Mounjaro DECEMBER Starters Thread 2

[OnTheMJ]

Welcome all December 2024 starters, and November and January starters too😊. As we're almost at the end of the first thread, I thought to start a new one before it finishes.

Thread 1 here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5220172-mounjaro-december-starters-support-thread-1?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

@shrinkingthiswinter thanks for the reply. Luckily I have no medical reasons for not losing weight, had everything checked. I’m a notorious slow loser but seeing the scales go up felt like a dagger to the heart this morning. Felt like I’m wasting my money and effort. Sometimes o just hate being me!

Whilst looking at another thread on Mounjaro i found a link to a YouTube video presentation by a South African doctor specialising in weight related medicine. I tried to copy the link to share but couldn’t work out how to do it 🙄so sorry I will keep trying. Very interesting watch where the science of GLP-1 effects on the body explained including long term protections.
On another note, I have been reading lots of entries about people who are managing to extract the leftover dosage after 4 injections of the pen. Sadly I couldn’t find a thread that explained how to do it. Can anyone on here help please ?
My journey so far :
4/12/24 SW 95kg. BMI 30.1
14/1/25 CW 82kg. BMI 25.9
Loss so far is 13kg but this has slowed this week. I did 4 weeks on 2.5mg and am now half way through my 5mg pen. I do feel extremely tired on the first couple of days after injections but luckily I am not troubled by the gastric issues others have experienced.
Good Luck everyone and keep going x

I'm W7D7, I thought I'd do a more detailed update today as I've found reading everyone else's, on this, and other threads extremely useful.

I've lost 3.2 lb this week (well 6 days)
Starting Weight: 263.4 lb (18st 11) BMI-43 (Morbid/Class 3 Obesity)
Current Weight: 238 lb (17st 0) BMI-39 (Class 2 Obesity)
Goal Weight: 168 lb (12st 0) BMI-27 ('Just' Overweight, pre-children and wedding weight)

Total Weight Loss: 25.4 lb

The BMI I've taken off the decimal points and not rounded as I see moving into the new point as the next category, especially as they classify each bracket up to .9.

I'm currently doing my 5mg pen, I do 5 doses from each pen. I have my 7.5mg pen in the fridge and plan to move up in Feb.

Side effects (good and bad) - Mounjaro definitely works (for me), I get fuller and I crave food less. Some weeks have been better than others but it's never been completely ineffective. I think this is why I need to keep going up, I've never been anywhere near not being able to eat all day like I read many other people have.

However, I've had minimal bad side effects. When I first started (right at the end of Nov/starting December) I had funny, dry eyes (around the white bit where the lashes grow, so eyelids really) for 2 or 3 days. I came across a number of Reddit threads saying the same and the general consensus was that it was dehydration. I then started drinking 2 litres of water a day.

I'm someone who already gets regular headaches (usually barometric or hormonal), these seem to be the same as normal. So no change.

In terms of indigestional effects (which seem to be the most common!) again minimal. I often have 'looser stools' a few times a week (before mounjaro). I would say MJ has slowed me down a bit - very mild constipation but (TMI!) still going every day or every other day. A couple of days of lactulose recently to help.

That's a fab loss.
Re the '5th dose' - I've drawn it out with an insulin syringe (push the needle through the red bit)

https://ukmedi.co.uk/products/fms-micro-syringe-32g-8mm-1ml-fms-fms-32g-10ml-ukmedi-co-uk

I won't quote my whole very long post but I meant to add method wise I'm counting 1200 calories (usually ending up more around 1100) via 2 meals a day. I still do each junk food, carbs, sugar, snacks etc I just keep them in my quota.

Not getting much exercise ATM although the goal is exercise bike 3 nights a week.

@NeverJustInTime that really sucks! I hope it does work out though, even if a bit slowly. After all you are going in the right direction

@NeverJustInTime I'm similar to you, averaging just 1lb per week, today i injected my 6th dose and im only 2.8kg down from my starting weight.

I ordered a 5mg pen in case suppression starts to ease in month two, but so far 2.5 (30 clicks) is still keeping all the food noise at bay with bearable side effects. If the hunger comes back then I'll increase the dose.

Im trying to gaslight myself into believing that the slow weight loss is due to all the extra muscle weight I'm putting on at the gym and/or blaming constipation for the scales not whizzing down.

