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.

@tinyemmy
I think we're touching on a similar, pretty much unacknowledged consequence of MJ weightless - the risk of slipping into disordered eating (apologies if this isn't what you're thinking about but for me, it's definitely an issue). Weight loss is very addictive, MJ makes weight loss immeasurably easier (again, I know not for everyone but definitely for me). My bmi is 20, I'm a comfortable size 10, but I still see fat (eg my knees weirdly, in particular). For me, social media was contributing to a bit of an obsession with weight loss. No one in my real life talks about weight, or would dream of judging anyone based on their weight, or would encourage anyone to diet or even just lose a bit of weight. Yet, here I was, spending hours a day talking about these things with complete strangers. You sound like you're clear about what you want to get from SM, that's good, no judgement from me about that but for me, after a year, it felt like time to adjust my perspective a bit and dial down some of the noise.

Yes, I have always had disordered eating but it was binge eating. Now it is so easy not to eat. I'm certainly not underweight so it's not a problem for now but certainly one for us all to keep an eye on. I think if I had a diagnosed eating disorder they would not prescribe - I remember it being one of the questions, but for me whether I had binge eating disorder or not it was causing me to be very unhealthy!

In case it’s helpful, for those talking about struggling to find a happy weight, I have switched to focusing on building muscle before I felt like I had lost ‘enough’ and am using scales that also estimate my % body fat. Reducing that and building muscle has given me alternative goals to focus on that have the side effect of me looking better. I definitely was just losing both fat and muscle in the early months on MJ, and looking smaller but flabbier.
Shifting to another focus, that still feels like I’m focused on me, has really helped.

@EBoo80 that sounds really good. How are you doing that? Weights, Pilates? I'm also trying to build strength, so would be really interested to hear more.

Far from an expert. I've always done pilates and yoga to avoid back pain, but have moved up into classes that work me harder. Have got a trial of FitBit premium that comes with all their online coaching videos, so am trying to do a quick 20 minutes a few times a week. And I'm doing a daily one minute plank, much to the amusement of my step-kids.

Thank you @EBoo80 . I love Pilates but probably need to stretch myself a bit more. I can only do a plank for 20 seconds, so I'm very impressed. I shall keep going!

Yes I am very drawn to classes that involve lots of stretching and lying still - but have been forcing myself to work a bit harder!

I've been on maintenance for 9 weeks now. It's going ok, relatively stable but with a slight continued weight loss. 4lb in the 9 weeks.

I'm finding it hard mentally to accept weight increases, despite them being needed to balance the small weight losses. I liked the positive of tracking weight loss. But I don't want to lose too much and not look healthy

I'm at BMI 24.2 at the moment so not a problem yet, but needing to get my head around it.

Anyone else having that struggle?

Yes @HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow I’m concious that I have lost enough, at a healthy bmi and my neck is looking a weeny bit jowly so can stop losing now but I had a grump at the scales for not showing an 8 at the start! I need to build more muscle now on maintenance, too, and so can’t be in a calorie deficit! I’ve always been a yoyoer up and down the same stone but this time it was more like three stone. I need to get my head in the maintenance game!

@lapuf yes it's a balance isn't it. I'm looking about right, would benefit from a little toning/muscle regain, but I feel pretty good in clothes and undressed. I know my other half would prefer me not to lose any more, and he's right, but I miss that mental reward for a loss on the scale

@MargoLivebetter and @EBoo80
I blummin love a plank! Feels like it's proper work, you see improvement quickly and doesn't require changing into gym kit! Similar with squats; standing in front of the sofa, watching telly.

@EBoo80 I also have renpho scales. I'm all in the green except subcutaneous fat so I have also been concentrating on strength. I was doing one strength circuits at the gym but have figured out how to fit a second one in as I was struggling to motivate myself at home. I think with the two sessions and perhaps something short at home I will be in a great position.
I'm now a BMI of 22 and happy at this weight I just need to work on the composition

@eboo80 @tinyemmy I'm on the Renpho scales too and trying to change body composition whilst very slowly hopefully getting to the middle of healthy bmi (currently bmi 24.2 and aiming for 23 at 1kg per month max loss now). I'm showing red for body fat and orange for subcutaneous fat, it is coming down very slowly but I want to stay in the dark green for muscle mass so it's hard going! Lots of low heart rate and heavy low reps at the moment.

I don’t even understand what most of the RENPHO measures mean, but I’ve pulled all of mine into the green since I bought the scales, except subcutaneous fat which is amber still. It’s been really helpful through weight loss stalls, and I want to be strong, not skinny, so it helps me not get sucked into enjoying the numbers going down.

My skeletal muscle only went to average as my body fat did so you're doing well. I'm still only at 40.3 so need to increase it a bit. Interestingly my muscle mass has been average for a long time, way before skeletal muscle. Now that I'm slimmer it's not taking as much to reduce subcutaneous fat but I don't really want to lose any more weight so building muscle is the way to go.

