Continuing Mounjaro...part 5

[ObsidianTree]

Please note: Mounjaro can only be taken if your BMI is above 30.

Pointers for newbies:

1 - For taking your first dose you need to twist the pen a lot to get to 1! The instructions say prime each time you take a dose, but actually Eli Lilly have confirmed you only need to prime for the first ever use of a pen. (The video posted says every use, but this isn't true!)

2 - When injecting, hold down the button until the number goes back to 0. Once at 0, keep holding down the button and count to 5 with the needle still in so no medication is lost!

3 - Your first dose may not have an immediate effect. For some people the effects build slowly. It could take 3 or 4 days to notice anything, it could take a few weeks. Some people don't feel the meds working until they get to 5mg. See titration chart which shows how the medication builds up in your system.

4 - 2.5mg isn't a therapeutic dose, meaning you aren’t meant to lose on 2.5mg. You need to start on 2.5mg to get your body used to the drug and gradually introduce it into your system and get used to any side effects.

5 - Not everyone loses a lot in the first few weeks. Don't feel discouraged if you don't lose a lot initially. Again, you might need a higher dose to start losing. Also, inches can be lost without anything showing on the scales. Start your journey by taking measurements and check them as you go along.

6 - If you do lose a lot in the first few weeks, please don't assume you will continue losing at this rate. The first few weeks it is usually water weight that is lost, after than a good weight loss is about 2lbs a week. Some weeks you might not lose anything, but this is ok too…again, taking measurements might show inches lost instead.

7 - Constipation, coldness, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, aches, are side effects. There may be be other side effects also. Read info here :
www.medicines.org.uk/emc/files/pil.14201.pdf

8 - Once you take your first dose you can choose to keep your pen in the fridge or somewhere else. It's up to you.

9 - Don't reuse any needles as this could risk infection. If you damage a needle or one isn't working, you can buy a pack of about 100 spares. Ask for suggestions of sites /types to buy.

10 - Protein is important as eating less protein can cause muscle wastage and hair loss. Try to have at least 100g a day. There are protein supplements you can take. Myprotein have a good range. Ask for a referral code if you want to buy some.

11 - Some natural sources of protein:
www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/best-sources-protein
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321522#high-protein-foods

12 - You can use supplements, some that people use are magnesium(for sleep and constipation), protein(to reduce muscle wastage), collagen (skin elasticity), aloe vera(for constipation), electrolytes.

13 - Drink lota of water. Water helps with the weight loss. Drink at least 2ltrs a day. Preferably 3ltrs.

14 - Don't be afraid to feel hungry. It is entirely normal and healthy to feel hungry. Just eat something. Treat it as an opportunity to start good habits around hunger. Eat a nice balanced snack or a meal if it's a meal time. It's ok.

15 - Does it makes any difference where you inject? yes it does! Drugs get absorbed at different rates depending on injection site

In order of fastest absorption, it goes:
• Tummy
• Arms
• Thighs
further reading about injection sites and the effects: www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/316618

16 - Abdominal side-effects are much easier to control with smaller meals. For example, having 4 small meals in the day vs 2 big meals can have an improvement in nausea and burps.

17 - You can track your calories / protein on apps such as My fitnessPal, Carb Manager or Nutracheck. Nutracheck is quite useful and easy to find foods /build recipes.

18 - Some of the places you can order from are:

• MedExpress - £149.99 - Sometimes there are codes that can be used for a discount. Ask for a code on here or do a Google search to try and find one.
• Voy - £114.99 for first month then £229 after. Need a referral code (ask on here for one if needed)
• The Family Chemist -£149
• Simple online pharmacy - £159 2.5mg £179 for 5mg
• Bolt pharmacy 2.5mg £125, 5mg £179. Or starter pack with 2.5mg and 5mg pen £319
• Asda £184
• Boots £219
• Chemist4U £179
• Pharmacy2u
• Superdrug

There other other sellers, we don't have them all listed

19 - If you want to switch suppliers, make sure you have pics of your Mounjaro box with your name and dose. This will come in useful when other suppliers ask for evidence.

1st thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5007744-mourjano-starting-soon?page=1

2nd thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5028495-continuing-murnjaropart-2?page=1

3rd thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5037623-continuing-mounjaropart-3?page=1

4th thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/5044316-continu
ing-mounjaropart-4?page=1

Good luck everyone!

For maintenance I’m hoping the good habits will stick and steps, lots of protein and water will help.
I suspect I’ll always have to make effort as if I relax I gain.
I find I can’t tolerate greasy or rich stuff after previous low fat diet attempts so that will help. Your tastes do change.

