Plodders Club 🐌

[PlodAlongPolly]

Hi,

Anyone on WLI and in the slow lane v. welcome here for a bit of plodding supportive chat!

Plodders, bobbers, plateau-ers, stallers and stuck ducks come on in! Would be great to chat with others who are in the same boat, ie travelling at the speed of snails on their WL journey.

I have a mountain to move (nearly 5 st), am not ready to give up on Mounjaro yet and would love a bit of company here on this long haul to reach a healthy BMI. 🦥 🐌 🏔️

Come join me if you have a long way to go (either due to slow losses or amount to lose) and would like some peer support to keep going when the scales are being stubborn. It’s hard being on WLI when it’s not working as well for you and progress is slow or stalled. This is a safe space to share anything, the good, the bad and the side effecty. Anything positive (scale or non scale related) as well as freedom to vent and grumble as much as you want

If you taking WLI and trucking along nicely or nearly at your goal weight that is fantastic but please post on a different thread.

Thanks, you too PS I just remembered, simple online pharmacy price match to e.g. medicine marketplace so could be a good cheap option

oh sorry just see you switched to Oushk

No I've never had it diagnosed officially. I didn't know anything about it until I was on mounjaro and read about it on forums or websites like Oushk or on youtube mounjaro reviews. My dad has diabetes and older sister by 4 years is pre-diabetic. Looking back for over a decade I have many of the symptoms, if I don't eat regularly I get irritable, mood swings, hangry, start to physically shake, feel faint and feel ravenous, my concentration is solely focused on trying to get food and i can't focus on anything else and my memory goes.
I could never fast as I'd be starving and would get very ill, my hand would shake and drop things and get major mood swings and feel like I was going to faint, I have had dizzy spells too.
I had an nhs healthy heart (and main organ) check 3 years ago but they said everything was fine other than anaemia. I wonder if it would show up unless do specific tests for it?
I also have had a big tummy, out of proportion, since I was 18 and my mum would tease me that I looked 3 months pregnant back then. Just before mj I've been asked if I've had a baby, when I'm due etc. Yet i have small legs and hips, im literally an apple shape, this is a massive sign but I never knew and GPs have never mentioned anything about this. I have had high blood pressure in last few years ending up in hospital a few times and no-one has ever checked my blood sugar.

Yes I'm going to stick with 10mg, just taken 5th dose, I'm doing well with it and it lasts long, makes sense needing a higher dose with insulin resistance too.
It's working well on my tummy too, not much worked on it so I'm really happy.

I hit my lost 5 stone award yesterday and am now at my pre COVID weight which is a milestone. It's taken exactly two years. I initially set out to lose 100 pounds but I think that might be too much. I have eight pound to go to get to BMI 30 and then I really was hoping for about 22, my partner, male, is BMI 19 and we are similar height and I would love to be about there, but I don't think it's realistic. I will continue to monitor and see how it goes. Good luck with this week's weighin everyone

Plod plod plod plod plod

no loss this week. Trying to focus on the fact that I feel better, my clothes fit a bit better and I am eating so healthily.

I have lost a few pounds over the last 2 - 3 weeks.

What happens is I “lose” 2 - 3 pounds - then put them back on, on and off for 2 - 5 weeks, vacillating like crazy. Then finally it seems to “settle” to the lower weight. And the process repeats for the next loss. Anyone else find this?

As a slow loser, I have had my thyroid checked recently by a private blood testing company called Medichecks (very good company).

A couple of the results were problematic - so I have had to go back to my GP to try to get my thyroxine level raised. This may be one of the reasons I put weight on this year (a stone) for no reason and also why it’s harder for me to lose weight. Basically my metabolism is barely working 😞.

Myself and the OP have had a discussion about this earlier in the thread. I’ll let you know the outcome when I hear back from GP.

If anyone wants to do this test it is Medicheck’s “Advanced Thyroid” test. It costs about £100 and you have to send off a blood sample taken at a clinic for accuracy. Unfortunately you do have to get this kind of testing done privately as the NHS is very reluctant to do anything but the most basic test (TSH). If I find the link I’ll put it below.

https://www.medichecks.com/products/advanced-thyroid-function-blood-test

The above is the link. It costs £89 + blood clinic fee of £35. Best to get a proper blood sample, not pin prick, as it’s more accurate.

The test gets 4.9/5 on 1,000 reviews.

