I just began climbing down Mt Mounjaro 8 weeks ago. Started at 245 have only lost 10# as I’m in a sedentary phase w 10 hrs a day laptop work. But your first essay got me excited to take the plunge, so thanks!
I think the key is to not GAIN the the weight in the first place. The average USA corporate medico diet is TOXIC and fat sneaks up on most of us during the work/life stress years of 30-60. Then we realize, Holy Fuck, I’m FAT. And w/o drugs, we’re screwed.
I’ll start my exercise program soon. And I do hope to get off the meds, but not if the weight returns. We shall see. I was a skinny kid, so there’s that.
"I think the key is to not GAIN the the weight in the first place."
Absolutely! It is the weight gain-weight loss cycle that wrecks your metabolism and results in the malign constellation we call the metabolic syndrome. And since the more you gain means the more you need to lose, the damage keeps getting worse over time.
I've exercised off and on most of my life. I was sort of a jock in high school - lettered in swimming in 9th grade, played football and basketball in high school, and started lifting weights in my late teens. I've kept up with that for fifty years, and actually have a strength training power cage sharing my office with me. (I don't have the space for a dedicated gym room).
But from experience I knew that I had to concentrate on the weight loss aspect first, and worry about the strength issues later. Trying to change everything all at once can lead to overload, overwhelm, and failure at everything.
I'm still not as strong as I was before the last to bouts of significant weight loss - but I'm older now. Still, a lot of it is coming back. My biggest problem is small, nagging injuries that knock me off certain exercises for days or weeks. Basically I need to take things slower and pay a great deal of attention to form.
I was never exactly skinny as a kid - I am a mesomorph body type, but I didn't start becoming overweight until I turned thirty - in the middle 1970s, exactly when everybody else started getting fat, too.
I see no reason to stop taking the drug. I have lost 70 or more pounds half a dozen times, and shrunken stomach or not, I have eventually regained every pound and more.
I'm curious, though. Why do you think that I should consider stopping the drug? I get that from everybody it seems like, and it frankly makes no sense to me. Could you explain your thought process here?
I have a general distrust of drugs produced by today's drug companies. I don't think any (or very few) have been adequately tested for long term side effects and none to see what the effects might be when taking multiple drugs. I am very surprised that you lost that much weight so often and regained it. I'd have bet that anyone who fought that battle and won would NEVER backslide. However, I love food and know full well that the temptations are more powerful that nicotine or caffeine. If it were me I'd stop taking the drug until I saw my weight beginning to rise. If it were the only way to stay trim, I'd be all in....but sad that my success came from a pill. Perhaps there is a time element?
Perhaps weight loss is similar to the cigarette war? You may stop smoking, but you have not won that war until your have abstained (totally) for a year or so?
Regardless of my belief, I am happy for you and for everyone who starts punching holes in his belts and buying new pants that fit. A downside is that your health may improve to the point that you live too long. That is a very sad (but common) aspect of life which is seldom discussed for a variety of reasons.
I lost about 25 pounds in 2020 and about 35 pounds in early 2021. I love what I eat and snack on a mix of spicy almonds, cashews and cocktail peanuts (all as salty as possible) when I come away not quite satisfied with the quantity of a meal.
Cheers to all who fight the weight battle and may you all win that war. I try to avoid sugar at all costs....even gave up ketchup, but since I don't eat potatoes no fries to put it on.
Okay, I guess I get it. It's more an emotional distaste than a fully rational one. I have those too.
As for the drug companies, I try to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I evaluate their products on a case by case basis. As to the Covid vaccine, for instance. There were enough red flags early on to convince me to wait. Since many of those flags have since been confirmed by real world outcomes, I'm still waiting.
OTOH, if we wait for long term testing to guarantee safety, almost nothing will ever get done. For me it's a risk-reward calculation. What of the benefits to me losing a bunch of weight and keeping it off versus eschewing the drug that will apparently allow me to do so with (relatively) little effort that has not undergone safety testing for a decade or more?
Looked at that way, it was an easy decision for me to make.
Another consideration most people don't look at is that the speed of scientific (including medical) advances is growing so rapidly (a factor of the onrushing Singularity) that drugs will be entirely obsolete and replaced by drugs two or three generations newer and even more effective while long-term testing slowly plays out. You would find yourself availing yourself of nothing while you wait for some guarantee of perfect safety that will never be forthcoming.
