Jan 25 starters Thread 6. Set points, baggy trousers and all the ups and downs

[Thelittlestranger]

Didn't want to lose you all, so have started a new thread.

Roll up, roll up!

Loving my new (old!) rowing machine but finding getting the right technique a challenge. Will be focussing on getting that right before anything else to try and avoid injury.
My Fitbit told me today I'd been working too hard and to take a rest!!! Never had that happen before.
I've definitely noticed a sharp reduction in appetite since having my second 7.5mg jab. Can't finish my meals any more. I'm not keen on eating any less, I was very comfortably in a routine of 2 meals a day and around 1200-1400 calories. Hope it adjusts as I get used to the dosage.

@jins Are you an outdoor swimmer? I have been checking today and my lake has the summer timetable up so will be going weekly from end of May (am a skins swimmer so may - sept only although may venture into a suit towards then end of the year) and am SO excited. Temp is 13 degrees so just a few more to go!!!!!!!!

I’m an occasional outdoor swimmer. I do enjoy it and will probably do more this year as our local pool is being refurbished and won’t open again till next year. Skins for me as well - never managed to get the hang of wetsuits although I do have a scuba rash guard I use if it’s exceptionally cold.

I’m just chasing times at the moment. I couldn’t swim properly for ages after a shoulder fracture and now I can swim in a straight line again my times are woeful

Oops I think I missed a page earlier, no Diana Henry, Simple. @2025istheyeari , I quite like a lot from there. Having said that we did an about turn and had a chicken salad instead! I was gardening until about 2pm and I actually got really cold, to the bone cold. So I came in and made some minestrone soup. Then no one was particularly hungry at 7pm.

I hope you got on ok with your daughter @Thelittlestranger , I haven’t told my kids, one in particular is quite anxious about my health post chemo. It must have been very difficult for them seeing me so unwell.

I used to swim in an outdoor pool all year round, loved it, it was actually heated to 9 degrees though, probably cheating massively 🤣.

🏆 here’s to everyone having a good week, I’m going to take 3.75mg again tomorrow.

What did DD say @Thelittlestranger

Remember, seventeen year olds know EVERYTHING 🙄

Thanks everyone - I decided to talk to her like me, rather than her mum and opened up to her a little. It felt like a really good chat - she has her own issues about how she looks (handed down by yours truly I'm sure) so I was a little nervous. But explained that I'd spent years on a multitude of diets, each one working until it didn't - and in turn damaging how I treat food, and how much my body does. Explained that my age, coupled with all of that has meant MJ is providing a solution. She seemed to take it all in - we'll see.

Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing if the additional in my bonus dose does the trick. It's occurred to me that this is supposed to make it easier, so if it's not, time to move on up. I was definitely feeling the hopelessness I have felt in the past when there's not a lot of movement - it's all so very difficult in our brains, isn't it? And then the other voice says - but look how different you look! And you are still losing! Gah.

Tomorrow is a new day. Definitely the first time I've felt like this. Onwards.

@Thelittlestranger I'm going to my old high school this week to give them a little talk about my career and such. But if the talk veers into other topics like it often does, I will definitely try to mention the damage I did to my body when I decided to go on my first diet in my teenage years, when I absolutely didn't need it. SkinnyTok is all over nowadays, influencers all about eat small if you want to eat small, all I have is a salad leaf. It's so similar to the Pro-Ana of our youth that we will again have a generation of women with messed up metabolism.

The pro-ana thing is a little after my time but anorexia was very much a thing in my youth, albeit not really understood. I was born the same year as Lena Zavaroni and watched what happened to her in horror. Karen Carpenter died in my first year of uni and one memorable comment was ‘she didn’t even look that thin’

The pressure on women to look a certain way has existed forever and it doesn’t feel as if that will change anytime soon. Look at the days of tight lacing where a seventeen inch waist was admired. Nowadays the expectations are more healthy on the surface but any hint of body fat is discouraged. Sadly a lot of the negativity comes from women. On a recent thread someone said they were size 14 with a 38 inch waist and there were more posts doubting size 14 and saying a size 38 waist was huge than there were answers to the query.

