Mounjaro as a Reset: A Personal Account of Obesity and Realistic Weight Loss

For the entirety of my adult life, I have been obese. Not in the loose term, chucked around when somebody is fat, but classifiably obese. Obese Class 2 to be precise.

At my heaviest, I weighed over 22 stone, 308 lbs, or around 140 kg, and at about 5ft 11” tall, meant I had a BMI of 43 according to the NHS BMI calculator.

Why "Eat Less and Move More" Falls Short

I have, over the years, tried all the typical advice. The advice banded around so freely by every man and his dog as if it were the Holy Grail. The old adage of “eat less and move more”. Oh, how I detest this phrase with such a passion.

Having put myself through this on more occasions than I could possibly recall. It’s clear that this advice has passed its sell-by date for most. Emerging scientific research actually suggests that while caloric balance does matter, the simple concept of calories in vs calories out is a big oversimplification. How our bodies process food, our hormones, biology, and metabolic health all play into what happens with our weight.

We are a thriving species of over 7 billion and counting. Whoever dreamt up that one single piece of advice would be suitable for that amount of people must have been having a right moment. Not to mention the tired old ideology that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie; to me, that sounds as crazy as the theory itself (but I’ll get into this more later).

Yes, as a species, we have lots in common with each other. Our bodies tend to function in similar ways, unless we have an illness or disease. For instance, we all have metabolisms and abide by the rules of thermodynamics, but there is so much more to weight loss.

The Frustration of Trying and Failing

I have always been self-aware of my size and weight. I hated the way I looked. I detested the way that clothes never seemed to fit me well.

With this self-awareness, I tried so often to work on myself, to lose weight and improve my habits. I would work out my Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE, which is basically the amount, in calories, that my body uses to function on a basic level.

The idea being that once you know this, you create a calorie deficit of about 500 calories below this number, and like magic, you lose weight.

Each time, I would set up an app like MyFitnessPal.

I would stick to my allotted calorie limit, as I had cut out anything that would impart flavour in my cooking, such as fats - remember these are the enemy - and would switch to “light” versions of everything. Light yoghurts, light buttery spreads (that weren’t actually butter at all), light cheeses and so on. You get the point.

A Quick Look at the “Lighter” Options

Let’s take a brief detour back to the topic of "light" foods. Do you know what makes them light?

They added sugar. Sugar has fewer calories per gram than fat, so the savings in total calories made them light, and they marketed them as the healthy option. Science is now beginning to accept that sugar can be addictive, or at least trigger reward systems in the brain similar to other substances, giving those same dopamine hits and leading to cravings for more.

Now, it’s adding artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and a crazy number of others. These truly made these products marketable as lighter because these sweeteners contain zero calories. Yep. Zero. That’s great, so what’s the issue?

Science is again catching up. Evidence is emerging that aspartame, for instance, could possibly be carcinogenic at high intakes (as classified by the WHO), though research is ongoing and risk at normal consumption levels isn’t fully clear.

More evidence is also coming through that people consuming these products, which remember, contain zero-calorie sugar substitutes, are still gaining weight or classified as obese.

How could this be? They are consuming fewer calories, and most would also be moving more. Well, our bodies process many of these artificial chemicals differently than natural sugars or fats, and the long-term health impacts are still being studied. For some people, metabolic or hormonal responses can be unpredictable or may have unintended effects.

For example, once our tongues sense sweetness entering our bodies, our brain begins a hugely complex process of instructing different hormones to get to work in preparation for what it believes to be sugar or glucose.

The main hormone in this process is insulin. Secreted by the pancreas, insulin works to lower blood sugar levels and can direct excess into storage. This happens by pushing the excess into our fat cells.

When we consume these zero-calorie substitutes, they can trick our brains and bodies, sometimes prompting the release of insulin even in the absence of actual sugar—a process still being heavily studied. Chronically high insulin makes it harder to access fat for energy, and may contribute to ongoing weight gain in some individuals.

Many researchers agree that persistently high insulin levels make it difficult for fat cells to release energy. This is one proposed explanation for why high-carb/high-sugar diets can impede weight loss, especially for those already experiencing metabolic issues.

This also helps explain why many people report good results when they begin doing protocols like intermittent fasting, though results definitely vary. The lack of food during fasting means insulin production is low, allowing our fat cells to release their contents for use by our bodies for energy.

Obesity is More Than a Calorie

Lots of people will disagree with me here, but science is catching up on this with new evidence emerging all the time, which tells us it isn’t always down to calories. In fact, we are learning that obesity is actually a side effect of metabolic disorder.

The key takeaway here is that the obesity pandemic is way more complicated than eat less and move more. Perhaps, for those yet to have developed any form of metabolic dysfunction, this might be good advice, but for those that have, it’s terrible advice.

To get to grips on the issue of obesity, I think we, as a society, need to accept that all these artificial products; sweeteners, flavouring etc. can be damaging to our bodies for many people at a cellular level, though not all ultra-processed foods are equally harmful and more research is ongoing.

There is growing evidence that many ultra-processed foods, while convenient, are linked to negative health effects and may disrupt metabolism and appetite regulation.

