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.

Ps I’ve heard the Renpho scales r not accurate so I take them with a pinch of salt. Ideally we all need a dexa scan! I am all in green though except subcut too!

@KrankyKumquat There is an athlete mode on the renpho but I think you need to be working out heavy 5 times per week and I don't feel I fit that, but maybe your OH does?

@Gotya12 it's so annoying the subcutaneous fat. I do think I have extra but only in that I'm still healthy but not skin and bone so I think it's a bit unfair. I'm going to ignore it for a weight perspective but I hope that it will improve over time as I do more strength work.

Interesting about the Renpho scales. I use DPs Withings scales when I stay at his and they seem to be good but I don't think they break down to visceral fat, you just get a body fat reading. I find it really helpful to keep tabs on my muscle mass, which I am only just inside the acceptable range for. At the end of the day, they are just home scales, so I imagine they are all going to be a bit limited. For me it is the movement that I like to keep an eye on.

Congrats @Gotya12 . Sounds like you are on a roll and have a good plan for keeping it off.

Glad to hear you are feeling well again @ShaunaSadeki . Any idea what triggered the binge?

Good to hear you are doing so well @Tohaveandtohold . You have been off WLI longer than I have, but so far I'm following in your footsteps. Holding reasonably constant. I did my last injection 12 weeks ago. I definitely have to carefully monitor my intake, as I can see how quickly the weight goes back on, even if it is just water retention. If I have a big meal out, then I restrict back the next day. I've noticed that I really don't enjoy eating the things I used to think of as treats. I had dinner out on Saturday and everyone was having pudding. The least calorie filled pud that I could have was two balls of ice cream and I resented every mouthful. I left has much as I could, without it being obvious enough for people to comment on. In the past, if I'd have been dieting, I would have relished the opportunity to "cheat" if that makes sense and would have gone full in and had the biggest pudding they had.

@MargoLivebetter interesting, I'm still on 2.5 as a comfort blanket whilst I get used to what maintenance eating needs to look like but what I've found is the foods I used to choose when dieting (and sometimes resenting) I now choose because I don't want to be too full or it's the right amount for me etc. I do hope this continues as I slowly titrate off / manage maintenance

@MargoLivebetter I am not sure but it scared me a bit! I am going to try following the glucose goddess hacks from now on as it was an absolute carb fest

I took my first tapered dose today. I’m very nervous about this next stage for some reason. It’s somehow easier to have a plan to see the numbers drop each week. I’m worried about putting weight on, being hungry, not being able to wean myself off etc etc. I’ve given myself a weight range to stay within and a waist measurement.

how is everyone managing this week?

@Cantbesure have faith in yourself and see how you go. We are all doing a bit of "suck it and see" here, as none of us have ever done WLI before, achieved our goal and then had to work out what to do next. It is a bit of an adventure (hopefully in a good way).

If you have given yourself a range, then you have something to keep checking in with. Just see how each day goes and instead of seeing the numbers drop, you can enjoy seeing them stay the same instead. Keep reminding yourself how far you have come and all that you have already achieved.

Sounds like you’re maintaining really well. I don’t like deserts so when everyone orders theirs I always order a coffee!

My Withings scales measure visceral fat although Withings use their own proprietary index for 'normal' etc. All of these scales can only estimate from limited electrical conductivity and then apply an algorithm. The real value therefore is in the change recorded as weight is lost - the absolute value of any of it, fat, muscle, water etc, cannot be accurately measured except using an actual DEXA scan.

Interestingly, right from the start of my weight loss journey my Withings scales put my visceral fat in the normal range. That is despite me having a BMI of over 35! However I had a DEXA scan about a year before starting MJ when I took part in a heart health trial for the NHS, and that also showed my visceral fat in the normal range, albeit right at the top end of 'normal'. (The one and only benefit of being a pear-shape I guess, - they ran the test twice as no-one believed it!) So I have a certain amount of trust in the scales, because by any normal estimate I would have been expected to have high visceral fat.

Since I seem to be maintaining reasonably well at a total of 34% weight loss, I am thinking of arranging another DEXA scan, because I would now like to know about my absolute muscle percentage and bone density - again, the scales cannot really do much more than a broad guess.

@IrisPallida thank you for sharing that information about your experience with Withings. Give me a bit more faith in the figures I get from them.

Checking in. Third jab of 2.5 and I've stayed the same this week although I didn't think I ate any more. I'm worried it's the inflammation coming back and that I will need to stay on a higher dose to keep the weight down. I had wanted to lose another couple of pounds but just to give me a bit of leeway. All in all feeling great, BMI is 22.1 today, my clothes fit and I'm enjoying the gym.

Great stuff @tinyemmy . You sound slightly disappointed though. Were you expecting to record another loss this week?