Anyway…. Date related issues appear fully resolved and I’m now 0.2lb down from pre-date consumption weight. This is extremely rapid recovery. Pre-MJ I’d be in for a week of discomfort at best

Morning ladies! I've had a "falling off the wagon" day yesterday for my DS's birthday and I ate 2 slices of cake! I'm annoyed with myself. I'm also suffering from a back in spasm this morning and my pelvis feels very wrong. Has anyone else had any pelvic issues since starting MJ? I've been finding the whole area feels too loose and just not right somehow, but it could be residual from my pregnancy 3 years ago.

Back from weekend away and I had a check on the scales - 0.2kg down, which is a first! So maybe there’s hope for me to relax over our week away next week and not worry about a bit of fat causing any side effects.

Did not eat particularly clean over the weekend but where possible tried to eat as much fresh veg as I could.

So I’ve experienced my first tummy side effects over the weekend from 7.5mg, and struggling a bit to get the calories in as I’ve still got higher suppression. Resorted to milkshake/smoothies to combine thirst and making sure I take enough in.

I am getting impatient seeing all the lovely summer clothes starting to appear but I feel I can’t buy anything new as I want to lose so much more still. Since October I’ve lost just under 2st (to fit back into my biggest clothes comfortably) but I’ve realistically got another 3 to go to get to a mid range healthy bmi.

@UnderandOverwhelmed I dont birthday cake counts as falling off the wagon 😉. It’s as much a celebration for you getting through 3 years of parenting as it is a celebration for the birthday boy!
I had SPD in both my pregnancies and needed to tighten up my core afterwards. Found Pilates very helpful. Knowing what I know now about being hypermobile I think o would have done a lot of glute training too.
I find my lower back spasms when it’s having to overcompensate for a muscle that’s tired. And if your pelvis is hurting then it sounds like your hips could be out of alignment. Worth finding an osteo experienced with popping hips back into place.

@Thelittlestranger glad the talk with your daughter went well. Was the concern that she might also want to try them? Or that she wouldn’t understand why you were on them.

I’ve not discussed MJ with my eldest DS (autistic) because I worry he’ll want to go on them as soon as he turns 18. He’s struggled with his weight since pre-puberty, mainly because hypermobility tires him out, he’ll be gaming past regular hunger signals then they suddenly hit and the dopamine hit of food is strong. He’s tried fasting but ends up binge eating. He’s tracking his protein and calories at the moment which has actually been much better for him as he’s been much more inclined to eat breakfast which has put a stop to the post-midnight binges. He’s also had various GI aches, pains and cramps, but despite every test under the sun we haven’t been able to identify any issues. So I worry that he’ll suffer side effects.

I was just discussing this topic with a friend. We both believe we messed up our metabolism with crazy crash diets in our teenage years. She was saying how she found some of her diaries from when she was 15 and had been following some Teen Cosmo diet in the lines of one egg and half a grapefruit per day. And we both had parents or grandparents obsessed with weight and telling/hinting us we were fat. (we were not).
I really hope DD won't do that - when she sees me using the tracking app, I have explained I use to to see if I am getting all my nutrients in, which is also not a lie.

@DGonMJ it's both. Turns out she'd already looked into it and realised she couldn't afford it! So it opened up that convo. But she has been going to the gym recently and eating less rubbish, which has worked. And she can see that, so she's ok for now.

I had my second lot of side effects this morning in a few days, which was a surprise as I didn't eat badly yesterday. I did have a couple of gins though - so I wonder if it's booze that's doing it. I have no work trips or events planned, for a while so can look after myself a bit better.

Ps - birthday cake definitely doesn't count. Aforementioned daughter has insis I have to eat a slice of hers on Wednesday. I have no problem agreeing....

in my childhood we were brought up to always clear our plates, so damaging to constantly override your natural feelings of fullness. My DM, bless her, has been on and off diets for my whole life. Nothing crazy, usually weight watchers. But it'd swing between dieting and then making 4 different puddings for us and encouraging some of each. Not difficult to see where most of my issues stem from! Luckily my DH is an extremely healthy eater so I'm trying to model my eating behaviour on his rather than my default.
Tantalisingly close to an 11 kg loss this morning but still 0.1kg to go. Been to a Pilates class which was really good. Geez my muscles are weak though!

