Mounjaro February to April 24 starters - Thread 4

[ObsidianTree]

4th thread!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5207564-mounjaro-february-to-april-24-starters-thread-3?page=40&reply=141722167

@Flapearedknave Thanks. Got codes but it took Oushk 48+ hours to respond. However, order should arrive next Weds, so all good.
Post surgery my weight has crept up. I was very fit and energetic beforehand, but even now, a month later I am still wiped out, and dont have much get up and go. I am hoping to re-start gym next week and am scheduling a 5mi walk Sunday. I think lack of exercise is the main culprit.
I re-ordered a 7.5mg pen and hope to take that for a month and lose the 3kg I have put on. Then back to maintaining it.

I think I’ve been struggling a bit. I reached my goal at Christmas, 10st 10lb BMI 22.2. Just perfect for me. I’ve gained and lost all within 3lb so felt that was very normal. I’m taking 2.5mg every 7 days and I still feel benefits, I’m sure it’s stopped me returning to the very bad eating habits and too much alcohol. I’ve definitely eaten more sweet treats though and sometimes outside of my calories. Now, 5 months on I’m 11st 4lb BMI 23.3. I’m struggling to rein in my eating and drop the few lbs to get back to goal. I go in holiday next week so I’m even more nervous I’ve lost my self control! Anybody finding this?

I've only been able to go down to 7.5mg but while titrating down put on 3lb, so went back up to 9mg, a ml per week. Lost the 3 so trying again. I can't see how I'll manage to go lower than 7.5 at this stage, other than move to injecting every 20 days.

@ThirdStorm -my suggestion. Take travel scales. I was gone 35 days & put no weight on, weighed very day. I don’t know what kind of holiday you are going on, but mine are usually active & I walk a lot. There are always challenges - as per my previous post!

@ThirdStorm I posted something similar a few days ago. I just can’t stop snacking and eating sweet stuff. I’ve put on well over half a stone even though I was still on a 6mg dose. It came from nowhere, just feels like I’ve gone cold turkey and been hit by a full force of cravings even though they should still be under control on the dose I’m using.

I'm going back up to 7.5mg for my next jab. I’d been stockpiling for when I come off the jab but at this rate I won’t ever be coming off 😣

@PissedOffNeighbour22 thanka for sharing. It’s nice to know it’s not just me. I never went up doses but it does feel like 2.5mg isn’t quite enough. I took my 5th dose a while back and it was 0.8ml and I felt more suppression so maybe I need a special dose before holiday?

@Moanranger its a cruise! So I’m extra nervous but I’m hoping to.explore every day and swim. I just need to not eat everything in sight/on offer.

@ThirdStormi reached my 10st goal just before Christmas too. I actually went a couple of pounds lower so my ‘need to take action to lose a pound or two’ weight is 10st and I am currently 10st 1. But to maintain this I am still on 10mg! I was on 15mg for a few months of my weight loss phase so have come down a third on my dose. I am still working out how to maintain on a dose less than 10mg which is my next goal. I take my hat off to people maintaining on low doses.

My eating patterns do include a fair few treats and I do eat the whole pack in one go sometimes eg 3 magnums. I think I know that I need to go back to my low carb diet but I do currently eat rice or bread nearly every day. So I know what I am doing which makes maintaining hard but I am not doing it! Or (to frame it more positively!) not doing it enough to allow me to go down a dose.

Can you take a slightly higher dose before your cruise? I went on a two week holiday which included a week long cruise last summer while in weight loss phase. I took 7.5mg a week while away (I dropped from the 10mg I was on at that point) and was pretty well suppressed so could only have small portions of the treats on offer. But when I got back I had put on 7lbs - which sounds like a disaster but I went back up to 10mg, got back on my high protein salads and the 7lbs was gone in 10 days. If you try to think of your holiday as a time to relax and enjoy yourself but remember that the treats you choose to have will have to be paid for at some point with a lower calorie day or an additional gym session etc so you should pick and choose which are the ones you really think are worth it rather than go wild. That is how I ended up obese - I’d have a blow out Sunday lunch but then not offset it with a low calorie Monday. So all the days I ate a few too many calories added up and I had a steady weight gain each year. After 15 years I needed to lose 50+ lbs.

