You've reached your goal weight - come chat about maintenance, not regaining, going cold turkey or titrating down

[MargoLivebetter]

Would people who've hit their target weight be interested in a general thread on how they are getting on? You might be titrating your WLI down, you might be going cold turkey, you might be on a maintenance programme or you might have gone back on.

I used MJ for 5 months and I've hit my goal and I'm muddling through with my own version of "maintenance". I'm doing a 1.25 dose weekly to use up what I've got left and cut down gradually, so I don't lose all the benefits of MJ immediately. I was a complete lightweight and did the whole 5 months on just 2.5, as I had savage suppression and loss of appetite. So, I'm just halving my dosage.

I'd be interested to hear how others are getting on, given it all feels a bit new and the long-term aspects of weight maintenance are not yet much talked about.

@IReallyNeedThisToWork thank you

Hey, I'm jumping on the maintenance thread if thats okay? I'm still on our August starters thread because it's fab and I really wouldn't be here unless I had the support of all the amazing ladies on there. I reached goal last Friday and I'm 11st now, lost 3.5 stone. I dont want to lose anymore especially before my holiday in June as it's been a fortune to replace the wardrobe 😂. I think I'm happy as I am with my health and body and would like a tone up.
I'm a low dose responder and never made it to 5mg, my highest dose was 4mg. I have been on Oushk maintenance plan for two pens and one left with my discount. I'm taking a dose of 1.25mg but tbh I'm not bothered about jabbing now. I too have the carb hunger and tend to avoid white pasta and bread more than once a week. I do have dark chocolate, sometimes milk but the cravings haven't come back.
What has worried me is a really low folic acid level. I got my blood results back and I was 2mg (if thats right?) But my diet has been good. Yep I wouldn't say I'm heavy on the folate foods but certainly not excluding anything that contains it, B12 was okay but I take a supplement anyway. So, I've stocked up on a variety of folate rich foods and also made sure I'm eating enough of other variety. I think I've been so focused on protein protein protein I lost my way with a more balanced diet of green leafy veg and different nuts.
I'm so happy that I've made it to goal, I feel great, I feel so much more confident and healthy too. It's great to see some user names from the other thread too.

Thank you for the thread my fellow low dose lightweight @MargoLivebetter

Hello, just signing in!

I’ve been on MJ since September and have reached my goal weight, 5 stone gone. I‘m now on a maintenance plan with Oushk, but hoping to taper off. I never got higher than 3.75 and I’m now back down at 2.5, but still feel a bit unsure about the road ahead!

Welcome @NippyNinjaCrab my fellow August starter! Lovely to see you here and congratulations on reaching your goal weight. What great news.

Welcome @doodleschnoodle congratulations on your 5 stone loss! Keep posting on here. Most of us a bit unsure but muddling along ok.

@JudgingJudy I am probably not a good person to ask, as I have a rather relaxed attitude to using pens. I store mine in the fridge the whole time and I am happy to use them until they expire. I realise that this is not following the guidance but I am personally happy with the risk involved. I always use a fresh sterile syringe, I am super careful about my hygiene when using the pen and where I open the pen and put it down etc and therefore think the risk of contamination is very low. However, I know that this is not the official line and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone else, it is just what I am comfortable with.

Thank you to all those wishing me well with my house move. I definitely shed weight from severe stress and sheer bloody hard work. I sincerely hope I never have to do it again. I can't find my scales at the moment, so I'm not sure how much I lost but my clothes are looser!

Hello, I am taking my last 2.5mg jab today, then it is cold turkey for me. I weighed this morning and actually lost 0.1kg over the long weekend which is a miracle as I felt like I was constantly eating and drinking for 4 days. I am also about to start my period and am pretty bloated, so hoping the scales will be even kinder in a day or two. I need to get back to exercise today as haven’t been to any gym classes or for a run since last Thursday and my issue has always been getting out of routine and then everything going wrong. I have got a funny, sweaty, headachy big, but unless I deteriorate over the day I will back to metafit tonight after work.

Welcome @ShaunaSadeki . I agree that routine helps massively. I hope you feel up to your fitness class later.

A bit of an essay from me! Well. I am in my 3rd week of cold turkey. I wanted to stop before a big family holiday/ wedding not particularly to overindulge, but I wanted to have more energy again and not risk any dodgy tummy which I only started having after 6 months on the jabs.
I also had only lost a couple of pounds over the last couple of pens so felt I’d come to a natural pause, at a pound over the top of my healthy bmi.
It was difficult, I had a lot of bread which I don’t usually eat much of, and lots of booze.
On my return home Sunday I’d put on 5lbs. (I was away 8 days)
I had a maintenance call with Oushk before I went and have 3 codes to taper down ( I explained I had a few holidays booked over the next few months but wanted to ultimately stop.
My DH has urged me to try and lose it myself before ordering another pen ( in a positive way, he says I’ve such good habits now) but I did tell him I’d tried hard for years and have never managed to easily drop 5lbs.
Today I am 2lbs down already so it must have been partly due to a bit of bloating. ( though I have only had salad since I’ve been back) I sort of wish I’d had a 3/4 lb buffer for such things, it is miserable being 4lbs away from a healthy weight again. I think I will give it another week, if I am not down another pound or two I will order another pen. I will update at the end of the week! Any motivational support welcome!

You will drop more over the next few days, if your calories were not too much higher, it will be the bread and the travelling and booze. 5lb of fat would mean you had eaten 17500 calories over maintenance!

