Mounjaro September Support (4)

[EatingTillIDie]

A new thread before the old one fills up!

I'm hoping someone can help. I'm at the end of my tether. I've hit another plateau. For the first month to six weeks I did really well, lost about a stone. Then I hit my first plateau which stalled me for about 2months. I then lost another 4lbs over the next six weeks and have stalled again.

I've tried everything I can think of. Eating more, eating less, fewer carbs, more carbs, different types of exercise. The only thing that seems to work is not eating at all, and I'm reluctant to go down that route.

The injections are expensive and I wanted to use them to recalibrate my eating and approach to health, but if anything it's allowing me to starve myself because suppression is good.

Is anyone else in this boat? I have another 4stone to go, and whilst I accept weight loss is a long haul and I'm happy to do the work, this doesn't feel healthy to me.

Thank you @cantbesure. I feel a bit stupid because I chucked the pen away but I've had some good advice from Mumsnet users, so am prepared for next time!

@Itisallgoingtobeok

What is your TDEE?
What does a typical day of eating look like?
How much water do you drink?
Have you been checked for any metabolic/thyroid issues?
What is your activity level?
Do you track your weight at all and have you seen any trends? Eg my weight loss slows the week before my period and the week after then I'll have bigger drops on the intermediate weeks.
Do you get enough sleep?

My TDEE is 1800 cals. I’m quite surprised at how low it is. No wonder I was so overweight before. It’s pretty easy to go over that.

I have taken my last dose and I’ve not ordered another pen. Ideally I’d like to lose another half stone but I can’t afford another pen so I’m going to have to go it alone. Hopefully my habits have adjusted enough that I can stick to healthy eating. Long term, my plan is to calorie count and to stick to my TDEE roughly, averaged out over a week.

@InfoSecInTheCity thanks for your reply.

I use My Net Diary for calorie allowance and tracking. It drops the amount as I loose weight. Currently at 1750cals and 15 stone.
I drink about 1.5litres of water a day. I only really like water to drink. I'm t total, so no wine calories to worry about.

I walk 8000 steps a day and also exercise 5 times per week. Three weights sessions and two fitness walking sessions.

I weigh daily so am used to the ups and downs. Don't see a change in any part of my cycle. Only gain if I eat junk. Which rapidly disappears over a day or two.

Sleep is ok. About 7-8 hours per night.
The thyroid issue is a good call, not had that looked at.

In terms of typical meals here's the sorts of things I might have. Generally only three meals a day and no snacks. Last meal is about 6pm.

Breakfast: Greek yoghurt with frozen berries nuts and seeds.

Lunch: some sort of protein like chicken, tuna or salmon with a veggie soup and a seeded flatbread.

Dinner: something light such as chicken and veg, or maybe an omelette.

I bulk up the meals with seeds / nuts if I'm a bit low on calories.

I will admit I feel a lot healthier, but I'm not any lighter!

@Itisallgoingtobeok I would go to the doctors for tests if what you're saying is true. You should be in a decent calorie deficit and losing weight but you're not. It could be thyroid related or something else so best to get checked out. Xx

@Itisallgoingtobeok id agree with asking for a bit of an MOT check to test bloods for sugar levels, thyroid etc just to be sure.

Other than that the only tweaks I would probably suggest would be to lower calories to around 1650, that's what MyFitnessPal had me on when I was 15st and worked for me and maybe upping your water a bit. You are exercising 5 days a week and exercise by design causes small muscle tears in order to build new muscle. That process uses water so because you are not having much rest between exercise session you may be retaining some water. A good way to combat water retention is to increase water intake. A rest day mid week might help too.

Can i ask how tall you are?

You seem to eating very well and alongside the workouts you should be losing something.

@lespameo - Going to try and get an appointment (?!!) tomorrow, which at my GPs might take longer than loosing the weight at 0.5lb a month!

@InfoSecInTheCity - I'll try these ideas. I exercise Mon, Tues, Thur, Sat, so I am getting some rest days, and I don't do the same thing on consecutive days. The water intake increase is a good one. I've tried slowly decreasing calories, and I only started to loose when I got down to a 800 - 1000 calories. With the activity and exercise I am doing, that's not sustainable at all.

@StanleyCup - I am 5ft 6". I agree, I really can't work out what I am doing wrong, but clearly I am doing something wrong, or there is another issue at play.

Thanks for the ideas everyone, I will report back.

Has anyone had a (probable) hypo on Mounjaro? I’ve had an intense day at work and barely any carbs and about 40 minutes ago started to feel very weird. Have had an emergency flapjack and seems to be abating slightly but it was a very unpleasant feeling and scared me a bit. Not diabetic or not knowingly diabetic anyway.

Your calories seem okay for your height.

I would definitely try and drink 3 litres of water per day. That’s helped me best with MJ.

The only other thing i can suggest is dropping your calories to a sustainable amount not a satiated amount, something that leaves you wanting a little more not satisfied when it comes to hunger - you might already be at that point anyway or sometimes we find the calories we are eating are helping us maintain not lose. I found it easier to do that with MJ because of the suppression with a view of getting up to maintenance calories when I'm at my weight goal. We need to drop to lose and to lose even a pound a week is a drop of 3500 calories.