Not checked in for a while, mixed success.
I AM WELL AGAIN
Managed to do park run without stopping today and back to my usual (crap) time.
Work trip away this week and I didn’t stuff my face and I made it to the gym the morning I wasn’t really hungover. I came home a kilo up, but I know it’s not possible to put that on in fat in 48 hours when only eating a little differently to normal.

But, last night I had a my first binge in months. I had 2 magnums, 2 bowls of cereal and 4 slices of toast. I don’t know what happened, but I am determined it was a one off, post illness, getting back to exercise thing. I am not even pre-menstrual!

Interesting chat about the Renpro scales as my bmi has stayed at 24.5 and my weight at 9st9lb despite my goal being 9.7 I’ve never hit it yet all my metrics are Green. I do exercise a lot and have been trying do more strength training. I’m not strong but things I was lifting 3kg on I’m now doing more 5kg weights. So not heavy but improving slowly, and have got my plank from 30secs to 75secs this week. Little and often really does work.

I’ve got a Renpho scale too and I like looking at the stats but my bmi is now 23.5 and I still have 2 stats on amber (subcutaneous fat and BMR), the rest are green so it’s interesting. I thought it’ll all be green by now.

I’ve been off the jab for 17 weeks now and yesterday, I reached my ultimate goal of having a BMI of 23.5 🥰.
Stats are
1st jab Oct 5 - 87.1kg BMI 33
Last Jab Feb 15- 65.6kg BMI 24.8
17 weeks since my last jab, 61.85 BMI 23.5

I’ve been doing lots of weighted exercises, abs workout and eating well (conscious of my meals with more protein, fruits and veg and less carbs and sweet treats but not counting calories ) as I was happy with how I looked but still happy with the slow and steady weight loss to goal.

As a poster above said, I’ve also had like a detox. This is the only MJ related thread I still get notifications for because the rest don’t apply to me really and as I’m on maintenance without the jab, I know it’s a personal journey.
My insta is now filled with healthy recipes, cooking, work outs, etc pages as these are more applicable to me now.

I find the numbers fascinating as I always took them with a pinch of salt thinking how could just measuring via my feet give me all them so it’s interesting to hear we have different ones even with different bmi.

@Tohaveandtohold thats brilliant you have been able to stay off the jabs for 17wks it gives me hope. I’m still ticking over in a weekly 2.5mg and feel under pressure to reorder a pen or lose my supplier. I previously tried 4wks off but the food noise was huge by the end of the 4wks.

@NewYear0Me , I didn’t go past 5mg when I was on the jab and I had food noise the last 10 weeks of me using the jab so when I stopped, there was food noise at the beginning but it’s like I got used to it. I still have the urge to snack now and I do, difference is that pre MJ, I would have been mindlessly snacking on crisps, chocolates, etc but now, I buy healthy snacks with my weekly shopping so I have them available and add fruits and vegetables as well. I also still drink lots of water because sometimes, I find I confuse hunger with thirst, once I drink water, I don’t feel hungry anymore.
You’ll find what works for you if you decide to go ahead without the jab and also if you feel you need more time, you can join those maintenance providers who allow you to stay on their books for a period of time to see how you get on without the jab first.

im also maintaining ok and I also had cravings for the last four months on the jabs, as I dialled down and increased the time between injecting. Perhaps this is important, to trick your brain and reassure it you can cope with these feelings

I had to get to a bmi of 24 for my scales to go green. Maybe because I’m short. My body age was the last to go green.

@Tohaveandtohold Thank you for sharing your journey. I'm currently BMI 22 but still have subcutaneous fat as amber. @bge I'm 156cm / 5'1.5" so quite short! But still not all green.
@Cantbesure I've been jabbing 2.5 the last couple of jabs and was undecided about what to do but I think I will slowly start to jab lower and attempt to maintain and accept the food noise.
I was tempted to jab a slightly higher amount this week, I've found weight loss and suppression almost addictive but I think maintaining is the right decision now. I am happy with what I see in the mirror with clothes on (less so without clothes but I am doing two strength circuits per week to try and improve muscle and also hopefully eventually sort the amber subcutaneous fat)

Re Renpho scales. My bmi is now 20, I'm 5'8", everything is green, except sub cut fat which is still amber, just. It's infuriating but worse for my OH, who's the same height, under 11st, very fit for 68, but obese for body fat and v.high for sub-cut. It's nonsense, especially for him but scales have been great for motivation during weight loss stage.

Thanks for all those who replied

in on my final 2 weeks of 2.5 and then stopping. I got to 5mg as my max dose and my loss was slow and steady which suited me fine.

im now

5.6 and 9 stone 8.5 I was 9.6 2 weeks ago but a wedding and a weekend away seen my go up.

So I really need to reign back this week. I’m a bit more hungry and more food noise but I never really lost the noise !
yeah
bmi 21.5 now

I’ve been doing lots of strength training throughout and am stronger and can see muscles I didn’t know I had! This is prob the biggest change in my life style and what I’m relying on to maintain (along with good food habits ) and calorie counting which I can’t see stopping but am fine with this

plan is to get back to 9.6 before this stops . Then have bday and anniversary and summer to navigate!