Nor do I understand "sadness" over using a pill. Why be sad over using something that works? Or is it just an urge to be all natural? The all-natural human state can be quite a mess, and I don't see any lack of virtue in trying to remedy such messes by "unnatural" means.
Finally, the one thing you say that really stumps me: "A downside is that your health may improve to the point that you live too long."
Since my conscious goal since I was about 25 has been to live essentially forever if I so choose, that seems entirely strange to me. And I've pursued a "bootstrap" strategy to make that as possible as I can. I try everything that can possibly extend my healthy lifespan a little, hoping to survive until the next major discovery lets me push the limit further. Improving my health to the point I live longer is the reason I am thrilled to see advances like Mounjaro appear on the scene.
We are proof that you can lose a huge amount of weight with or without a drug, and while I hope it will affect the quality of our lives, it appears all animals reach a stage when the machine wears out. I have personally seen and heard of others whose lives were essentially over, but their bodies refused to quit. When those activities which gave us pleasure become a thing of the past and we become a burden on those who love us, staying too long at the fair strikes me as sad.
I hope our weight loss, coupled with exercise, will improve the quality of the rest of our lives. I believe it will. I hope neither of us ends up in the "but his body just wouldn't quit" category. For me I should be better able to "keep the water under the boat" which was my primary motivation.
"I have personally seen and heard of others whose lives were essentially over, but their bodies refused to quit."
I'm going to hazard a guess that by far the largest majority of such cases involve something like Alzheimers. My own grandfather, for instance, was a mindless husk from the age of seventy, and he lived to the age of 96, cared for by my grandmother, who lived to 95. Their son, my father, lived to be 99, with noticeable mental problems only in the last couple years of his life.
Not much noticed at Lilly, amidst all the hoopla about Mounjaro, is the other blockbuster drug they are completing testing on for submission for FDA approval this fall: It stopped Alzheimer's disease severity progression in about fifty percent of the test subjects over the one year testing period. You'll see more advances like this in short order. Eventually, I expect Alzheimer's to be conquered as effectively as obesity now seems to be. And we'll see an end to most of the instances of bodies outliving destroyed minds.
The number of those who linger on, in reasonably sound mind and marginally sound bodies, is minuscule compared to the Alzheimer's problem. And if I were to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's (not likely at my age) I'd be first in line for these new drugs, just as I eagerly sought out Mounjaro once I got a look at the effectiveness data - which was, by the way, conservative compared to my own results.
I would certainly not dispute with those who make other choices for other reasons than mine, but I would think it very sad for any who decided not to avail themselves of the benefits of Mounjaro either from misunderstandings about the drug, or antiquated or nonsensical prejudices espoused by people in the medical profession or otherwise.
Jul 21, 2023·edited Jul 21, 2023Liked by Bill Quick
Congrats on the transformation and thank you for the inspiration.
I've been on the Mounjaro for just over 4 weeks and I've already lost 17 lbs without doing anything different, except for eating less because of the drug's effect on my appetite. And my wife says I look like I have lost even more because I'm less "puffy" through the shoulders and belly and face.
JR, I'm happy to see that you find inspiration in my post. I hope others are able to do so as well. The previous seven months of my journal from morbid obesity to general physical normality and good health represent the end of the beginning. I have reached my first goal, which was to lose the weight. The long term goal - the one I'll be pursuing for the rest of my life, is to maintain those gains. I'll be reporting on that journey as well from time to time, as events warrant.
I am firmly convinced that these drugs represent one of the biggest game changers for the health of the Fat West, given how many diseases and disorders we know are associated with significantly overweight or obese states. I have to confess that my biggest surprise has been the amount of pushback and reluctance on the part of many to even considering these drugs. Especially since there is absolutely nothing else on the scene even remotely as effective as they are in managing obesity.
Good luck! Post up every once in a while to let us know how things are going.
I am genuinely happy for you. We are the same age and after a 70 year war, I think I have finally won. I wasn't too overweight as a kid, partly thanks to high school sports and farm work, but college was a different era. I fought and lost many battles with diet and exercise, until the brief marathon running phase. I was overjoyed that I could eat as much as I wanted of anything I liked and not gain an ounce. That phase ended with leg/foot problems which also ended my running and shortly thereafter gratuitous walking....plus a bad habit of eating large quantities of food.
