Mounjaro / Wegovy with > 5st / 30kg to lose: Thread 4

[VelociraptorsVelociRapping]

Thread 4 (!) of this lovely community. Anyone using weight-loss injections to lose more than 5 stone or 30kg is very welcome to join us.

No discount codes, please - these need to go in the dedicated thread on this board and they will be deleted.

Yes exactly !!!

just wanted to say at the beginning of this I decided not to go down the voucher/discount/code route. I just didn't want to give any headspace to that in addition to everything else and the codes everywhere I found stressful noise I wanted to avoid.

I found a supplier with what looked like stable and reasonable pricing (The Family Chemist but there is a price comparision chart around so you can take a look for others), and the most I've paid so far (for 7.5m) is £155 including delivery etc. The price goes up a little with 7.5 & 10.

There are good well priced alternatives out there that don't require codes etc.

that is brilliant @WeAllHaveWings thank you.

I am doing much of that but I've totally gone rogue with the nuts and will benefit from weighing them.

I've gone right off carbs - I did have some brown rice a few days ago (with a lamb curry I made) and it was lovely. Though I served myself 2 tablespoons of rice - the mere suggestion of measuring rice by the spoonful would have made me cry with laughter not too long ago.

Apart from alcohol I've not drunk sugar for years - I only really have milk in a flat white a few times a month.

@RobinEllacotStrike I've tried to avoid meticulously logging everything. I tend to log breakfast and lunch, but not my evening meal and I'm not weighing cucumber, and lettuce etc! I actually started logging my first 2 meals (approximately) to know i was eating enough and then as my suppression is still good I know i won't overeat my evening meal as I can't. So it keeps a rough eye without feeling I have to log everything. A compromise that seems to work for me ay least!

@WeAllHaveWings that’s really helpful thank you. I too don’t want to get into the diet mentality, diets since I was 8 years old have completely screwed my brain up and I rebel at the slightest “rule”. I think especially us who have a lot of weight to lose need to change our habits and portion sizes permanently to avoid regain.

I’m 30 hrs post first injection, and I’m not expecting anything really yet, but I do seem less nibbly, I’ve had breakfast and lunch so far and didn’t even think about a snack with my coffee this afternoon. Is it possible it works quickly or is it placebo?!

@Kay2000 yes it kicks in quite quickly for some of us.
It did for me - I was feeling the effects the day after jab#1. Though technically its a "theraputic dose" and many don't lose on 2.5, for many of us we are off to a great start with 2.5.

I've permitted myself to buy posh stuff too, because I'm eating less of it. So yes, M&S and Waitrose, and those Merchant Gourmet sachets of prepared lentils, grains and even rice (you can freeze the rice you don't eat - I get 3 portions out of a packet). And I'm not forbidding myself anything (except alcohol this month) as I also have a history of very disordered eating.

My prescription has been approved! Just have to wait for it to be delivered now.

I need to read up on interaction with alcohol - I do drink a couple of glasses of wine most evenings - I know I need to reduce, but is it OK to drink at all?

It is OK to drink, but many of us find we dont want to - going off alcohol is a common side effect.
I still enjoy a drink occassionally but I am happy with one or 2. I can get a whole evening out of a large self poured negroni.

I’m alcohol intolerant, even a sip of wine makes me flush and tingle (not in a good way 🤣). I’ve definitely eaten every single calorie to get me to 22 stones.

@Kay2000 everyone is different, but for some people it really does kick in quickly and they can stay on the low doses for a long time. I did 5 weeks of 2.5mg, and because I had bought a starter pack of 2.5mg and 5mg pens, and didn't know any better at the time, I thought I had to move up each month. I was a bit worried about moving to 5mg after reading about side effects some where having, so I tried 3.75mg first by click counting and have stayed there for nearly 6 months now. So I am very lucky I can stick to low and cheaper doses (so far), but for others they feel nothing until they hit 7.5mg! I've even seen some hitting 12.5mg and still not getting the appetite suppressing effects, that must be hard going! It doesn't work for everyone.

From day 2-3 after my first injection I have felt its effects. Initially, for me, suppression was very strong and I calorie counted to make sure I was getting enough calories as several days a week I could easily have went all day without eating and when I did I couldn't face eating much and was sub 600-700 calories some days which isn't healthy or desirable. But it did settled down in a couple of weeks and was more manageable, now I need a bit more will power but I am managing ok with that and know I have lots of room to move up if I need too.

You need to make sure you’ve understood the increased risk of pancreatitis when drinking alcohol on MJ, @MooBaggage, especially if you intend to drink every day. MJ has removed the desire to drink for many of us so you may be lucky and find this also applies to you.

@hellohellooo Like you I started with a subscription service (I used Chequp) but, after about 4-5 months, I had a couple of issues. Mine were customer service related rather than medical like yours but I decided to switch.
As somebody else sad upthread I decided not to use anyone with codes as it seemed stressful and, in my view, it's unprofessional and rather unsavoury.
I looked at the price comparisons and picked a company who were consistently reasonably priced and I'd seen recommendations for on social media.
I'm happy I made the switch. Good luck with the decision

Interesting chat about diet mentality.

I don’t think I will ever not be able to be actively monitoring my food intake to be at a maintenance or deficit - with or without mounjaro - without gaining weight or being very fat.

I think (and this is just my opinion and by no means fact!) we are either predisposed to eat to live or live to eat, at least in western culture. I think its too late for me at 38, having spent decades eating absolutely crap constantly (one day I will be honest about how much shit I used to eat, its at this point too unbelievable and shameful), I am never going to be able to just eat intuitively. Its not even about volume for me; its about the preference for calorific, highly processed junk.