Might be of interest to you @PlodAlongPolly

Thanks for sharing this @Mysticmaiden I’m v much the same and could have written what you posted (except that I have short legs but wide hips! 🙃) with the same family history of rels with D and pre-D and that I didn’t previously know anything about insulin resistance until it came across my radar a few years ago. This was through following a diet plan called Slimpod which has some teaching videos that came with the package, and they did some sessions that talked about insulin resistance which rang a bell. The symptoms were uncanny and change of body shape especially the big tum. Sugar cravings etc. It is good that MJ is supposed to help in this area isn’t it?

I think it’s meant to help stabilise blood sugar and insulin sensitivity.

Out of interest did you or anyone else on here on the higher doses experience morning nausea or a metallic taste in the mouth the day after jabbing? Have had a bit on 7.5 and just wondering if this might increase with the next step up.

I get ‘morning sickness’ that improves when I have something to eat.

Keep going! We’re here , plodding on beside ya 😊

Thank you, yes I have found the same, it seems to subside after eating a bit. My DC look a bit worried when I’ve occasionally dry retched in the mornings! 😅🤦‍♀️ unfortunately due to thyroid medication I can’t eat anything for at least half hour (preferably an hour) after taking it in the morning. Might see if having a cup of hot water with lemon helps take the edge off.

Hey @TuxedoTammy, thanks for your posts above, I hope those stubborn lbs have stayed off for you! Have you heard back from your GP yet? Hope you can get on a thyroxine dose that works better for you soon 🙏 I had to switch up to 75 mcg but honestly I feel the medication has had very little metabolic effect. I am not sure if the thyroxine is meant to improve metabolism or not(?) I guess part of me hoped it would improve. I have still not lost any more lbs since Dec but at least not gaining, apart from fluctuating a pound or two up and down.

Thanks for the info, I actually managed to get the full panel Thyroid testing (after a rather long and painful journey) through my GP and a thyroid ultrasound follow up which showed the extent of the damage. The symptoms are still better on the thyroxine than they were (horrific) pre-diagnosis. I’ve been encouraging family and friends to get their thyroids checked when they’ve been struggling with similar symptoms.

How is everyone getting on?

The spring sunshine has been lovely the last few days, went out without a big coat over the weekend for the first time this year! NSW right there! 😊☀️🌷🪻

@PlodAlongPolly I will be speaking to GP later this week about raising my TSH from 75 mg to 100 mg. I can’t see how they can refuse me but I shall have to wait and see.

As you said previously:

The threshold is set quite high for the TSH normal range, which is quite out of date, as it is lower overseas and appears to be an area of ongoing medical debate.

In addition, my (private testing) of T3 came out as extremely low. I will mention this to my GP. But I’m not expecting them to do a T3 test, or be interested in this 🙄 as this is quite unusual in the NHS (you usually have to be referred to an endocrinologist for that). However, raising my TSH is a start.

I asked a couple of questions at Thyroid UK, to try and interpret my results and they were extremely helpful and knowledgeable on the forum. Someone there told me that my T3 result would definitely mean a poor metabolism, so that is something I am going to look into in the near future

I know you will have had all these kinds of tests done, OP from your earlier posts about your experience with useless GPs. I hope they are checking you on a regular basis too.

PS. The other aspects of the private test I did were fine by the way, ie iron, b12, biotin. However folic acid and vitamin D were both very low, so I’ve started a good multivitamin.

Weight generally continuing a steady, slow loss. I’ve lost a stone in four months. Which on the one hand is great, but on the other hand I can only notice the effect very marginally i.e. my size 16 jeans are more comfortable! I think it will take another stone for me to notice properly. It’s difficult not to be impatient at times, but I try to remind myself that slow and steady is also good and apart from a couple of side-effects, it’s been fairly effortless. (Excepting if the slow pace has been caused by thyroid issues 🧐).

I’m going on holiday for a week now, so goodness knows what will happen! I’ll just enjoy it and not think too much about any weight loss aims. Good luck everyone for April!

🌷 🌞 🐰

F

I saw this on another thread. But have added it here because he mentions the effect weight loss injections can have on thyroid. Right at the very end he says it can affect thyroid either up or down, so it’s worth having regular checks if you take thyroxine medication.

It’s all a bit D.I.Y. but that’s the NHS for you. Limited resources - or perhaps resources they seem to spend in irrational ways eg. my GP desperate to put me on statins for life which according to my own research I don’t believe I need, but not checking my thyroid properly, when the tests are so cheap too £1 - £2 - especially as I am patient who has no thyroid gland whatsoever). As the doctor says at the beginning of the video, we have to take responsibility for our own health, esp when medical resources are limited and, as he also adds, we know our own bodies best.