This all escalated during my reluctant casino buffet phase where I really added some ugly belly fat. Then around 2015 I blew out in my canoe full of camping gear. In my mind it was a matter of too much weight in the canoe. [They become harder to control.] I had some creature comforts on board that no backpacker would consider carrying, but I wasn't going to give any of them up. That left my weight.
I weighed 240 pounds on a 6'3" frame. My brother and his wife decided enough of the diet insanity and did their due diligence. End result was nearly everything the public health experts told us about nutrition was at best a lie. Covidiocy taught us that public health experts are not honest or competent....or both.
I kept eating bacon, eggs, cheese grits in the morning, albeit with smaller servings, e.g., a half a slice of bacon. I saved all the bacon grease and eat it daily. I have a complex salad for lunch which includes a host of pickled vegetables, some eggs or fish (sardines, Underwood deviled ham, etc.) and a small dinner that varies a great deal, often Spam, Vienna sausages or cowboy beans. Sometimes I eat friend chicken. Once or twice I have had a Popeye's biscuit.
I work far harder and longer than I wish, but now I weigh 168 (a few minutes ago) and my weight as stabilized 167-172. I do not eat bread, potatoes, rice, pizza, hamburgers, corn or most other carbs, but I do eat them every now and then. I like sushi and we have a Japanese cafe where I can eat my fill of it and fried chicken/shrimp etc. I actually like my dishes and eat the other foods less and less often.
My blood pressure is ok 140/60 range with medication. I take some vitamins, but my life is as active and strenuous as it has been for the last 20 years. I don't know about any of those other parameters as I have never been interested enough. My regular doctor is an old paddling buddy and I trust that he will analyze my blood and urine results each year and let me know if we need to talk.
Physically I look a lot like you. You can't lose 70 pounds without losing some muscle mass. I haven't noticed the loss causing me problems, but then it is hard to separate the deficits that come with age from losing muscle. I am about to go outside now and start a long hot job spraying Round Up on this Moby Dick of a yard where we either planted or allowed every danged horrible, invasive species to take hold.
I wish you good luck and expect you'll do fine. My instinct tells me that after your stomach has shrunk enough you will continue to eat small portions. You might find that it is now easy to maintain your weight without this drug. If wrong, and you see an unpleasant gain, you could always resume taking the drug, right?
I just began climbing down Mt Mounjaro 8 weeks ago. Started at 245 have only lost 10# as I’m in a sedentary phase w 10 hrs a day laptop work. But your first essay got me excited to take the plunge, so thanks!
I think the key is to not GAIN the the weight in the first place. The average USA corporate medico diet is TOXIC and fat sneaks up on most of us during the work/life stress years of 30-60. Then we realize, Holy Fuck, I’m FAT. And w/o drugs, we’re screwed.
I’ll start my exercise program soon. And I do hope to get off the meds, but not if the weight returns. We shall see. I was a skinny kid, so there’s that.
"I think the key is to not GAIN the the weight in the first place."
Absolutely! It is the weight gain-weight loss cycle that wrecks your metabolism and results in the malign constellation we call the metabolic syndrome. And since the more you gain means the more you need to lose, the damage keeps getting worse over time.
I've exercised off and on most of my life. I was sort of a jock in high school - lettered in swimming in 9th grade, played football and basketball in high school, and started lifting weights in my late teens. I've kept up with that for fifty years, and actually have a strength training power cage sharing my office with me. (I don't have the space for a dedicated gym room).
But from experience I knew that I had to concentrate on the weight loss aspect first, and worry about the strength issues later. Trying to change everything all at once can lead to overload, overwhelm, and failure at everything.
I'm still not as strong as I was before the last to bouts of significant weight loss - but I'm older now. Still, a lot of it is coming back. My biggest problem is small, nagging injuries that knock me off certain exercises for days or weeks. Basically I need to take things slower and pay a great deal of attention to form.
I was never exactly skinny as a kid - I am a mesomorph body type, but I didn't start becoming overweight until I turned thirty - in the middle 1970s, exactly when everybody else started getting fat, too.
http://effectsofobesity1.weebly.com/uploads/2/9/1/4/29145605/9687423.png?823
I see no reason to stop taking the drug. I have lost 70 or more pounds half a dozen times, and shrunken stomach or not, I have eventually regained every pound and more.
I'm curious, though. Why do you think that I should consider stopping the drug? I get that from everybody it seems like, and it frankly makes no sense to me. Could you explain your thought process here?