Anyone filling in various weight apps (I like updating them when I have a loss) think that BMI needs to be looked at again?
Some of them have me still at overweight when I reach my ideal goal weight- I'd look ridiculous two stone lower. I looked pretty good two stone higher than goal weight (have about 4 to lose in total)
I reckon age plays a part in bmi, I might have looked slender at 8.5 stone at 18 but 8.5 stone at nearly 50 would not be my goal at all!

Well done @CiderJabs really pleased for you! It must be unheard of to go on and All Inclusive and lose weight!!

All the experts acknowledge it's been out of date for years. They now recommend going by hip to waist ratio, I just don't understand why they still use it to be honest.

I told quite a few people and so work colleagues, family and friends all knew I was planning on going on it, I was just so excited from reading everyone's stories on here. I figured if I told one person I would need to be open as if people tell others and I'm not aware then people will think I'm a liar. I just decided to own it really though I haven't posted on social media or anything. I think if I'm open about it then other people will talk to me if they go on it too and I will have Mounjaro buddies. A few people had said they would be interested in trying it if I find it works and a few people have pulled faces as though I'm buying some dodgy drug from a beautician.

I'm on Day 6 and I feel so positive. A long walk yesterday and today a bit of a swim but with a friend and kids so planning a proper swim on my lunch hour this week. I feel so much more motivated to exercise now because I know my body is changing, it seems daft but I've thought about PTs and bootcanps and think "what's the point of putting myself through hours of hell when you'd never see any change until I've lost a decent amount of weight"? Now I feel because the weight loss will be consistent over time based on anecdotes, I feel I will see the benefit of the exercise sooner than ever before and feeling keen to build up on my overall activity.

Random one... has anyone's periods changed since taking mounjaro?

@MelissaLouRocks that's very interesting. I've just worked out my waist to hip ratio and it's 0.89, good ratios for women are under 0.85 so seems much more achievable for me
I shall keep an eye on that over the coming months.

I took my first 5 mg dose yesterday.
I'm not hungry at all today & it feels so strange. Skipped breakfast & lunch but had some asparagus just now with some home made aioli. The 2.5 dose had little to no effect on me & I lost 1.5 kg only over the month. Coupled with Covid for two of those weeks & no exercise didn't help. Alas, I had no appetite suppression at all. Any weight I lost was by skipping breakfast.

I thought it was waist to height ratio, not waist to hip? That's what we use in the NHS when people are being funny about BMI (I get a lot of men with massive bellies telling me BMI doesn't work on them because of their muscles so I get the tape measure out!).
Waist should be half your height. I'm 5'10 so waist should be less than 35" - got a way to go on that, it's about 41 and that's my natural waist line which is quite high, my official waist is bigger.

I'm only aiming for the top of my BMI range, I've never been below 23 and as I'm a tall hourglass (under the flab) I can get away with quite a bit of extra weight while still looking good.

I’m currently on my second week of 5mg and have been lucky with side effects so far. Last night my husband and kids wanted takeaway pizza so I had 2.5 slices and I have been so ill since eating it. I felt like my food wouldn’t digest, was vomiting before bedtime and again this morning. I’ve had awful diarrhoea, stomach cramps and nausea. Also got awful sulphur burps which really are the worst. I’ve only had a chicken breast and peppermint tea today, really hoping I feel better tomorrow. Definite lesson learnt to not eat pizza again or over indulge, definitely not worth it. Has anyone else experienced this? I had similar a month ago after eating a takeaway so should have known better.

Just checked my waist to hip ratio and it's gone up! From 0.89 to 0.91. I have lost faster off my hips so far though, so will see how it is in a few weeks.

@Lunab18 I ate 3/4 of a frozen takeaway style pizza last night and apart from a bit more nausea at bedtime, I was fine. It was a bit of an experiment and I was fully expecting to suffer more. But I'm still on 2.5mg and next dose due tomorrow. A lot of people are finding that big greasy meals make them quite ill and I'm sure I would have been if it was day 2 or 3.

I'm intentionally having a bit of a re-feed at weekends, partly to enjoy meals with family and partly to make up for eating below my BMR all week (mine is 1800). This morning we went out for a buffet breakfast, I didn't eat as much as usual but definitely a decent amount. Feel fine.

@Lunab18 can you have some simple carbs and see if that settles your stomach? BRAT diet type thing. One slice of toast? Some crackers?
I had really bad nausea the day before yesterday but haven't actually been sick so far, I find eating something small and carby usually helps.