Yes, I thought I was eating losing calories so it just worries me that by coming down the mj doses my losing calories will be my maintenance calories. This is what I found last time I dropped down a dose although I really only have a week's worth of data to compare so it's hardly scientific!! I think also mentally I thought I'd continue to lose for a bit. My maintenance calories are measly!!

Apologies if this has been discussed before, (I wish there was a search function in forums!) since losing the weight I have saggy skin on my stomach, so even though I thought I’d finally be able to wear the damn bikini I still don’t feel comfortable doing so due to the crepey skin on my tummy, has anyone here tried RF or any other form of non invasive treatment and it’s worked?? I am going to the gym doing weight training with a PT and we do some core exercises so I’m trying to work on it from the inside but Google tells me there are treatments that work from the outside…but I’m sceptical…has anyone tried lasers etc anything work??? Thank you xx

@tinyemmy I feel your pain. My maintenance calories are fairly measly too. I find protein and bulk are what keep me on the straight and narrow. If I eat enough protein I don't feel hungry. I'm not sure how I never really understood this about myself before - but there we go! Better late than never.

@28Spring I'm mid-50s so am generally crepey. However, my body has tightened since I reached my goal weight and that includes my skin. I hit goal weight in early January and since then there has been a gradual improvement in general skin tightness. I think it takes a while for that to happen. When did you hit your goal weight - recently or some time ago? I suspect my increased protein intake must be helping, along with regular pilates and yogalates to try and improve muscle tone. Obviously, I'm never going to be entirely crepe free because I'm a gimmer now, but it is better than it was.

@MargoLivebetter i hope you dont mind me asking a question that has nothing to do with MJ...can I ask what a Gimmer means where you are from? For me it is a young female sheep that hasn't had a lamb yet (between one and two years old), I have heard it mentioned on MN forums a few times and it confuses me because my definition doesn't make sense in the context it is being used.

Thank you @MargoLivebetter I’m 46 so not dissimilar age to you but have only just reached my goal weight a couple of weeks ago so I shall persevere with the core exercises, I definitely need to start Pilates as my 83 year old mum has been doing it for years and she’s amazingly supple! I just thought if I could target the skin from the inside and the outside then it would tighten up a bit quicker…but I doubt there are any miracle fixes!

@28Spring I'm 40, lost 7st. Reached goal 2.5 months ago now and I'm noticing a slight reduction in the loose skin. It's still early days, but I'm going to review the situation in a year at maintenance and consider my options then.

@CountingSleepySheep I really hope that "Gimmer" in MN terminology means an ancient crepey crone. Otherwise I'm using it wrongly - which is entirely possible 😂.

Thank you, I did consider urban dictionary or similar but it's a bit of a minefield depending on what you ask! 😂

Every day is a learning day! I didn't know what gimmer meant either. @CountingSleepySheep

I'm mid-40s and have stay around my goal weight for a few weeks. When I was on holiday in May I noticed how crepey my stomach was, but didn't care really as my things didn't rub. I honestly think my stomach looks better now a few weeks later. I might be wrong and have just got used to it but I do think time plus strength workouts help. If you do try anything @28Spring do report back!

@MargoLivebetter at least I'm not alone on the calorie front

In other news I had a medical today and it said my body fat was 19.1%! So I'm tempted to switch the scales to athlete mode to see what it says, although I read the instructions and apparently you need to do 6 hours heavy cardio type work, I probably do 2 at best!

@tinyemmy
19%! That's incredible! Mine's still 27.9% and I'm at bmi 20. I guess I'm a fat thin person. Pretty proud of my visceral fat though which is heading towards off the scales excellent at 3.

I don't know what gimmer is either and worked over 40 yrs with young offenders so usually pretty up with slang.

It's 31.6 on my renpho scales. 19.1 at the medical. I'd guess it's somewhere in the middle.
Well done on visceral fat, that's the important one! Mine was 6 this morning, but 5 yesterday when I was 2lbs lighter. Not sure how I put on 2lbs, obviously not fat, but goes back to wanting to stay on mj to keep strange things from happening with random weight gains.
The doctor did ask me what my plan was as he didn't want me disappearing!! I owned up to being on mj and he suggested spreading out the dose so I could still stay on it but not lose more weight. I'm not currently losing but do need to keep an eye as it's only been doing this bobbing up and down for maybe the last few weeks.

I’m maintaining by taking half doses from my 5mg pen and it feels like a good way to practice going it alone! I’m at a set point of 8st 13.8 so just sneaking under 9st and don’t want or need to lose any more so I totally get the feeling of “what now?” and “how?”

An early follow up to my last post/observation, the food noise and suppression seems really variable on the way down the doses I was ravenous today and had two protein snacks before lunch, but then couldn’t eat my favourite dinner