So, I decided I will continue with one last pen to try get to target. I have gone for a 7.5mg order but only plan to do 5mg from it to stretch it out.
My plan is, each pen is 240 clicks or there abouts.
40 clicks would be 5mg so I should get 6 doses out of it.

(I know people have different views about taking a pen over 30 days. I have done this with a previous 5mg pen, taking only 3.75mg and it worked well for me).

Fingers and toes crossed this gets me to goal weight number 1.

15 jabs done
SW: 13st 13.8.
CW: 12st 2.8.
GW: 11st 7lb
GW 2: 11st.

week 14 (I think)
SW 14.01
CW 11.03
GW1 11.07 ✅
GW2 11.00

i bought my next pen this morning and decided to stay at 7.5 as I’ve had a lot of suppression but the exhaustion side effects are less hurrah. Of course since I pressed “buy” my stomach has started rumbling. Oh well. It will do me good to feel some hunger and if it gets too much I can count clicks.
The size 16 jeans I bought last month are getting too baggy and I might need to get a size 14. I haven’t been that size since DC1 was a year old, and he turns 22 this year

@KrankySchwester how tall are you if you don't mind me asking?

Well done on your weight loss! Pretty much 3st in 14 weeks is amazing!

Well done on all progress and sorry to all who are struggling a bit.

I didn’t lose last week (birthdays and meals out). I’ve lost 1lb this week but now away for a few days, hoping not to gain… I had my first 10mg jab at the weekend and suppression appears better.

My average loss is 1.7lbs per week.

W13
SW 12.2
CW 10.9
GW 9.3

I plod on and good luck all 😊

Wk 12 (although I thought maybe I was week 12 last week?!) 🥴
anyway started on Monday 20 Jan… 😆

jabbed my last 7.5 this morning. Decided to carry on with the 7.5 and have ordered another. The weather is like summer here so that’s been a bit of a surprise… I tried on a large looking size 10 dress and it was ok - but I don’t really trust the mirror… if I do manage to get to 9st I’ll be in shock - I’ll also have nothing to wear and I’m not sure I’ll know what to wear either.

sw 12ish st
cw 9st 10lb
gw 9st

Very small! 5foot3 (and I may be rounding up a bit)

I think I went on my first diet when I was 8 or 9, which was initiated by my pediatrician!! Imagine that happening now! I was always a bit overweight as child, but nowhere near obese, and really active, doing lots of sports/activities. How times change!

I've also decided to stay on 7.5 mg and have ordered my next pen. Suppression is still strong, and I'm struggling with eating enough, which is what's been making me so tired. I've not been tracking as religiously last week because we had the German exchange student visiting, and I didn't want to look like a weirdo weighing out all my food 😂As a result, I've definitely under-eaten by quite a bit, and feeling really flat! Back to tracking now.

My digestion is still doing weird things... I'm taking senna tablets every now and then to help things along, which normally don't cause any issues. But yesterday I ended up with a really upset stomach - lots of cramping and gurgling, and then finally a big blowout (sorry tmi). Today, all is fine again.
This worries me a bit because I will need to keep things moving after the surgery next week, I won't be able to push/strain. Might have to resort to lactulose, but that stuff always causes me explosive bowel movements!

If anyone has recommendations on how to avoid constipation, I'm all ears! Fibogel and the likes don't work for me, they make things worse. Wondering if I should ask for Movicol, I took that when I was pregnant, and it really helped. Not sure if you can get it over the counter...

@cloudjumper Laxido works for me (I also find Fybogel doesn't really).

You can definitely buy Movicol/laxido over the counter but it’s probably worth asking if it can be prescribed.

Fibre makes things lots worse for me and I’m actually on a prescription drug called Prucalopride which has been a game changer but I also need to add other things at times. Senna is first on the list but I’ve been using these for ages to maintain.