Hello all! I've been lurking on these threads for a while, absolutely love the vibe and positivity, and feel the same as lots of you about food/weight/hunger. I started at a smidge over 14st, 5'4".

I'm due my 4th 2.5mg dose tomorrow, I haven't told anyone (not even DH 😬), lost (on my lowest 'weigh') about 7lbs but totm tomorrow so not too sure if accuate!

I've decided to de-lurk to ask some advice please! I'm happy with rate loss, had some awful stomach cramps every week, nausea and lump in throat a lot. Downing water, appetite has significantly diminished, I seem to be making really good food choices and food noise has switched off. It honestly feels like magic, like I did in my 20s when I didn't constantly think about food. Has anyone stayed on 2.5 longer than month 1?! I'm wondering if I should?

This will out me to anyone who knows me but... In 3 weeks I'm about to do between 40-60miles walking over 4/5 days. I do this a couple times a yr, gym and swim lots, it's hard going but I always enjoy and manage it well. Do I stick on 2.5 till this 'adventure' is done, risk moving up to 5mg and take it that wk, or just miss my dose till I get back from the walk (so it would be 5 days late?). Thank you for anyone who can offer any suggestions!

Definitely waist to hip.

https://www.health.com/waist-to-hip-ratio-health-indicator-8285898#:~:text=A%20new%20study%20suggests%20waist,with%20overall%20better%20health%20outcome.

Welcome @gillyweed 😊

@MelissaLouRocks thanks for the link, that's really interesting. I was confused as I thought it should be different for men, but that says it's 0.9 for men and 0.8 for women, which makes sense. If I get to 32 waist and 40 hip, I'll be 0.8 which I think is what I was last time I got to my goal weight (I deleted all my old data on MFP the other week because the graphs were making me sad!). Currently 41 and 45 (down from 42 and 47).

@gillyweed Welcome! I plan to stick on 2.5 for another month, unless I find the 5th week on 2.5 starts to be ineffective. So far it's working well and I'm almost constantly nauseous for the first 4 days after my jab, so don't really need that to get any worse!.
In your position I would be more concerned about being able to eat enough to fuel all those miles, which if you go up you may struggle. As well as obviously the potential side effects.

Both are options: https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/keep-the-size-of-your-waist-to-less-than-half-of-your-height-updated-nice-draft-guideline-recommends

@ragsrebooted. Thank you! Yes, I'm concerned about not being able to actually fuel enough to walk 15miles or so a day... Hadn't really thought of nasty side affects either 👀.

I'm erring to going for another month of 2.5mg

@JJR26 Yes, this has impacted my period. I have a mirena (still have periods) and they are more painful and I have had some spotting I didn’t have before. I’ve just finished my third period whilst taking MJ. I have a 22-25 day cycle. This month I had water retention and bloat like you wouldn’t believe. Though I didn’t for the first two on MJ.

I'll be taking my bonus 2.5 tomorrow. I recall seeing on the last thread that somebody managed to extract 2 extra doses from it so we'll see how much comes out!

I'm actually due to go up to 5mg this week (pen waiting in the fridge) so that would be very welcome 🤞🏼

@gillyweed Looking back I wish I had kept another month on 2.5 as it was working well. I went up to 5 after five injections. (Took the bonus dose).

I think with that level of exercise moving up to 5 and possibly having more suppression may be a challenge.

What an adventure for you! Happy walking.

I like bmi better for personal "fatness" because I'm curvy in the sense that my waist is less than half my height and my waist to hip ratio is 0.72 which may be great for fat distribution and health I'm most definitely very much too fat.

We used waist to height too (former job performing anthropometric measurements).

It's interesting what people are saying about feeling ill when eating something greasy/fatty etc. I don't have that. I can eat burgers, curry, pizza etc and feel ok after. Most of the week I eat healthily, but weekends i'd eat what others are having or fancy. Like today I made a beef curry and ate that no problem. It's mainly the feeling full that can make me feel ill. Halfway through my curry I took a bite and suddenly felt like I would get sick if I tried to swallow that bite, so spat it in the bin! That was odd and I've not had that before.

The worst I've felt was after going to a buffet at Disneyland. The food and deserts looked so good and we paid a fortune for it so felt like I should try and eat as much as I could! Well that was a bad idea! Went to bed so stuffed I felt so ill! Was up all night feeling terrible! And even with trying to eat as much as I could, I still didn't manage to have much! So now I know not to over do it!