Dear all
I have always been sceptical of ‘fad’ diets. I remember the Cambridge diet in the 1980s. The 5-2 diet in the noughties, and plenty in between. I never questioned their short term effectiveness, but they were obviously unhealthy and no one could ever stick to them for more than a few months. And of course, as soon as people stopped adhering to their rigours, they immediately started putting the weight back on.
So when Ozempic and Mounjaro appeared on the scene, I raised a quizzical eyebrow. It is true that these so-called ‘fat jabs’ have enabled a lot of people to lose vast amounts of weight incredibly quickly, and most of those who are on the jabs swear by them. But again, I ask, what happens when you come off them?
About nine months ago I was walking across Leicester Square and heard someone shout out “Oi, Iain!”. I looked over and didn’t recognise the person who had shouted. Anyway, I walked over and it turned out to be good friend and former PA, Grant Tucker, now Entertainment Editor of the Daily Mail. He was unrecognisable. He had lost four stone in weight, and I could even see that he had a fine pair of cheekbones! He said he had never felt so good in his life, and clearly relished the fact he now had a flat stomach. I went home that night and signed up for Mounjaro on a pharmacy website. I was rather horrified at the £475 cost for three months supplies. But as soon as I pressed SEND, I immediately regrated what I had done. Idiot, I thought to myself. All in the name of vanity. Anyway, the next day I got an email saying I had been rejected due to my diabetes, and that they could only accept me through a GP referral. Good, I thought, the system works.
Scroll forward to early last week and I was due for my diabetes blood tests. Over the last few years I’ve done reasonably well to keep my Hba1c levels fairly near to where they should be, but I know that over the last 3-6 months I had let things slip. And so it proved when I got the result. It was the highest Hba1c I have had in a decade.
I had already resolved to ask the diabetes nurse what she thought about me going on a fat jab. Much to my surprise she raised it first, but she said she was recommending to help with my diabetes rather than as a weight loss mechanism. The second surprise was that she said I qualified to get it free, on prescription, for the NHS. She went through all the pros and cons, and the possible side effects, so I thought, what the hell, give it a go. Part of my thought process was that I am now at the highest weight I have been in years. You may think, given I have a personal trainer and go to the gym once a week, that this shouldn’t be happening. But I don’t do cardio or weight loss exexcise at the gym – it’s all about more general health and wellbeing exercises – stretches and weights – to keep my 63 year old aching body supple.
I am starting my Mounjaro journey weighing exactly 18 stones (114kg). Bearing in mind I have been 92kg in recent years, I know I can do it. In order for the Mounjaro to work properly, and not cause unfortunate health consequences, I need to reduce my food portions and generally adopt a high protein/fibre diet. This isn’t necessarily going to be easy, as I don’t like a lot of the foods that are recommended, but I’m going to do my best.
I’m not going to go mad, because if I go much below 90kg, I’ll get a scraggy neck, look haggard and look older than I do now! However, my main aim is to stabilise my Hba1c and blood sugar levels. On the latter, they have been improving over the last 90 days, but I am still only within the recommended range just over 40% of the time. Within the next month I aim to get that up to 80%. When I was off work last year, it was in range for 95% of the time.
I’m starting with a low dose of 2.5mg of Mounjaro a week, rising to 5mg after the first month, and hopefully I won’t need to go above that.
Anyway, I’m happy to accept advice and tips from anyone who’s been on this journey, and I’ll no doubt keep you up to date with how it’s all going over the next few weeks.
All the best
Iain