It’s just super disheartening isn’t in, particularly when you know you’re doing everything by the book. I wouldn’t mind if I knew I had not been counting calories properly or overeating but I genuinely haven’t.
I have scales that show your body fat %, muscle mass etc and the 4lb I lost… now 3lb, has all been muscle! Steer clear of them, they are the devil 😆

Thank you @JunoRoma i believe so, 2 ltrs a day plus juice. Think I’ll see how I get on in next couple of weeks. Just don’t want to pay for something that isn’t working. 🫠 just wondered if it hadn’t worked for anyone else

My suppression has been quite poor today and yesterday. Today I snapped and ate a brownie. I feel really guilty despite having been so so good. I’m week 2 of 5mg and suppression doesn’t feel great at the moment, anyone else? I’m only on day 5 so not due to inject yet

I'm the opposite and have really strong suppression on my second week of 5. I'm due third dose tomorrow but still struggled tonight to get my dinner down. I just don't have that interest in food.

Are you eating enough? If you are too low on calories your body will crave stuff.

My order arrives tomorrow - clinically obese new starter!

I have been tracking calories for years now in failed attempts to get to BMI normal through CICO.

Had an unpleasant few weeks on Orlistat in that time, too!

Looking forward to seeing how my body reacts to Mounjaro at 2.5mg and joining everyone else on this journey!

@NeverJustInTime I would wonder if you are perhaps not eating enough? Have you checked your basal metabolic rate?

I woke up bloody starving today on W2D4 of 5mg!

Don't sweat the brownie - you need to eat something like 3.5K cals to gain 1lb! Just drink some extra water and wash it away 🤣

@LC4life sorry to hear about illness, that sounds miserable.

I’ve just injected dose 7 of 2.5. I expect I’ll do a top up of 1.25 halfway through the week like I did last week. That worked really well. I was too hungry on day 4, but the extra dose stopped that and actually meant I could wait until day 8 before doing my next dose.

A happy thing happened yesterday. I had ordered a dress I'd been hankering after for ages but which was too small in the largest size. It arrived and fits! Indeed is generous. I'm going to wear it to a party on Saturday.

It's a very versatile style, which is needed because I don't want to buy many garments before I reach my final form. But on the other hand I do need to wear clothes, and everything's looking distinctly baggy, though I'm only down 1/3 of my stretch target.

Couldn't get the bonus dose to work — managed to force the pen around to 1, but the plunger thingee inside stopped short before the point where it would push out the remaining dose. Frustrating.

Luckily I had ordered my 5mg pen, so used that instead — but have hung onto the 2.5 as a potential top up if anyone can tell me what I was doing wrong. Thinking about buying syringe and needles to extract, any tips?

Delighted with results so far.
SW 240lbs
CW 228
GW — whatever feels comfortable, am thinking around 198lbs

I've been glancing through some of the continuation threads from people who started earlier than us (June starters, for example) for encouragement and nosiness. I haven't looked in detail, but it seems like there are some people on those who were very slow to lose at first but have been successful over time. It might be worth slower losers having a look at those threads or even posting on them to see if there's advice out there?

@Slimwannabe , yeah it’s around 1500, but I don’t know about you, I feel like I’m eating for the sake of it as it is. Not sure I could fit anymore in. I do wonder if I’ve slowed my metabolism right down and my body has adjusted to the new lack of food? 🙄

@LC4life thank you for the advice. I shall give it a shot 🤞.i could do with a bacon buttie 😆

I definitely feel this way for breakfast and lunch - I could easily not eat! However, I try to have something at reular times each day so that my body gets used to regular food and fuel cues.

So I'll have a protein yogurt for brekkie, and a greek salad for lunch - even if not hungry.

I tend to have a better appetite at dinnertime, so use spare calories for nice things, like some cheese on my pasta, or a dollop of guac with chilli. Today I'm having some halo top for pudding! If, by some miracle, I am hungrier earlier in the day, I'll add the extra calories in then. Today I was up at 6 to be in the office and was hungry, so had some hardboiled eggs with my protein yog.

I have heard some of the newer pens are set to not administer the dose even if you force the pen. A lot of people use diabetic needles to draw the dose out and inject. Mine did work with force, but I have needles as a backup.

Pretty sure you must use the pen contents within 30 days of first piercing the pen seal though.