Mounjaro for men

revinso

Just interested in other's experience. Male. 6'2" 67 years. Medical problem with stomach plus injury led to wait gain and lack of exercise. Hypertension and low level Type II. I think I topped out at 128kg / 282 pounds. And in December this had fallen a bit to around 123kg / 271 lbs.

Doctor put me on Mounjaro (NHS, so not paid for) to deal with Type II. First shot on 3 Jan 2025 at 2.5 dose. 7 weeks in 5.0 dose for 3 weeks and and now at or a bit below 110Kg / 242lbs. I have almost no interest in food and if I do eat, I have diarrhoea in 15 minutes at most.

I'm doing two 1 hour physio exercise classes a week, plus a fairly sizeable walk twice a week, plus general moderate activity. This is to try to deal with flexibility (lack thereof) and knee pain.

To me, the rate of weight loss is quite high at 30 pounds over 6 or 7 weeks, and at times I feel dizzy (unusual for me), especially when exercising.

Blood pressure has improved to an incredible extent, and self testing Type II markers are improved as well (formal retest by doctor in 5 weeks).

Obviously I am not having to pay for Mounjaro. It is exceedingly effective in my case at dealing with the issues I was prescribed it for, but the regime is absolutely brutal.

neanderthin

The active ingredient is tirzepatide and apparently the diarrhea is quite common with people using higher doses. Maybe have the dose lowered and see what happens, maybe it'll be easier on you. Just a thought. What type of diet are you regularly on, just curious.

revinso

5ml. So rather low. Healthy diet of zero UPFs. I'm a chef and doing very healthy, high quality fresh food. I just don't want to eat much.

PAV8888

Prioritize protein. And some "quick" carbs. As a male you can get away with lower (but not zero) levels of fats. You really should try strength improvement. To me it does sound that you're creating very large deficits due to your current non interest I food and that you are exhibiting symptoms of such deficits (dizziness etc)

It used to be that gallbladder complications were one danger of too fast of a loss. You may want to intake some energy (sugar or other athletic energy convictions) just before or during your exercise. And protein with some fewer carbs right after (glass of milk or even chocolate milk comes to mind).

Rebound regain should be on your radar. Normalizing loss per week to no more than 1% of body weight per week may not be a terrible idea.

Longer term most people find losing at a rate of around 0.5% of body weight per week more sustainable. And even lower than that.

Excellent start. don't get me wrong. But you should be feeling energized and stronger at this early point as you shed weight and your muscle to weight ratio changes. Energizer and stronger. Not dizzy and week or meah. That's the concern part for me.

revinso

Thanks. That is helpful. The dizzyness bothered me but with constant diarrhoea shortly after I eat, that tends to stop me risking eating at all, especially if we are out. Dehydration is also a clear factor that I will try to address.

Had a medical exam yesterday and there were no undue concerns. I noted that my exercise levels have gone from basically none to quite a lot over the course of a few weeks, and so it is no wonder I am fatigued.

Part of the issue is that as a semi retirement hobby / job I've opened a restaurant and am doing food prep and cooking. I've never wanted to eat when I am cooking for others and that is certainly contributing to my loss of appetite even though I only work three days a week. The work means though that whereas I had been sat in an office chair all the time, for three days a week I am now on my feet all day (prep and service) until near midnight. It is my choice and I enjoy it but it's quite radical.

According to my doctor I was 132.8kg dressed at the end of 2024 (I was not keeping a record) and yesterday was 112kg dressed. So she thinks I am down about 20kg in 7 weeks. Which is around 44 pounds. BP is massively improved.

I find the optimum weight charts for a healthy BMI to be ridiculous for me. I am tall and broad and quite strong, so getting to an "ideal" BMI would see me somewhere around 88 kg. My instinct tells me that about 100kg is really where I need to be, so I do need to tail off the wait loss as I could well be at 100kg in another 4 weeks at this rate. Dose was increased to 7.5ml and will not go above that for me.

Mainly I am posting this for other men who might be advised to use Mounjaro or similar, to give a clue as to what happens.

neanderthin

Hey, welcome to MFP and just to let you know I'm a semi retired chef as well, I also work around 3 days, good luck with your new venture.

All of these GLP-1's muck with our gut microbiome which obviously cause lots of different issues but they generally clear up after some time. Also not eating enough and engaging in hard exercises which is something newly introduced will also cause gut issues and stress and for sure muck with a few of those hormones especially the extra commitment opening a restaurant, been there, done that.

If I'm at the restaurant now early in the day i put on 4 or 5 eggs to poach and get them down because like you I can go all day at the restaurant and not want to eat because I'm not that hungry, i get it, but you should at least try and get a little more food into you. good luck going fwd and agree with PAV8888 that protein should be emphasized.