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.

Oh @WeAllHaveWings that totally sucks & I think it's completely normal to feel frustrated about it! Don't feel silly for celebrating though the weight loss was worth celebration regardless of BMI category & now you'll get to celebrate twice🎉

thanks for the needle recs and talk all!

bit frustrated as I am up again, for no real reason. Had a little look through my weigh ins though and i was the same a month ago - clearly ovulation does wild things to my weight, more so than my period. Its still frustrating though, as i got under 17st and now i am way over 😖😭

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Question for those who use needles to extract the 5th dose. Does this actually mean syringe and needle type affair?

I'm massively needle phobic but OK with MJ needles as they don't look like traditional needles. Something that looks like a needle and syringe ain't gonna be happening though.

Yes, it's a syringe with a fixed needle attached. They're still very very fine but do tend to be longer. You don't have to push all the needle in though.
The alternative is doing the hard twist to break the mechanism and using one of the usual pen needles.

Ive done the hard twist on my first two and it was fine, but the plunger snapped on my third go, hence the needles!

Can someone help me please -

I have a family member taking monjaro. They have been on it for 4 months. Currently on the highest dose.
They lost 1 stone in the first 3 months and nothing since.
They are severely overweight. And are doing exercise classes weekly to.
why would the weight not be going down?

Because they are eating too much still I would presume. It's not a magic cure. Your friend still needs to eat less calories than they use daily. You could suggest they log all their food in the Nutracheck app and make sure it's less than their daily needs.

@justasmalltownmum they need to spend a week very carefully and accurately tracking everything they eat and drink. If they are not losing weight then in all likelihood they are eating more calories than they are using, or at the very least they are eating the same amount and maintaining their weight.

They should do a TDEE calculator and then aim to eat around 500 less calories per day. That will mean they are in a deficit and start to burn stored fat to make up for the lack of calories being fed in.

@justasmalltownmum I would check what dose they are actually on and where they are getting it from. The max dose is 15mg. The way it's supposed to work is that you increase it in steps of 2.5mg every month. Assuming they have been taking it properly, they should take a minimum of 6 months to get to the max dose.

MJ and an exercise class alone isn't enough to get anywhere. MJ is a means to an end, not an end in itself and it's definitely not a magic cure or 'skinny jab' as some of the more popular myths seem to think. Like others have said, calorie intake still needs to be reduced and more to the point the balance of foods eaten needs to be considered. I personally don't calorie count but I do put a lot of thought into what I am eating and portion sizes. I got this wrong in the beginning and spent a couple of unpleasant days with leg cramps from a lack of calcium.

Thanks to everyone who's replied to my question about insulin needles. I don't think I will be using needles in a hurry then.

Already noticed a bit of wibbly wrinkly skin. Thankfully this is on a place I have no plans to display to the general public (my ar$e!). I'm also under no illusions either that with a starting BMI of 45 I'm probably going to look wrinkly as I get closer to a healthy BMI. As long as it can stay to non visible areas I'm good.

@alltablenochairs my belly is starting to look like a saggy wrinkly mess. I've been overweight since primary school, I've stretch marks everywhere and very little chance of losing weight and not ending up with saggy arms, thighs, arse and belly. I've never worn a bikini or crop top though so I'm not going to miss not wearing one in the future. I figure I'll still end up better off than I am now and hopefully once safely enclosed in decent knickers and bra I'll look ok.

Realised today that I'm over half way towards my goal of a healthy BMI and spent a bit of time admiring my spreadsheet and feeling good about myself which was nice.

@InfoSecInTheCity if you want some REALLY decent pants then look no further than innersy pants on Amazon. Total arse and belly coverage!

DH got me some by accident earlier this year. I was in hospital and the nurses asked for some big pants because I had a total strop about hospital issue net pants. God knows what he stuck into Amazon and when I saw them my first reaction was nope. But they are seriously comfortable and no seams to dig in.

@alltablenochairs gotta love a brand that knows what they are selling, the description is just so no nonsense "Maybe looks big like granny pants when unpacked, but fit well, perfect for those who like to wear high waist pants or who after comfort over sexiness."

@InfoSecInTheCity how about 'our maxi pants make a nice gift for mother/grandma on Mother's day, Christmas and the New Year' if 'comfortable over sexiness' wasn't enough. They sure know how to sell their product!

Hi alll, glad to have found this thread! I have 7 stone (ish) to lose, have just picked up my first 2.5 Mounjaro pen and will jab for the first time tomorrow night!

Fantastic spreadsheet InfoSecInTheCity!

