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.

@KrankyKumquat its hopefully just a temporary blip, but the 12.5/15 stock seems to have been a bit unreliable for a few months now, so I’m going to risk the dreaded cold/warm delivery issues and make sure I have an extra in the fridge.

Ah ok I will check thanks x

(She said she probably be able to get it by adding another half stone of on her weight when requesting it online. Or her Botox lady can prescribe apparently)

Yes the big pens has been a recurring problem for weeks hasn't it? Definitely worth getting a little pile in. I must admit I'm a bit laissez-faire re delivery temps, just wack it in the fridge when I get it and crack on 😅. But I'm completely paranoid about not having a few doses in hand, just in case. I've never missed a dose or been late in a year.

@Itscoldouthere I hadn’t discussed taking less than 2.5mg with them but buy a 2.5 pen approx monthly and get 3 doses out of it. Oushk lady did tell me to extend time between doses to about 10 days. She also said she had customers who took only one dose a month! Expensive dose but if it works! I’m experimenting really to see how low I can go, ideally stopping altogether at some point.

@Lardychops personally I would never advise going with the Botox lady, this is a prescription medicine and if you don’t qualify for it based on the safe rules then you probably shouldn’t take it.
Obviously lots of people do go down this route, or lie to get it etc, but it’s not something I would recommend.

Please tell her not to get it from her Botox lady, there’s a lot of fake stuff out there. It should only come in mounjaro or wegovy branded kwik pen from a registered pharmacy. Anything else is fake. Some places provide syringes which could contain dear knows what

I’m think she feels the same desperation to shed a couple of stone I did to lose the 3/4 I want to lose by what ever means x

The botox lady will not have pens from Ely Lilly because those are only supplied via a rigorous cold chain to registered pharmacies. They will be the copy pens that are freely available on AliXpress etc - cheap Chinese copies. You can see the listings for yourself - you buy a weightloss 'powder' and vials and pens and make them up yourself.

Some of them have insulin in them, one batch tested by the BBC even had washing up liquid in it. I guess these will make you lose weight by extreme illness - and you know what, the media reports of side effects help this by setting people up to not question it if they get extremely ill. You even see that on threads on here.

Some 'botox lady' pens of course are real pens purchased from people who have bought too many from MedExpress etc, but fuck knows how they have been stored or even whether they have been partially used and water injected into them to make up the volume. 'Botox ladies' are simply drug dealers with the same ethics and morals as a County lines boss.

I would say it is considerably safer to lose weight by taking up smoking, or bingeing on coke & amphetamines. Would your friend consider these methods? How desperate would you have to be?

Botox is an extremely dangerous prescription only medicine so wouldn't the botox lady have to be a registered health care provider and have to be registered with a health care body and be able to write prescriptions? Genuine question, I have no experience of using such a service as I've pretty much always been to fat to be wrinkly, lol! It feels safer and somehow more sensible to get it via a pharmacy but I'm not sure why if they are both suitably qualified?

@CountingSleepySheep
Yes botox is a prescription only drug so has to be prescribed by a doctor, dentist, pharmacist or prescribing nurse. However, it can be administered by someone only suitably trained; the prescriber is responsible for ensuring this person is qualified to deliver the treatment. So the 'botox lady' might be a prescriber of botox in her own right or be supervised by a prescriber. In relation to WLIs, she'd need to be qualified and suitably trained in that too. I'm not sure how likely it'd be that botox lady would be suitably qualified and trained in both treatments but others might know better.

Botox lady ipso facto is not a qualified person because she is providing medication to someone who does not meet the clinical criteria. She will also not be registered with the GPhC or be a registered supplier of MJ. Personally I wouldn't even get botox from her because she is - a drug dealer. God knows what other short cuts she is taking or whether her botox is actualy medical grade.

If you look this up the government produced warnings in the new year saying you should not buy GLP1 from people like beauticians as it is against the law as you can’t sell your prescription on to others, they should only be purchased from licensed pharmacies and used by the person named on the prescription.
www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-medicines-regulator-warns-against-buying-weight-loss-medicines-without-a-prescription-this-new-year

Morning all, welcome to the new posters.

Well, I'm half a pound down. So annoying that it takes so long to undo, but anyhow down is better than up! Eating more protein is definitely the way forward for me. If I've eaten enough it really does quell my appetite and I don't want to snack at all.

I had a fairly flexible approach to eeking out my pens. I stored them in the fridge the whole time, used fresh sterile syringes (I couldn't get on with the clicks) and made sure that my hands surfaces etc were as close to sterile as they could be in a normal home environment. I decided I was happy with that level of risk because I knew the medication had been properly produced in the first place and it had arrived with me properly chilled and was kept that way.

However, I think that buying medication from your local beautician or dodgy websites is a recipe for disaster - whatever medication that may be. You have no idea at all of what you are getting. It is also illegal to sell prescription only drugs without an approved practitioner signing that off.

Hi guys

is anyone on here going totally without the drug and maintaining?
I got to 5mg as my highest dose and now have a bmi of 21.5 but scared to maintain! I’m weaning down over the next few weeks and then totally stopping.

ive religiously exercised and changed eating habits. I count calories and hoping I can do it but worried

i I can’t afford maintence dose for life

anyone on here totally off the medication and doing ok?

