Losing weight

Tips of losing weight: I eat a veggie diet,  For me I eat a low carb diet on most days ranging to 60 carbs and I have cheat days with the carb diet. Drinking water before, during, and after every meal has helped me lose a ton of weight, especially the drinking water before a meal thing- you can research that online and you will find info.

Since you are a J-poucher, I would recommend drinking water after every bowel movement as well in addition to my advice above.

Remember to put salt in the water if your going to be increasing your water game.

Everything above has helped me, I hope it helps you too!

Hi,

I cannot eat a lot of fiber either.  I eat small portions of cooked or raw veggies. Iceberg & romaine lettuce agree with me for small salads.  A couple apple or orange slices at a time. Some veggies are easier than others to digest. I try to eat more protein. An egg every morning. I found some High Protein tortillas that I eat with melted cheese.

I have used the My Fitness Pal App to help keep track of what I’m eating and it helped me to lose some weight. I always take the stairs. Park further away in parking lots. When the weather is nicer, I’ll get outside and walk.

Don’t give up. Keep at it. Hopefully you can find the good foods that you can eat.

All the best to you!

I have to say that's one problem I have never had.  I do know I can't eat fibrous foods and try to supplement with other foods to get my veggies and fruit without going to the bathroom all day..  It's a challenge either way.  We do the best we can. Best of luck. 

I have been overweight/obese my entire life.  Even when my ulcerative colitis was at its worst, I probably had a BMI of around 30/31.  That was over 30 years ago.  About 18 months ago, my BMI was 38 and I went on Mounjaro.  I am now at 30 BMI and have been flat there for over 9 months.  I had one major health issue since being on Mounjaro and depending on which doctor you talk to, it may or may not have been caused by it.  I had a massive gall stone and the gall bladder had to be removed.  I can trace problems with the gall bladder from before Mounjaro, although at the time, I didn't know I had a gallstone.  Did the Mounjaro make it worse?  Who knows.

What I can tell you is that after losing nearly 50 lbs, my blood work shows a lot of improvement in my overall health.  I've gone off of multiple meds.  And I feel much better.  

Oh sorry to hear about the gallstones! I got my gallbladder out about 15 years ago, see ya to another organ! Lol

I’m meeting with a new nutritionist in May that focuses on helping people with digestive issues. We’ll see. I have started on the low Glycemic index diet as suggested by my weight loss management doc. Every day seems like a yo-yo but we’ll see how it goes after being consistent for a few weeks. I need spring to get here so I get get outside and start moving more…

thanks for the support everyone.

@Bubbapup posted:

Oh sorry to hear about the gallstones! I got my gallbladder out about 15 years ago, see ya to another organ! Lol

I’m meeting with a new nutritionist in May that focuses on helping people with digestive issues. We’ll see. I have started on the low Glycemic index diet as suggested by my weight loss management doc. Every day seems like a yo-yo but we’ll see how it goes after being consistent for a few weeks. I need spring to get here so I get get outside and start moving more…

thanks for the support everyone.

Keep us updated

@Bubbapup. I have also been overweight for my life - am 57 now. My BMI is about 40. And, I’m on Mounjaro right now. A couple of things about my experiences. 1). I have not been able to eat veggies since my j-pouch - cooked or raw. Salad/lettuce goes RIGHT through me almost immediately. So any weight loss options have not been successful for me.  I’ve had my pouch for 27 years.  2) For me, the gastro side effects of Mounjaro have actually helped me LOL. Typically those meds cause constipation. But for me, that’s helped to reduce my 10+ bms / day. It’s been great!  Almost “normal” gastro functioning (whatever that means). I can understand your hesitation to be on these meds - for me it’s helped. Lost 33 lbs since Sept 2024. Not super fast, but slow and steady wins the race.

I have been on a GLP-1 med for years now, first Victoza, Ozempic briefly and now I've been on Mounjaro for around 2 years. I lost 140 pounds between 2002 and 2003 for a BMI of 18.5 and to say it changed my life is an understatement - all of my comorbidities (including CKD stage 3 w an egfr of 52 which is now 98 - 99) are resolved. My PCP expected I might have more GI side effects from the Ozempic/Mounjaro than non j-pouchers but my colorectal guy thought otherwise and it turned out he was right. I can't emphasize the improvement in bathroom visits enough - much better consistency, daily visits down to 3-4 from an average of 12 a day previously.  It does make sense thinking about it as constipation especially in the beginning is one of the most mentioned side effects with GLP-1 use which simply means less diarrhea for j-pouchers. One method of action for these meds is to slow down digestion although my transit time is still very fast compared to people who have colons and maybe that helps too. All I know is no side effects and I'm as close to "normal" as I have been since my proctocolectomy plus no more diabetes, high BP, sleep apnea, dyslipidemia etc. No nausea, no heartburn or GERD from the meds for me at all. My Colorectal guy says they're hearing this from many pouchers and IBD patients, hopefully they will do some actual studies eventually though I suspect that there just aren't enough of us to make it important.

  I'm almost 64 and have had my j-pouch for 25 years this month.

This is fantastic news @May. I’m hoping to have similar results too. I’m only down 35lbs on Mounjaro now, with another 40-50 to go. I’ve also experienced the benefit of fewer bm’s a day. Thanks for sharing.

@lclassen I'd take the "only" out of your sentence - 35 pounds is a lot of weight to lose! I lost at an average of 1.4 lbs a week but it was even less in the beginning (maybe because towards the end I was walking and working out regularly where I was close to bed bound when I started)

You're close to half way there even, that's exciting! I will be cheering you on from here =)