@Sadteacher it's definitely the carbs and booze don't worry, I would give yourself another couple of weeks anyway. I was stuck at 3lbs to goal, added a couple of pounds then seemed to lose it over 2 weeks to goal. It will come off. I'm now 1lb below goal today which right now I don't want because I have bought new clothes for holiday. If we weren't going away and if I'd not replaced a whole wardrobe I'd be happy to get to 3 to 4 lbs below goal. Xx

Checking into this thread as I started last July and as of last week I’m 6 stone down and BMI 23.5. I’m hoping to get another stone down and BMI 21 but also to start reducing my dose. I’ve done the last two months on 12.5 but dropping to 10 next week (partly as 12.5 out of stock).

I switched to Oushk in January in anticipation of wanting to go to a maintenance plan so expect I’ll be booking a consultation before I can order another pen as I’ll (hopefully) be below BMI 23 when I need to order.

found the thread so far inspiring!

My maintenance appointment is in July I'm on 15mg I have a 10mg pen amd a 2.5 aswell I'm just going for it basically

@Sadteacherim The same I'm hanging around the same weight for the last month I'm not buying anymore pens I'm on 15 got a 10 and a 2.5 so thays it

Thanks for the encouraging words. I have lost 2.5 out of the 5 I put on so that was a bit of bloat. I am going to try and lose a few more for a buffer long term. My mental ‘top weight’ is 10.4. I feel ok up to that point. Today I was 10.stone 4.5. If I could hover around 10 it would allow for natural fluctuations. My top bmi is actually 10.1 so I could lose a fair bit more but I am very happy as a size 10/12.

@Sadteacher I'm still.wearing some of my size 16s I'm 4 stone down it doesn't make sense to me

I’ve got my maintenance call with oushk on Monday and not sure what to expect. Do I need my ID and to be able to jump on the scales?

I am a pound below my original target weight and around BMI 24. But planning to go down another half stone and around a BMI of 23. I spend a lot of time worrying about keeping the weight off and the feeling of constant and food noise returning.

@Cantbesure I had my call a couple of weeks ago but Hira couldn’t make it so it was a very lovely young man. He didn’t ask for anything. I had ordered from Oushk for my last pen though, so they had a recent photo.

I did my weight loss verification at same time as maintenance call so I didn’t have to book it separately. Hira was happy to do it. Worth doing if you haven’t done it yet as there’s a long wait for the weight verification calls.

I’ve decided to switch to flex instead of the taper plan. I have been extending the time between jabs as well as reducing dosage and now at the point where I have barely any in my system according to Shotsy and I’m doing okay. I’ve actually lost another 5lbs from goal, so going to try without and see how I go! As I would like that £115 or so a month to spend on other stuff!

@doodleschnoodle I wanted to do the flex, but got the impression they would start you again anyway if you were a previous customer. I am therefore testing the system, I have 3 codes for taper and am waiting before I order them, It has been 3 weeks so I know I’ve probably only got 3/4 weeks to decide. I couldn’t find any evidence of customers stopping and being rejected a few months later, in fact all the talk is how good Oushk are at taking on maintenance customers who already have a healthy BMI.

MJ is so weird, I took my last 2.5 jab last Monday and have been titrating down from 5mg for about a month, so I should have very little in my system now? Yesterday was like the first dose of 5mg and the strongest I have felt it in months. Didn’t think to eat until about 1.30pm only fancied a small lunch. Had friends round for drinks and snacks and had some lentil crisps and hummus (quite a lot), then no appetite for dinner, had a couple of spoons whilst serving up the family’s.

I expected to be starving this morning, but no!

Interested to hear how you get on @doodleschnoodle good luck!

Those that have done maintenance calls, did you know what you wanted to do before the call. I’m thinking probably titrate.

I am 5lbs away from target with 3 doses left of a 10mg pen. Maybe one more 10 and then try and taper?

I don’t know about if you have a longer gap from the medication. They’ll happily take maintenance clients at healthy BMI but that’s generally as people are still on the medication, not new customers at 23 BMI or whatever who haven’t been on the medication for a few months (hence why you need to provide proof of prescription if you go 6 weeks or more without ordering). I’m not sure if you were off it for 6 months and then wanted to restart at say 25 BMI that you would be able to do so 🤔 but happy to pay £15 a month to not worry about it!

Welcome @Jfw82 and congratulations on your weight loss. You must be feeling pretty pleased with that. Keep us posted on how maintenance goes. (If I miss others who have recently joined, I'm sorry. I can't always remember who is new and who has posted before 😳.)

Doing my weekly check-in to keep accountable to myself mostly! I'm 1lb up but interestingly the scales say I gained muscle and lost fat, so I'm happy with that. I definitely feel like my body is tightening a bit now. Things look and feel less saggy - I think anyway. I am a gimmer, so there is a loss of elasticity generally and I can tell that the days of firm boobs are loooooooooooooooong gone, but I do feel slightly like my skin is fitting me better. I've been completely off MJ for at least a month now and I feel like things have settled. The savage IBS that kicked in when I first came off has calmed down, the acid reflux has completely gone, thanks be to goodness. Most importantly my appetite remains manageable, my portion control is, well controlled, and my comfort eating is ok too. I find the evenings the most tricky but so far so good.

Interested to hear how everyone gets on with Oushk, as they are my back up plan if things go tits up.

Amazing update @MargoLivebetter, very motivating! I somehow lost a kilo overnight despite eating out yesterday. But I think it’s the end of period bloat and loss of hard won gym gains as I am still not very well and have had to cancel most of my classes. Not done any weights since the day before Good Friday 😱

I had my maintenance call this morning and will start the taper plan on my next pen. Oushk were supportive of this approach. I really want this to be for life and to embed the life changes whilst my body and mind get used to being smaller.