I have a general distrust of drugs produced by today's drug companies. I don't think any (or very few) have been adequately tested for long term side effects and none to see what the effects might be when taking multiple drugs. I am very surprised that you lost that much weight so often and regained it. I'd have bet that anyone who fought that battle and won would NEVER backslide. However, I love food and know full well that the temptations are more powerful that nicotine or caffeine. If it were me I'd stop taking the drug until I saw my weight beginning to rise. If it were the only way to stay trim, I'd be all in....but sad that my success came from a pill. Perhaps there is a time element?
Perhaps weight loss is similar to the cigarette war? You may stop smoking, but you have not won that war until your have abstained (totally) for a year or so?
Regardless of my belief, I am happy for you and for everyone who starts punching holes in his belts and buying new pants that fit. A downside is that your health may improve to the point that you live too long. That is a very sad (but common) aspect of life which is seldom discussed for a variety of reasons.
I lost about 25 pounds in 2020 and about 35 pounds in early 2021. I love what I eat and snack on a mix of spicy almonds, cashews and cocktail peanuts (all as salty as possible) when I come away not quite satisfied with the quantity of a meal.
Cheers to all who fight the weight battle and may you all win that war. I try to avoid sugar at all costs....even gave up ketchup, but since I don't eat potatoes no fries to put it on.
Okay, I guess I get it. It's more an emotional distaste than a fully rational one. I have those too.
As for the drug companies, I try to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I evaluate their products on a case by case basis. As to the Covid vaccine, for instance. There were enough red flags early on to convince me to wait. Since many of those flags have since been confirmed by real world outcomes, I'm still waiting.
OTOH, if we wait for long term testing to guarantee safety, almost nothing will ever get done. For me it's a risk-reward calculation. What of the benefits to me losing a bunch of weight and keeping it off versus eschewing the drug that will apparently allow me to do so with (relatively) little effort that has not undergone safety testing for a decade or more?
Looked at that way, it was an easy decision for me to make.
Another consideration most people don't look at is that the speed of scientific (including medical) advances is growing so rapidly (a factor of the onrushing Singularity) that drugs will be entirely obsolete and replaced by drugs two or three generations newer and even more effective while long-term testing slowly plays out. You would find yourself availing yourself of nothing while you wait for some guarantee of perfect safety that will never be forthcoming.
Nor do I understand "sadness" over using a pill. Why be sad over using something that works? Or is it just an urge to be all natural? The all-natural human state can be quite a mess, and I don't see any lack of virtue in trying to remedy such messes by "unnatural" means.
Finally, the one thing you say that really stumps me: "A downside is that your health may improve to the point that you live too long."
Since my conscious goal since I was about 25 has been to live essentially forever if I so choose, that seems entirely strange to me. And I've pursued a "bootstrap" strategy to make that as possible as I can. I try everything that can possibly extend my healthy lifespan a little, hoping to survive until the next major discovery lets me push the limit further. Improving my health to the point I live longer is the reason I am thrilled to see advances like Mounjaro appear on the scene.
We are proof that you can lose a huge amount of weight with or without a drug, and while I hope it will affect the quality of our lives, it appears all animals reach a stage when the machine wears out. I have personally seen and heard of others whose lives were essentially over, but their bodies refused to quit. When those activities which gave us pleasure become a thing of the past and we become a burden on those who love us, staying too long at the fair strikes me as sad.
I hope our weight loss, coupled with exercise, will improve the quality of the rest of our lives. I believe it will. I hope neither of us ends up in the "but his body just wouldn't quit" category. For me I should be better able to "keep the water under the boat" which was my primary motivation.
"I have personally seen and heard of others whose lives were essentially over, but their bodies refused to quit."
I'm going to hazard a guess that by far the largest majority of such cases involve something like Alzheimers. My own grandfather, for instance, was a mindless husk from the age of seventy, and he lived to the age of 96, cared for by my grandmother, who lived to 95. Their son, my father, lived to be 99, with noticeable mental problems only in the last couple years of his life.
Not much noticed at Lilly, amidst all the hoopla about Mounjaro, is the other blockbuster drug they are completing testing on for submission for FDA approval this fall: It stopped Alzheimer's disease severity progression in about fifty percent of the test subjects over the one year testing period. You'll see more advances like this in short order. Eventually, I expect Alzheimer's to be conquered as effectively as obesity now seems to be. And we'll see an end to most of the instances of bodies outliving destroyed minds.