Does anyone else feel that the scales just don’t seem to reflect how you feel your body changing? I find the scales move down so slowly, and I know that we’re not meant to compare ourselves to others, but I follow Weight Watchers, I stick to my points religiously, track everything, stop eating when I’m full so often don’t eat a full meal, and still the scales don’t show a lot.

However, today I tried on a pair of trousers that I couldn’t do up last week, and that did up comfortably today. I haven’t particularly changed my exercise so it’s not that I’m toning up. This has come about through weight loss even though the scales are saying I’m only losing a few ounces here and there. I find this quite demotivating, and I’m thinking that the answer is to put the scales away and take some measurements and use those once a week.

I hate the scales, or as Pete wicks calls them the sad step, I get totally obsessed with them and then become disheartened. So I think in some ways writing this out here has helped me see that the problem is not what I’m eating or the speed of which I’m losing but how I feel when I step on the scales.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/16fbb01c-f9a6-4ac7-a485-30ce3d2bd8c2?shareToken=d7a74d60935a8db05a6141b9687fa6f1

Just been reading this and thinking of trying the 3 day fasting thing on MJ, I will see how it goes!

@Orangesandlemons77 I do think extra-cutting back on calories a couple or few days a week does seem to do something “extra”.

However, I used to do 4:3 over 15 years ago when it was most popular. It did work, though I had to deal with Hanger. When I tried it again in my mid -50s it just didn’t work anymore and I could t cope with the hunger anymore either (so my metabolism may have changed).

@tryingtobesogood yes the scales can be a mixed kinda thing. In my case, I’ve lost a stone but don’t really feel any different and don’t notice I look any different either 🤷‍♀️ . I know I’m eating less ( to the extent I should be losing weight faster than I am), I’m sleeping a bit better (usually), less pressure on my arthritic knees, my jeans currently fit me and by the end of the summer hopefully some more of my old clothes will fit me; so that’s progress too.

I think I’m going to keep a success journal, 3 positive diet related things a day. This should help me stop focusing on the scales and see the changes that are happening.

im also going to put the scales away for a bit, see if I can trust the process.

@TuxedoTammy those are all fantastic wins. Well done and I’m sure it will notice soon.

Ive also booked an appt with my GP to check my thyroid, cholesterol, and BP etc. its my annual check up and I am curious to see if a couple of months on MJ will have changed anything.

Thanks @TuxedoTammy really appreciate your posts 🩷 I wish I had known about thyroids earlier and accessed a check much sooner, like you say the tests are cheap! I think it comes down to the GP we get in front of sometimes, like yours with the statins. Mine was mostly concerned about my chronic back pain and wanted to discuss that for most of the appointment but I was desperate to talk about the thyroid related symptoms which were really crippling at that point. He was really nice but just got a bit hyper focussed on the one problem area.

I hope your appointment goes well and they can adjust your Levothyroxine, interesting about the T3 too, mine was also very low.

Have a lovely time away!

Yes absolutely, the sad step is an accurate name! (Unless they show a good or unexpected loss in which case they become my best friend! (temporarily) 😆

That’s great your trousers are fitting more comfortably, a great win right there!

I’m hardly weighing atm as the scales aren’t budging but I kept a good tip from a slimming program I did a couple of years ago called Slimpod and they very much advocated for the ‘ditch the scales’ method and go instead by measurements and clothes fit.

On the Slimpod members forum I got a great tip for the ‘ribbon method’ which is a lovely, gentle non-scale method of tracking. So you get some long ribbon (some people shared theirs on the group and some had pretty patterned ribbon or satin haberdashery ribbon etc) and most went for 3 measurements, bust, waist, hips, though you can take as many as you want. I went for the 3. With each area, eg waist, you measure yourself round with the ribbon then cut it where it meets in the middle, so you are left with a ribbon length of your waist measurement, write ‘waist’ on it. Then repeat for the other areas you want to track, such as bust, hips, thigh. Pop the ribbons wherever you want to keep them and next time you measure you use the same ribbon. Then mark a line on the ribbon if there is a measure difference, like a cm or 2 less, and you can put the date on too if you want (or write it on a notebook). I found it nice to have something physical to hold and ‘see the difference’, as you can see a circumference decrease from the start measurement, rather than deal with the stress of the sad step and if the number would trigger misery.

Still have my ribbons from a couple of years ago, so might even dig them out!
I chose a wide-ish ribbon so the marked lines would show up well

Thanks @Orangesandlemons77 will check this out 👍 is it like the Fast 800?