The emergence of UPFs or ultra-processed foods have given us unprecedented convenience but at the cost of our health for many.

The Myth of "A Calorie is a Calorie"

Back to the calorie is a calorie is a calorie, it has never made sense to me. Although a simple unit of measure, which I understand. Yes, one calorie is one calorie, but the way in which our bodies metabolise those calories will differ drastically.

100 calories of broccoli, for instance, will provide a massive amount of nutrients and benefits to the human body. Not to mention it would actually be a large volume of food to consume.

Whereas that same 100 calories of chocolate, let’s assume a low-quality one, would also be a small amount and would cause a large spike in insulin to deal with the influx of sugar. Again, metabolised in a different way to the broccoli, also provoking differing hormonal responses. It’s those responses that typically cause people to over-consume these foods and that’ll cause a spike and drop in blood sugar over the proceeding hours. In turn, making people feel hungry again.

Why I Chose to Use Mounjaro

Weight loss medications are all over the news at the moment. Partly due to the fact that social media influencers and celebrities are using them to shed literal pounds for their next holiday or party.

Which is not the intended use for these medications. Although initially developed for the treatment of diabetes, Mounjaro has shown to be an effective weight loss tool for obese patients without a diagnosis of diabetes.

I chose to use Mounjaro to kick-start my weight loss journey because I had lost control of my ability to feel full, and because of this, I would eat a lot of ultra-processed, high-sugar foods.

The outcome of which meant I gained a considerable amount of weight, and it ultimately made my daily symptoms worse.

As someone living with a neurological disease, my medical team recommended the Ketogenic diet to me because of its neuroprotective qualities.

Round One: Ketogenic Diet and Relapse

In 2020, I started the Ketogenic diet for the first time. Losing a dramatic 8 stone or over 100lbs in around 8 months. I found it freeing. I was no longer thinking about food all the time, and my disease was slightly easier to manage.

Nonetheless, life always has a habit of getting in the way, and, speaking from my experience, it often feels like society isn’t built to support those of us who are actively trying to avoid sugars and carbohydrates. Although this sounds like an excuse, and I guess it is to some degree, it led to me falling off the wagon. Reverting to my old habits and regaining all the weight that I’d lost.

Weight regain happens quicker than many people can truly appreciate. Within a year or so, I was back to where I started.

I tried numerous times to get back on track, but the sweet, tasty UPFs had me hooked. No matter how much I tried, I simply couldn’t stop eating shit!

The Reality of Modern Weight Loss Medications

When I first read about the “miracle” drugs: Ozempic, Wegovy, and then the newer, Mounjaro (Zepbound in the US), I was initially sceptical. Could weight loss really be as simple as a once-weekly injection?

The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, it will assist you greatly by increasing the amount of GLP-1 in your system, lowering your blood sugars (which in turn reduces hunger), and slowing down your digestion, keeping you fuller for longer.

For many, myself included, it turned the noise down. By noise, I mean the constant want to eat, planning what to eat next, and the incessant need to snack on empty, high-sugar food. It truly toned it down significantly. Which is exactly what I needed to enable me to take back control and get back to my Ketogenic diet. Not everyone responds the same way, but for me this effect was significant and vital.

No. Because it wasn't a simple or pleasant medication to keep taking. Firstly, if you don't like injections, you’ll be out of luck as you will be doing this, yourself, once a week.

Many will experience profound side effects that can and do affect your daily life. These can be easy to manage, things like low-level nausea, which is more annoying than anything. Up to more intense side effects like vomiting and diarrhoea, which can have a massive impact on people's quality of life.

More serious side effects can include pancreatitis and gallbladder issues like gallstones. It's important to understand that long-term safety and best practices for these medications are still being researched, and nobody should feel pressured to consider them a ‘lifetime’ solution if that's not right for their health or lifestyle.

My Experience With Mounjaro

My experience with Mounjaro was, on the whole, positive. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have some periods of troublesome side effects, because I certainly did.

Frequent bouts of diarrhoea. Occasional vomiting after eating. The worsening of a symptom I live with every day through my illness, fatigue. Plus occasional bloating. Although my side effects were minimal compared to many, I still found them to be bothersome and not something I would have been able to comprehend having forever.

Overall, I will have taken Mounjaro for around 4 months by the time I have finished tapering down the dosage and coming off of it slowly.

In this time, I have lost almost 3.5 stone, and it has enabled me to get back on track. Eating the way I want to. I again feel in control, and believe I will be able to continue this once the medication has fully left my body. Typically, a month after your last dose.

Why so confident? For me, the Ketogenic diet suppressed my appetite and stabilised my blood sugar and insulin, so I naturally wanted to eat less. Having blood sugar under control means no more crashes and cravings. I consider the four months taking this medication as a reset.

Wrapping Up

If there’s one thing my journey should show, it’s that weight management is profoundly individual and influenced by far more than willpower and simple calorie counting. For many—myself included—medical and dietary interventions were necessary resets. The problem of obesity can’t be solved by bumper-sticker advice. It’s complicated, and solutions need to be compassionate, science-informed, and individualised. What works for one person may not work for all, but we all deserve understanding.