How to meet a calorie goal on Monjaro?

GeauxL · May 2023

I just started Monjaro, today is day 3, I’m curious as to what people are eating to maintain 1,000-1,500 calories. I am having a hard time figuring out how to get calories in. I’ve been dieting for a while, lost over 100lbs, & never really followed a “certain diet, I just ate lean proteins, veggies, fruits, & tried to stick to whole grains when it came to carbs but I wasn’t doing keto. So far, I am feeling very full & really forcing myself to eat but still not being able to reach a 1,000 calorie goal much less 1,500.
In a typical day/week, what do you eat & how do you battle the feeling of being full & really not wanting to eat? Thanks for the help.

sollyn23l2 · May 2023

I would speak with the doctor that (I would assume) prescribed it to you. These are real medications, with real effects. Ask your doctor.

PAV8888 · May 2023

How many calories (and what) have you been eating all this time while losing all this weight? --GREAT JOB DOING SO, by the way--

An intake target of 1000 to 1500 Calories sounds like a food intake target designed to induce weight loss as such an amount would be fewer calories than most people tend to need in order to maintain their weight.

The medication you mention appears to have been approved as a type 2 diabetes treatment.

If it has been prescribed as a treatment for diabetes, your doctor may also be able to refer you to a registered dietitian (or equivalent) as part of the resources that MAY be offered to recently diagnosed patients in various jurisdictions.

If the drug is being used as a weight loss drug, then you are under the care of a doctor who should be helping you manage your weight loss rate while adjusting your prescriptions as appropriate.

What people at a forum think would be very secondary to your direct doctor patient relationship.

It really does depend on your health and the total amount of weight you have to lose and the doctor and you are probably in a better position to judge this.

My personal experience is different in that i found that I benefited greatly by the discoveries I made while losing weight and I truly believe that if I had shortened the time that I spent trying to lose weight I would have had less tools and less beneficially embedded behaviours available to me to use as tools to help me stay within a reasonable maintenance range for going on 7+ years I guess now.

Anecdotally I would have comparatively WAY less trouble scarfing down 1500 Calories worth of cookies within a few minutes than if I were to attempt to consume 1500 Calories by eating raw broccoli or cucumbers! So food choices matter.

Whether it is a good and beneficial long terms strategy to consume 1500 Cal worth of cookies IS quite debatable. Frankly, consuming 1500 Cal worth of cucumbers would suck as a plan too!

Super accelerated weight loss is not danger free. For some people their current weight is also not danger free. Again... that's where your patient doctor relationship comes in.

Take care and best of luck

cmriverside · May 2023

Are you eating enough fat? People tend to try to cut fat to an unrealistically low level, and it's a necessary nutrient. It's 9 calories per gram, so even a tablespoon of nut butter would help you get to your goal.

Your dietician would be able to give you a plan if you're under doctor's care.

kshama2001 · May 2023

cmriverside wrote: »

Are you eating enough fat? People tend to try to cut fat to an unrealistically low level, and it's a necessary nutrient. It's 9 calories per gram, so even a tablespoon of nut butter would help you get to your goal.

Your dietician would be able to give you a plan if you're under doctor's care.

You beat me to suggesting more fat. Carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram, so with more than double that, it's easier to get calories through fat with foods like butter, oil, cheese, full fat dairy, nuts, nut butter, etc.

westrich20940 · May 2023

Again a vote for adding fat. It's very calorie dense for almost no volume....so you really won't 'feel' like you're eating any more food, but there will be more calories.

If you are currently using: 'low fat', 'diet', 'light', etc ....versions of the foods or ingredients you are using/eating --- get the full-fat/regular varieties.

Also, things like nuts/seeds, nut/seed butters, and dried fruits can be ways to increase your calorie intake without increase the volume in a significant way (I'm assuming you are struggling bc you 'feel' full). But I might be wrong there. Dates are a big one. 1 date is like 50-70 calories and they are delicious.
Cut a date open in half long-ways, fill it with PB (and a nut if you like), some cinnamon/honey maybe, close it up and cover it in chocolate --- then refrigerate or freeze it. That's one little treat (that tastes great IMO) that is full of good stuff for you and will be a calorie dense snack even for just 1-2 of them.

GeauxL · May 2023

Thanks. I do fall into the “less fats are better” category just because when I think of the word fats it immediately makes me think unhealthy. So I have tried to not be so strict on “good fats” & by doing that, I have been able to up my calories. This is my first week on the medicine & it has been a struggle. I’ve had some gi issues, nothing too bad, & the feeling of fullness & the food noise reduction has been huge; I’m really not hungry & don’t even think about food, at least not like I used too. Mornings are the worst, lunch is a bit easier & supper isn’t hard but I still find that I’m only getting in 750-900 calories a day but to try to eat more would just be stuffing myself. I’m not being too hard on myself because it is the first week, hopefully I can figure some things out & start upping my calories.

AnnPT77 · May 2023

GeauxL wrote: »

Thanks. I do fall into the “less fats are better” category just because when I think of the word fats it immediately makes me think unhealthy. So I have tried to not be so strict on “good fats” & by doing that, I have been able to up my calories. This is my first week on the medicine & it has been a struggle. I’ve had some gi issues, nothing too bad, & the feeling of fullness & the food noise reduction has been huge; I’m really not hungry & don’t even think about food, at least not like I used too. Mornings are the worst, lunch is a bit easier & supper isn’t hard but I still find that I’m only getting in 750-900 calories a day but to try to eat more would just be stuffing myself. I’m not being too hard on myself because it is the first week, hopefully I can figure some things out & start upping my calories.