MJ has made it as close as I will probably ever get, and made it infinitely easier to consume a varied and nutrient dense diet, but I still eat chocolate and crisps most days, just at what might be considered a reasonable amount to the average person. One day I would like to tackle my UPF consumption, but I suppose right now I don’t want to! (And also trying to minimise ‘diet mentality’ as best as I can)

@Darlinghag I totally get where you are coming from

It's a daily battle

No judgement

I have ate multiple takeaways in the space of a few hours and then still felt hungry

I'm trying so hard to get away from the binging

@Darlinghag I will be tracking my food for life, I've had to come to that realisation and force myself to accept it.

I cannot do carbs, I'm T2 diabetic, with insulin resistant PCOS. If I eat carbs I get fat, I also crave carbs even more which makes me eat more, which makes me fatter and add in all the diabetic symptoms too like thrush, thirst, extreme hunger, extreme tiredness swollen legs....... so even if I ever stop Mounjaro I will need to keep a firm control on my carb intake forever. I'm hoping that I will be able to stay on a low dose long term because I'm prescribed it my the GP predominantly for diabetes control with the added side effect of weightloss.

At the worst of my eating, when my sugar levels were out of control I was gnawingly hungry all the time and my mouth would literally be watering at the idea of chocolate and cake and bread. I would easily make my way through a big sharing bar of cadburys in a couple of mins, follow it up with a sharing bag of crisps and still be hungry so make myself a mug cake in the microwave. I'd munch though 1500 calories in less than an hour as a snack.

Will also be tracking and keeping an eye on portions for the rest of my life. Portion control has always been my problem and I'm trying to work on that by checking online or the paket what a portion is. Previously if I wanted an easy dinner I'd have 2 tins of tuna with a giant jacket potato.....who knew that a tin of tuna is 2 portions!!!!!! Now, I try to make a tin last twice, dinner and then a spoonful for lunch the next day. I do it with salad and veg too, I know I don't have to but I need to train my eyes as well as my belly, so if a bag of salad says it's for four people, I only eat a quarter at a time.

I gained 3lb over Christmas. Weigh in 13 and I lost those 3lb and a further 2lb this week so back on track.
SW 21st 9lb
CW 19st 6lb
Total loss 2st 3lb.

Set my next mini goal to lose another 2st (17st 9lb) by 18/3 which is the weigh in before my birthday

Is anyone else using MJ but not weighing themselves regularly? I moved house recently and don't any scales and really don't want to get into what always becomes an obsession with weighing (for me personally). I know when my body is gaining/losing weight, but do I have to submit my weight each time I want a prescription? I'd so much rather just start to try and see how my body feels/my clothes feel etc - I really want this time to be different to the past million times I've tried and failed to lose weight.

@WafflingDreamer well done for getting back on track. I keep seeing that it seems easier to do that now whereas, if you’re like me, at WW or SW previously a 3lb gain would have derailed me. Well I wouldn’t have gained only 3lb over Christmas, one Christmas when I was doing WW about 18 years ago, I was smugly thinking I’d probably gained only a couple of lbs, as I’d been “good” over the 3 weeks it was shut. I gained 10lbs!! The leader said that was a record for her 🥴

@MooBaggage you do normally have to submit your weight each time you reorder. But that would only mean weighing once a month ish, and you don't have to have scales in your house. You could use scales in a pharmacy or leisure centre/gym, or maybe GP surgery?

I tried a low carb diet last year and although it was derailed by me going on holiday and succumbing to temptation, it suited my body. I felt less hungry, more energetic and less pain. I was following the Freshwell Low Carb lifestyle plan. Freshwell was set up by two GPs who were fed up of seeing their patients become diabetic, fatter or sicker and not being able to lose weight on the NHS guidelines. There is an App and a good Facebook group which I’d definitely recommend, it includes low carb recipes etc. I’m going to move towards low carb again, beginning as I did before by cutting snacking, which hopefully MJ will help me with.

@MooBaggage my GP has a weight machine which is completely private which does blood pressure too, see if yours does. I’m planning on using it monthly so my GP can track my weight and BP hopefully coming down, although I am going to weigh myself at home once a week. Otherwise maybe ask if the nurse could weigh you and not tell you what your weight is, or do it in Kg - which is meaningless to me - just record it for your MJ provider. I think once we see our weight coming down it might not be the problem it is now. Avoid seeing daily or weekly fluctuations and just weigh in once a month.

Thanks - my partner has scales so I can weigh myself at his - I just don't want to!

But maybe once a month when I'm ready to re-order the next lot of medication is a compromise - I will try to cope with that and not spiral to weekly/daily panic weigh ins...

Your provider needs to know your weight / weight loss so they can continue to approve orders and prescribe to you safely. Weight is really the only measurement of your progress they have. You could perhaps explain to your provider and ask if they'll accept you adding your weight every 2-3 orders/months instead, or to monitor you via video call, photos, tape measurements while your physique still clearly shows it is safe to prescribe.

The suggestion above to use kgs (or even lbs) if you are not familiar with the number is a good one if it would depersonalise them for you and take the emotion out of it.

Or, do you have someone who could weigh and not tell you the numbers and place orders for you? Use their scales, or buy your own but keep stored out of sight and bring out for only the weigh in for prescriptions.

Another alternative would perhaps to find a local pharmacy with face to face consultations who will not tell you your weight (our local pharmacies that offer Mounjaro are costly though).