The number of those who linger on, in reasonably sound mind and marginally sound bodies, is minuscule compared to the Alzheimer's problem. And if I were to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's (not likely at my age) I'd be first in line for these new drugs, just as I eagerly sought out Mounjaro once I got a look at the effectiveness data - which was, by the way, conservative compared to my own results.
I would certainly not dispute with those who make other choices for other reasons than mine, but I would think it very sad for any who decided not to avail themselves of the benefits of Mounjaro either from misunderstandings about the drug, or antiquated or nonsensical prejudices espoused by people in the medical profession or otherwise.
Congrats on the transformation and thank you for the inspiration.
I've been on the Mounjaro for just over 4 weeks and I've already lost 17 lbs without doing anything different, except for eating less because of the drug's effect on my appetite. And my wife says I look like I have lost even more because I'm less "puffy" through the shoulders and belly and face.
It is absolutely amazing.
JR, I'm happy to see that you find inspiration in my post. I hope others are able to do so as well. The previous seven months of my journal from morbid obesity to general physical normality and good health represent the end of the beginning. I have reached my first goal, which was to lose the weight. The long term goal - the one I'll be pursuing for the rest of my life, is to maintain those gains. I'll be reporting on that journey as well from time to time, as events warrant.
I am firmly convinced that these drugs represent one of the biggest game changers for the health of the Fat West, given how many diseases and disorders we know are associated with significantly overweight or obese states. I have to confess that my biggest surprise has been the amount of pushback and reluctance on the part of many to even considering these drugs. Especially since there is absolutely nothing else on the scene even remotely as effective as they are in managing obesity.
Good luck! Post up every once in a while to let us know how things are going.
I am genuinely happy for you. We are the same age and after a 70 year war, I think I have finally won. I wasn't too overweight as a kid, partly thanks to high school sports and farm work, but college was a different era. I fought and lost many battles with diet and exercise, until the brief marathon running phase. I was overjoyed that I could eat as much as I wanted of anything I liked and not gain an ounce. That phase ended with leg/foot problems which also ended my running and shortly thereafter gratuitous walking....plus a bad habit of eating large quantities of food.
This all escalated during my reluctant casino buffet phase where I really added some ugly belly fat. Then around 2015 I blew out in my canoe full of camping gear. In my mind it was a matter of too much weight in the canoe. [They become harder to control.] I had some creature comforts on board that no backpacker would consider carrying, but I wasn't going to give any of them up. That left my weight.
I weighed 240 pounds on a 6'3" frame. My brother and his wife decided enough of the diet insanity and did their due diligence. End result was nearly everything the public health experts told us about nutrition was at best a lie. Covidiocy taught us that public health experts are not honest or competent....or both.
I kept eating bacon, eggs, cheese grits in the morning, albeit with smaller servings, e.g., a half a slice of bacon. I saved all the bacon grease and eat it daily. I have a complex salad for lunch which includes a host of pickled vegetables, some eggs or fish (sardines, Underwood deviled ham, etc.) and a small dinner that varies a great deal, often Spam, Vienna sausages or cowboy beans. Sometimes I eat friend chicken. Once or twice I have had a Popeye's biscuit.
I work far harder and longer than I wish, but now I weigh 168 (a few minutes ago) and my weight as stabilized 167-172. I do not eat bread, potatoes, rice, pizza, hamburgers, corn or most other carbs, but I do eat them every now and then. I like sushi and we have a Japanese cafe where I can eat my fill of it and fried chicken/shrimp etc. I actually like my dishes and eat the other foods less and less often.
My blood pressure is ok 140/60 range with medication. I take some vitamins, but my life is as active and strenuous as it has been for the last 20 years. I don't know about any of those other parameters as I have never been interested enough. My regular doctor is an old paddling buddy and I trust that he will analyze my blood and urine results each year and let me know if we need to talk.
Physically I look a lot like you. You can't lose 70 pounds without losing some muscle mass. I haven't noticed the loss causing me problems, but then it is hard to separate the deficits that come with age from losing muscle. I am about to go outside now and start a long hot job spraying Round Up on this Moby Dick of a yard where we either planted or allowed every danged horrible, invasive species to take hold.
I wish you good luck and expect you'll do fine. My instinct tells me that after your stomach has shrunk enough you will continue to eat small portions. You might find that it is now easy to maintain your weight without this drug. If wrong, and you see an unpleasant gain, you could always resume taking the drug, right?
Keep the water under the boat.
b