Wondering if anyone would like to share their strategy w.r.t. doses?
I keep reading comments on other threads along the lines of "I'm losing weight & feel fine so I'm going up a dose for my next pen" whilst I am nearing my 4th dose of 2.5, delighted to finally find that sticking under 1400cals/day finally results in me losing weight so I'm thinking I'll stick at 2.5 for my next pen. As I have so much weight to lose I'd like to keep higher doses until I need them so as not to "run out" of efficacy later - I hope to be using Mounjaro for a year minimum.

Does that sound sensible?

@Arglefraster
It’s definitely sensible to stick to the dose if it’s working for you. However the 5mg pens are usually the same price as the 2.5. So I’d order the 5 anyway, you can just have half the dose but if you do feel the need to increase your dose over the next month you can. If not just throw the remainder after 30 days

@Arglefraster I'm prescribed it for diabetes so a bit different but the medical protocol for diabetes management is that you go from 2.5 - 5mg as normal as that's when it starts becoming a therapeutic dose rather than a loading dose to get your body used to it. Then you stick at 5mg indefinitely until it stops working. I will be taking dose 12 tonight and still on 5mg.

@Arglefraster I feel the same as you, I'm nearly 2 stone into a hopefully 10 stone weightloss journey. It's going to take me a long time and I'm worried about loose skin etc and the threat of gallstones so while the weight is still falling off at a pound or two a week I'm content to stick with 5mg.

I moved up to 5mg after the first pen as I didn't feel the 2.5mg was that effective in the last two weeks of it. At the end of my first 5mg pen I was concerned about the same thing happening again so decided to order the 7.5mg and only inject 5mg doses from it (40 clicks), giving myself the option of increasing the dose if needed. So far 5mg is continuing to work for me so I've just ordered my next pen and gone back down to 5.

Glad to have somewhere to go if I need to increase the dose.

@InfoSecInTheCity I love your spreadsheet, well done on your half way milestone

I am the same re excess skin, I've been overweight since I was about 11 so I won't miss wearing skimpy clothes etc, I would settle for looking great in proper clothes!

I moved up from 2.5mg a week early as I found by day 4 I had lost any suppression and my food noise was back. I know I need to be on it for a long time so I went to 3.75mg as I don't want to not eat or be struggling to force food in. I've now done 3x2.5mg and 4x3.75mg at the moment 3.75 is working once it stops ill go up to 5mg.

A 2.5mg and 5mg pen are the same price so I'd be tempted to get the 5mg just incase 2.5mg stops working for you then you can just count 30clicks and bin after 30days.

I don't really understand the logic of people who are losing 4/5lb a week who keep going up the doses but then that seems to be what some prescribers advise.

I'm a stickler for following the instructions and going up every month. I have 7.5 this month which is making me feel a bit sick if I eat the wrong stuff, pizza and Bailey's last night. I want full on suppression though like I had on Ozempic and just the thought of those things were enough to put me off buying them. So I will keep going up till I get there.

Just done jab number 4 of 2.5, but planning on using a syringe to extract the remainder next week and then hoping the move to 5mg is kind to me as my appetite's been a pain in the arse the last couple of days (WFH is always harder going for me than running around over half the county). Will do full body measurements at the weekend to see if there's any actual "me" being lost but I've got a mini flat line on the scales at the moment which is kind of to be expected as 2.5 is not a therapeutic dose really, so any suppression is a bonus.

Changed up my lunch today and had Longley Farm cottage cheese (they only had fat free 🙄), a boiled egg, romaine lettuce leaves (I use these to make cottage cheese wraps!), cucumber and carrot sticks. 205 calories and I'm quite satisfied, although it's jab day tomorrow so feeling a little hungrier.
29.5lbs down so far, a long way to go. 6 more lbs and I will see 15 on the scales, something I haven't seen for many years!

Thank you for making the thread. I've been doing lots of hovering but not much speaking.

I am on my 6th jab of Mounjaro (my second 5mg one) and have so far lost 1st 7lb (or 9kg) since starting in early October. I have about 45kg to lose in total.

I've been mostly too scared to eat badly because I'm scared of the side effects. But yesterday (possibly period related) I ate some boursin and tortilla chips and then two lindor balls that I had to really rummage for. It's the first time in 6 weeks I've caved and had "bad food" and Im now wondering that perhaps this dose isn't strong enough whereas before I was really hoping it was given I've managed to avoid anything too bad or overeat.

My favourite NSV so far has been having so much more energy for getting things done around the house and getting out more. I can't believe how much time I have saved (and money) from no longer scrolling through takeaway options on my phone!