Fats are an essential nutrient: They are needed for healthy cell walls, for manufacturing certain hormones the body makes for itself, for smooth digestive throughput and more. Our bodies can't manufacture them out of anything else, so we need to eat some. We need a certain minimum daily, like maybe 0.35-0.45g per day per pound of body weight (maybe use a healthy goal weight to calculate if substantially overweight).

That's a minimum. More is not bad, when it comes from food sources, as long as it doesn't drive out other essential nutrition. Most people get too little of mono- and polyunsaturated fats for best nutrition, so things like nuts, nut butters, avocados, seeds, olive oil, etc. are helpful. Most people get too little of Omega-3 fats (relative to Omega-6 fats), so things like fatty cold-water fish, walnuts, etc., can be helpful. You can look up food sources of monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and Omega-3s online.

As a generality, there's not huge concern healthwise about getting moderate amounts of saturated fats from foods like simple meats, whole eggs, and full-fat dairy. There may be reasons to avoid deep-fried things, hydrogenated oils/fats, processed meats (like lunch meat kind of stuff).

The demonization of fat and dietary cholesterol was a mainstream thing for a while, but current mainstream nutritional authorities say that fats are a necessary element of nutrition, and that naturally-occurring saturated fats and dietary cholesterol don't have the negative health consequences it was once believe. Don't fear them.

Too-low calories are not a good thing. We need well-rounded nutrition, and that takes calories. Fats are part of good, well-rounded nutrition.

PAV8888 · May 2023

There is a difference between demonizing and avoiding fats because they're bad in the abstract and balancing food intake in a .... balanced manner so that you can continue doing so long term.

Do I eat "caloric bombs" made out of hyper-palatable and hyper-processed foods, *kittens* yes, I do!

But do I actually think this contributes to having lost weight and relatively successfully maintaining the loss? Not from the point of satiety and nutrition. Of course the answer is more complicated and becomes yes from the point of working within my personal parameters.

But whole foods (usually prepared at home since most of the food prepared commercially tends to be on the enhanced taste levels scale) is where the highest levels of satiety and nutrition come from--at least for me.

So yeah, pounding a lb of broccoli is not an unknown action, nor is eating 750g of 0% greek yogurt... while eating Twinkies (well, we have standards, so it is more along the lines of Madeleines, not Twinkies!)

Where am I going with this. People are finding great success with appetite suppressants. I am not a doctor. I don't play one on TV. I don't know if these can be taken indefinitely. Or tapered and the dosages adjusted with so they can continue to take the edge off while allowing for maintenance level calories.

People having a honeymoon loss period of 6 to 8 months followed by tapering and regain at various speeds is... common. Very common. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try to lose weight. To the contrary. The only way to buy a lottery ticket to the maintenance game is to actually get down there in the first place.

But padding your chances at achieving maintenance Bingo should ALSO be part of your game.

At some point of time during weight loss you should start making some plans, giving some thought, as to how you're going to tilt the odds a bit towards achieving long term maintenance. Because the alternative is food starting to look and feeling great again and in vast quantities and the classic regain rebound.

So. Gratuitous fat for the sake of gratuitous fat... I don't agree with. Sure. It is a short term answer to a pressing level of calories. I mean conking out due to lack of calories is not a good solution either! So yeah, injecting some calories in there is good if the level is too low. BUT

perhaps a more thought out approach as to what one is going to be eating? Slowly increasing some things? Decreasing others? Smaller sized normal meals? I don't really know the answer as to how you can introduce habits while appetite is suppressed; but I still think it is a good idea to work towards them!

Anyway. That's my own perspective. Based on time and self discovery. HOWEVER I do note that time and self discovery can also be acquired by using and taking in advice from professionals. Access to professionals reduces some of the time component. Behaviour experts? Dietitians? Counselling? All these may well enhance the chance of long term success if they help built up your tool-set while losing weight.

Day 3 or 5 may be too early for all this and peanut butter or even Nutella may be the answer. Month three on the other hand would not be, in my opinion. The opinion of one person limited by their own perspectives, of course.

onhaltn · May 2023

If you are new to Mounjaro, then it is common to have queasiness that makes eating unappealing. It will pass, though it may recur when you move to a higher dose. Don’t freak. See how you’re doing in a day or too. Until then, very plain foods like oatmeal, consommé, tofu, bananas and such may be more easily tolerated. Sometimes smoothies help.

ItsSoYummy · June 2023

I started 6 weeks ago. Like you, I just don't feel like eating. I was concerned about getting enough. A quick call to my doctor fixed that. He made sure I was taking a good multi vitamin and drinking plenty of water. Other than that he said not to worry. At my size, I can live a long time on stored fat. LOL I've lost 12 pounds so far which is really just 2 pounds a week so not a crazy amount. I was put on this to control sugar so he did mention that the number I should be watching is my sugar.

neanderthin · June 2023

Eating more of a whole food diet which is basically what your describing is very satiating and can make a person feel they've consumed enough and feel full, but, I suggest switching from lean protein to more fatty protein options and using more oils like olive oil when cooking which can easily double the calorie content when an outcome is low like the 1000 calorie result from your diet, and because fat is calorically dense and the least satiating macro, it can be achievable fairly easy as well. Some people fear fat and go to low levels but it's just an energy source that also adds for some people a better taste and enjoyment in eating, which has value in and of itself. We can't eat boneless skinless chicken breast forever lol. imo. Cheers

How to meet a calorie goal on Monjaro?

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