The TDEE calculators are great for a starting point but actually don't take into account individuals. Differing metabolic rates, health implications, insulin resistance and overall lifestyle etc
On my weight loss journey ive had to see food as sustenance and nutrients only - sometimes that means very low calories and other days it means adding more depending on how my body is feeling. Consistency is listening to your body more than anything than sticking to set rules. Thats my experience anyway.

@StanleyCup this is really useful info, thank you. I'll up my water intake and see how I go.

It's pretty much always water, which I actually hate because it's one of the few things I cannot seem to be able to build a habit around. I'm really routine driven, I pick up habits at the drop of a hat, but can I get in to the routine of drinking enough water every day, can I heck as like, so bloody annoying.

@Itisallgoingtobeok good luck with getting an appointment! A challenge in itself 😓

Cheeky midweek weigh in and I’ve hit another goal weight (I’ve moved it down three times) and finally a healthy BMI. Have been dithering (for two months) about going up to 7.5 and maybe trying to get a bit lower, but I think this is a good weight for me. My % body fat is just outside healthy range so will focus on getting that into the healthy range but stop worrying too much about further losses (as long as no gains).
Am so happy: comfortably a size 12, finding exercise actually enjoyable, eating really well and drinking much less. I didn’t really know I could be this person (I would have hated her this time last year!) and I’m so hopeful that I might be able to sustain it. Have lost 18.5% of my body weight with barely a side effect. Remarkable.

Sorry for smug post. Like so many I’ve told no one but my husband that I’m on this so you guys get it all!

Oh well done @EBoo80 not smug, just acknowledging your achievement and what an achievement it is!

I'm struggling a little to believe that I'm only 8lbs away from a healthy BMi. I've never been a healthy BMI, I mean I might have been as a baby but I've been overweight all my life, pics of a little chubby me fill my childhood photo albums.

I've had to admit defeat and replace my whole wardrobe because I'm wearing size 14 now so just can't carry on putting on size 22 clothes without looking like a bag lady. Me and Vinted have become firm friends.

It all feels very surreal. Also I have great legs. The rest of me looks like a deflated balloon, but my legs are fabulous.

Well done @EBoo80, that’s amazing!

I have never been a healthy BMI while eating well. Didn’t grow up with brilliant food at home as an child, and have only been slim when deeply depressed and existing off cake and no meals. So it’s an unknown whether I can sustain this once I’ve titrated down, but at least I know that all the healthy eating advice does actually work 😄

I've just had my maintenance chat with Oushk - having booked it in when I thought I'd be a little closer to goal than I've ended up being. I have about 15 pounds left to go and am going to stay on a 10mg dose for now, but will look to start titrating down to say an ongoing 5mg maintenance dose.

Think it's going to be a "journey" even once I get to my goal weight, but what a relief it is to have these medications available and feel like there's a future out there free of a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and food obsession.

I'm having to think about what to do going forward now. I'm only a couple of pounds away from dipping under 11 stone and very close to moving out of the overweight BMI category. I'm expecting to hit a healthy BMI within the next couple of weeks.

I've stuck on 7.5 for a few months as it seems to work well with minimum side effects. I've got one pen in the fridge and I might order one more 7.5 after that but by the end of Feb I should be at or very close to goal.

Not sure if to titrate down or just stop and see how it goes. I don't have a long history of being obese. Was fairly slim most of my life until 40s, peri and lockdown.

I'm torn between not wanting the financial commitment longer than necessary and not fucking up my achievement by stopping too soon.

@OvaHere it’s a tough one, isn’t it. I can’t afford to carry on with it and I’m happy with how I look just now. I would like to lose another 2-3kg, but I would be happy if I stayed at my current weight. I am very concerned about slipping straight back into old habits though.

@EBoo80 I'm the same as you! No one except my partner knows. I'm bmi of 25.3 at present so want to lose another 10lbs which will get me to a bmi of 23, but how I feel/look now, I'm delighted with. Comfortably a size 12, my only issue is how saggy I've become but it's a nice problem to have and I'm sure I can resolve some of it by trying to tone up.
Congratulations on your success!

Hi @OvaHere - it’s probably a really personal decision based on how you’re feeling. I’m with Oushk and had a consultation with them which I found helpful. Includes options like one month on, one off, extending injections to every 9 days etc. obviously they have a massive financial incentive for us to stay on, so took it with a pinch of salt, but she said that most people who go cold turkey have come back for a second course. It didnt feel to me like a hard sell.
My current plan is to titrate down quite slowly, keeping an eye on my weight very closely. It’s a tricky decision.

Best NSV ever!

Just got the results of my latest blood test and my HbA1C number is 5.6% or 38 nMol down from 11% or 97n nMol in August last year.

I'm now in the non-Diabetic range!!

Have a call with diabetes nurse next week and hoping this doesn't mean they cut off my MJ supply, will have to keep my fingers crossed. Might do a bit of preemptive investigation for if anyone will privately prescribe given my BMI is now 26, think this would potentially be allowed with some as part of a 'Maintenance' programme.