So maybe up the dose for your cruise, decide in advance how many treats a day you want to have and pick and choose to spend those treat points each day, take your gym kit if there is a gym on board or just walk the decks for 10k steps a day. And then go hardcore on your 2024 diet method for a couple of weeks when back. Have a great trip!

While I know some people are able to maintain medicine-free, I think for many of us, that won’t be the case. I am taking the long view. Initially, it took me over 3 years to find a WLI that worked- I tried Saxenda, then Ozempic, and finally MJ. I have been on maintenance doses since December & may have to increase to maintain, and I am not looking forward to the increased monthly cost.
However, this whole field of research is exploding, with oral (and cheaper ) options on the horizon. So I am hopeful, but it is a chronic condition, and I do like being a healthy weight🙂

@Choux thanks for the great advice and yes I think a dose of low carb would help me. I think without the MJ I’d have zero self control but I do have some, I was out in the week and declined a starter and pudding, old me would have had both! I’m tempted to syringe out a 0.8ml dose like the larger 5th dose I had as I didn’t get sick, it might just give me the edge to make good decisions. I wouldn’t want all my smaller holiday clothes suddenly not to fit! 🤣🤣. Exercise has alluded me, I need to be more active.

After 12 months my GP has finally realised I'm taking MJ and read one of the MedExpress letters! They have asked my consent to respond (and pay an £85 fee for responding!). The letter is the same letter they've been sending for 12 months listing conditions not allowable and it says "if you are aware the information is inaccurate we would appreciate you contacting us" and "thank you for responding if you feel it is necessary".

I don't plan to consent to my GP or pay the £85 fee.

I wouldn't either!

My whole MS team is aware of my MJ use as my neurologist put it on my medication list!

I don't have one of the not allowable conditions, but if I did and refused my consent does that mean MedExpress would never know?!

I have been meaning to come back and write a long post, but had a heck of a week.

I am half afraid to say what my weight is now, but sod it. It is all of you.

I am 8 stone 4. I have even had a doctor say to me that my BMI is “sub-optimal.” I am not allowed my boob implants until I gain.

That means I have gone from obese to underweight in 14 months.

It wasn’t my intention and I am trying to gain a bit. That is, as I’m sure you can all imagine, a total head fuck. Losing weight on MJ was fairly easy. Maintaining is hard as it is a habit of a lifetime I am trying to break.

I am a total gym freak now. I am doing three weights and cardio sessions a week and one Pilates. I am starting to look pretty ripped as my body fat is so low.

posting this part in case I lose the post from my phone as tends to happen!

I am arguably skinny now. Not slim. Skinny. The challenge I have is that I take everything to extremes. It’s the addictive personality. Now I can exercise properly it’s become my outlet. I love seeing the changes to my body tone.

Whilst the weight loss started from health I cannot lie and say I did not want to be slim for the first time in my life.

Trying to gain a bit is hard. I could stop MJ. Sure. But I know I will lose my mind and whatever habits and routines I have will go out of the window. I know myself too well. The voice in my head telling me to eat and eat and fuck it will come roaring back. So now I am trying to gain whilst maintaining! The suppression isn’t too high. I just don’t want to eat rubbish on MJ after being so focussed for months.

Instead I am focussing hard on protein. And carbs. Heck I am having a magnum as my sweet treat every few days.

Vinted then.

See the additive head post. I am turning into a total hoarder. Last month was bad. This month I’ve stopped and only bought two things.

I was a fat teen in the 90’s. I feel like each time I buy a size 6 or 8 it is a big fuck you to everyone who made me feel less than. For Topshop and Miss Selfridge who didn’t go above a size 14. (And a 90’s 14 at that).

And it fits. An 8 can be baggy. It is validating and addictive.

That is Flappy’s confession. A whole host of realness from someone who can’t write that anywhere else or tell a soul.

And tomorrow I shall properly respond to the others who kindly enough came back to share their updates too.

@ThirdStorm ha, I reckon GP practices are this as a way to make money now. Charge to send a letter. I have seen a few cases. You can get all the info on the NHS app it seems. Enjoy the cruise.

@Notsuchafattynow and @Moanranger thats my experience totally when I reached target and thought I’d try and come off. I can luckily afford it ongoing and they’re going to have to prize it from my hands. I’ve been on maintenance almost as long as I lost for and I’m lighter. Let’s hope it does get cheaper though. It will. Just not for a while.