Hello @Gotya12 yes there are quite a few posters on here not taking WLI anymore, me included. I can't remember exactly when I stopped taking MJ now, but it must be at least two months. I am maintaining. I put on two pounds but have just lost half a pound, so I'm 1.5lb over, but will get back again.

I think @SnacklessWonder is even lower weight now than when she stopped MJ.

Hopefully other cold-turkey maintainers will reply too.

My weight is still stable (up and down the same kilo), but I am still ill (chest infection now) so not exercising and I definitely feel flabbier, v frustrating as I was in such a good routine

@MargoLivebetter fab that’s great !!!! Dunno why I thought u had a stockpile - is that for if things go wrong haha! Or maybe I misread ur posts.
ok it is possible I know it will be tough and I need to maintain life long changes. I’m expecting a bit of a up and down but if I can give myself a 3 pound margin that would be good
hoping to get another 2 off in the next few weeks but really I’ve been on a plateau last 3!

I did have a pen and had got down to 1.25 dose but then I forgot to do it one week, so I thought I'd just go with out completely. As it has been over two months now, the pen has gone in the bin a long time ago!

Hi, I hope you don’t mind me joining… I came off Mounjaro almost 2 months ago and in that time I’ve regained 10lbs… and I’m so frustrated with myself. My bmi was at 23.5 and now I’m back at 25. I really wish I had stuck at a maintenance dose but I last ordered many months ago (I stockpiled) so I doubt I’d be able to get back on it now?
my food noise has come back with avengeance. I can’t stop snacking on rubbish. It’s really getting me
down.
I do have 1 x 5mg pen in the fridge so I am thinking I might use it (taking out 2.5mg to start with as my body isn’t used to it now) but once that pens gone, I’m back to square one.

any advice? Xx

Welcome @camshaft . First off, congratulations on losing all that you did in the first place. That is a huge achievement.

You know what is going wrong too, which is also good news, so it means that you can try and sort it out. What do you think is driving you to snack? Are you actually hungry or is it something else?

@MargoLivebetteri have zero willpower and have always been a boredom/ emotional eater. My brains just not wired right! Weighing myself this morning wasn’t enough to kick start myself into behaving! I had a bowl of cereal at 8am then decided a needed scrambled eggs at 10:30 followed by a kit Kat at 12!
I feel disgusted in myself then I comfort eat, it’s a vicious cycle. One that I clearly did not fix whilst taking the wonder drug!!

@camshaft I'm not convinced that it is a will power thing. I think we use that to beat ourselves up with. I know I did.

Personally, I think cereal is the work of the devil. It is high carb and leaves me feeling ravenously hungry within half an hour of eating it. Generally speaking, and I know we are all different, protein tends to fill people up and leave them filled up for the longest. How do you get on with protein? Could you look at ways of filling yourself up for longer that way? I'm happy to come in with suggestions but don't want to if that is not something you are up for.

I comfort ate too. I didn't even know I did it, until I took MJ and found myself unable to eat the food I'd always turned to. I think that is a tough nut to crack but it might be one you want to crack?

You said you have a pen of MJ still there. Are you open to talking to one of the suppliers who offer maintenance and looking at that as an option and then looking at taking some lower doses for longer?

@MargoLivebetter I deffo know that cereal isn’t helping at all. I won’t be buying it in again as then I won’t be tempted to eat it!! Scrambled egg, avocado, nuts, lean meats… I ate all that stuff whilst on MJ and focused on protein / good fats to keep me full. I’ve just gone back to my old ways even though I know it’s not doing me any favours whatsoever!

in terms of comfort eating, I think I need to go down the therapy route to fix it properly. I am clueless why I do it. Need to establish why and stop doing it! Again, being on MJ, I didn’t need to consider it as the food noise went entirely!

do you think a supplier would offer maintenance even if I’ve not ordered for many months? I certainly think I need to get back on it for my own mental health more than anything. I’ll just end up hating myself if I regain all I lost. Need to nip it in the bud before I get to that position!!!

@Gotya12 , you can read my posts on this thread. I’ve been off MJ since the 15th of Feb (BMI was 24.8 when I finished and it’s now 23.8). It fluctuates but has been on a downward trajectory. I’ve found exercising 5 days a week and focusing on weight training has worked well for me. Like you, I only had 4 pens, 1 was 2.5 and 3 were 5mg so didn’t go above 5mg either and I’ve been off for over 3 months, almost the time that I was on it for. You’ll find what works for you.
@camshaft , if you still have pictures or email proof of your prescription, I would suggest you try one of those maintenance pharmacies like Oushk as there you can speak to a pharmacist and explain. Some people on this thread have had luck with them

@camshaft I really do understand where you are coming from with the food noise. Like you, I had deathly silence whilst on MJ. Just complete disinterest. It was extraordinary and liberating but I also found it really difficult and remember posting about how angry and agitated I felt, because I wasn't squashing down all my emotions with buttery toast and jam.

I have had therapy a few years ago and was able to draw on all that I learned during that process to help me tackle the emotional eating. I am still very much a work in progress, so am wary of trying to say I've conquered it. I still often find my feet pit pattering towards the kitchen when I get stressed, irritated or angry. But because I know what's going on now, I find it easier to stop it, rather than it being almost unconscious - iyswim.

Anyway good practical tip from @Tohaveandtohold about trying Oushk.