didn’t need it but were taking it to stay thinner than they should or need to be. These may be very legitimate concerns for how it is used by the general public at large, but I’m more than half my body weight away from being what the NHS considers a healthy BMI – I’m good, and I do need the help.

So thanks to Asda’s online pharmacy, I’m £130 pound lighter already – and last week I took my first jab. If anyone thinks I’m taking this lightly, there was a time in my life not so long ago that giving myself an injection would have been my worst nightmare, yet here we are. I can thankfully report it was totally painless… I did get a bit “weak” afterwards, that’ll be the phobia kicking-in, but steely determination got me through the act itself.

Tips that worked for me

I’d read some advice to take the injection just before bed, so if you do get any nausea etc. you essentially just sleep through it. Made sense, and I’ll be sticking to that for now. You have to take it on the same night every week… I opted for Monday’s as they’re pretty stable in my calendar, and it’s often during the working week where I eat the worst. Apparently it has a 5 day half life, so is only half as effective after the first five days – and for that reason I recommend picking a day that gives you the strongest effect on your most difficult-to-eat-wisely days.

Oh, and drink plenty of water.

Progress

So far, so good. I didn’t seem to get any of the much-ballyhooed side effects. I thought I had a light headache one day, took some paracetamol as I was about to head out and was completely fine. I imagine it was because I was eating far less than I normally would.

I bought a Twirl on Tuesday, and to my great surprise I found it on my coffee table on Wednesday. That just doesn’t happen to me.

I didn’t feel particularly different, though I noticed it was much easier to make the right call – it’s harder to notice the absence of a feeling, but I’m just not constantly fretting about food now. I still “think” about it of course, but it’s from a much more pragmatic standpoint to ensure that I’m actually eating enough.

I seem to be able to eat fine still, though I will get much more bloated/feel full after way less food – and I still enjoy food. I just seem to not need as much of it. This is liberating in a way I don’t have the words to explain.

I still have to make healthy choices, but making those choices has so far been easier. How much this has also been helped by my own enthusiasm for this project I can’t tell… normally I can enthusiastically push through two weeks, but then collapse in a massive binge of the all the previous two weeks missing calories. Too early to tell if this will be the same, but I’ve not had any cravings for my usual crappy food thus far. That’s a big deal.

Numbers

I’m not sure I want to fully share these here, but after a really good week (and then a birthday party slightly derailing me at the weekend) I’ve lost 3kg so far. Considering I’m writing this technically on day 6 I think that’s a fantastic start, but still within my fairly normal fluctuations. I don’t expect to keep this pace up, but if I did, that’d be a healthy BMI (I know, BMI is bad–don’t @ me) in just 6 months.

Help

I found it really helpful to speak to people who had tried it before making the decision that this was right for me. If you’re reading this and have any questions, please feel free to reach out.