Me too regarding eating loads of sweet stuff. I fell back into my 'daily share bag of chocolate' habit. It's a mixture of a fuck it mindset and my ADHD poor impulse control.

I was certain I'd piled weight on and avoided weighing for a while but miraculously, I've stayed between 8st 6 and 8st 7 (on a regime of injecting 5mg every two weeks)

I got cheek filler yesterday (inspired by your pictures on the Facebook group, Flappy) as my face lost quite a lot of volume and I'm really pleased with the results.

@FlappyFish thank you for sharing your story. This weight loss stuff is so much more complex than anyone realises (we realise!). It sounds like you are taking steps to address. I hope you can get your boobs!

@FlappyFish are you getting counselling? It really sounds like you could use some professional help to combat the addictive personality. Have you managed to gain any weight back? I'm really glad you could share what's going on anyway.

@BlackFriYay oh, I am glad that post helped you. Now the swelling has gone down I do have a bit of the pronounced look back, but no where near the first photo. I love tweakments. I look better in my 40’s than I ever did when I was younger.

@ThirdStormIt is incredibly complicated isn’t it? I hope so too.

@KeepUndercover I will do and I have said on these threads before I knew I would likely need some therapy. I’m not a stranger to it and as I’ve been sober for nearly a decade now the one thing I have is self awareness. To some extent that makes it harder as I see myself repeating all the patterns in different things! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Back to 8.8 this morning. My weight goes all over due to the gym and water retention.

I wasn’t going to share but we have always been very real with how we really feel in this group.

Damn our brains.

@FlappyFish sending you love. I can fully understand where you've ended up. Being slim for the first time is heady stuff, and the thought of it all going back is terrifying.

@FlappyFish your insight into what's going on and your honesty is going to stand you in good stead to get through this, I'm sure of it. God it's all such a mind fuck isn't it?

Thanks for sharing this @flappy
Not exactly on topic but reminded me of this: I can remember being a teenager when anorexia became a 'thing' in the early 80s/90s. I actually envied the girls I saw on telly - particularly some who lived with a wonderful, warm woman called Dr Dee Dawson, in a beautiful house in the country and were treated, in my mind, like delicate flowers. They were all very middle class, pretty, high achievers. Whereas I was a fat, bullied kid, living in poverty, with a mum who'd become completely mad on prescribed diet pills. I vowed to become anorexic but I lacked the requisite determination basically.
40 odd years later and a year on MJ, and I'm becoming increasingly aware of the dangers again. I'm still 20 bmi but blimey, it's a powerful drug and losing weight is so seductive and addictive.I keep resetting my goals but it's only the fear of being denied a prescription which stops me from dropping too low. And at the same time, I still see fat.
Wishing you all the best and hope things settle for you. You've done so well and I admire your determination to get fit too. This is a hard journey which most of us are navigating alone (apart from this place), and getting decent help and support is not easy.

@FlappyFish

I 100% get it. Weight loss is so addictive.

The thrill of being a size 8 is amazing and then rejecting clothes as they make me look 'too skinny' is a place I never thought I'd be.

Like you, I struggled to find clothes in the 90's and think it had a lasting impact on my self esteem. My parents were also incredibly fat phobic so my sense of worth is wrapped up in my size.

Keep posting on this thread, as you are amongst friends 🧡

@FlappyFish thank you for sharing your story and big hug of support should you need it. Did you slip into underweight territory because of the exercise or because of ramping up in dosage in recent months after restarting? It’s a very interesting data point on restarting MJ after reaching normal BMI!

Just a bit of advice - put a “no journalists please” one-liner in case your story ends up in the DM! There’s so much negative press against WLI already.

@FlappyFish sorry to hear you can’t have your implants yet :(
seems crazy to think that you’re now going to have to put weight on after years of trying to do the opposite. Hope it’s not too much of a head fuck for you getting to the right place again xx

im with you on the hoarding. One of the things I was looking forward to with losing weight was getting rid of the huge amounts of clothes I own and just having a small wardrobe of stuff to choose from. But I can’t stop the compulsion and my hoarding has continued. My husband came back from the yodel shop the other day with an armful of parcels and advised me that the shop now have a box specifically for my parcels 🫣.

Still no luck getting rid of the added weight. It’s just going up and up.