Jan 25 Starters Thread 7 😱 Losing, whooshing, turtle pace - we're getting it done.

[Thelittlestranger]

New thread for those who started in January 25. 3 months in and we're still going strong 💪

@Thelittlestranger Can you send me the link or the details of the podcast you listened please. I've tried scanning the previous threads but not having much luck - many thanks from an April starter, following you guys too !!!

Hi fellow losers!!

sorry haven’t fully caught up, busy few days, but thanks from me too @HeavyHeidi for the weights tips, I need the same so super helpful. I looked in a mirror yesterday and was met with a slimmer, wrinklier, wobblier version of me. Happy with slimmer but not the rest!!
@SurreyGirl69 welcome and good luck! This is the one Http://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-281/

Exciting to have a maintenance plan @emmsyg! Glad you enjoyed your holiday having skipped a dose. Pardon the questions, I’m also trying to figure out my own plan - what dose are you currently on and what dosages are your two pens left? Will you titrate down - or dose as prescribed and then go cold turkey? And are you hoping to get down to a certain weight by the end of the pens or have you hit goal already?

@MananaPenelope blimey, 6 stone sounds dangerously thin - you must have been utterly exhausted. It must have been very strange for you to gain weight. I totally get you thinking that a size 12/14 is a healthier size to be.

It was awful @DGonMJ, I just worked too hard. Always struggling to keep weight on.

When my youngest first became interested in fashion we got some of my designer clothes out of the loft, they were too small for her at 15. She has a very healthy attitude to life/size/diet, she doesn’t like how she looks at a size 10, too slender for her almost 6ft frame. I’m pretty happy about that tbh.

can't even imagine 6 stone, I think my left leg weighs about that 😁

I've had an email consultation with Juniper over the weekend as they wanted me to confirm a maintenance plan now I'm at a healthy bmi. I did panic a bit as I still want to lose another 6lbs but she said they'll send another 7.5mg pen this week and then a 5mg and then il go onto 2.5 for maintenance. I asked what happens if I find I start eating more and gaining weight will I be able to move back up and she was a bit noncommittal saying "you would then speak to your prescriber about moving up". What do you guys think? Does anyone know anything about maintenance with juniper? I'm feeling a bit like a crack addict who's supply is about to come to an end 😂 not good I know.

I also feel in danger of being a bit obsessive. I weighed myself today when usually I wait until every Friday and I'm still 10.12 which I've been for the last two weigh ins now. I'm trying not to bother and think "it'll come off eventually" but I do get that self-destructive feeling of "oh it's impossible - il never get to the weight I want bc I'm just not built to be thin". Only difference now is that I don't feel compelled to go and binge! I just wish I could not care so much and I'm now constantly avoiding the mirror bc of all the wobbliness and loose skin. I'm supposed to be going out with my mates on Friday and I really don't want to go. The thought of getting dressed up and going into the city etc is just exhausting. Especially as were eating at a v pricey restaurant and I probably won't even be able to eat or drink much. They're quite a boozy lot and there will be questions.

Sorry - just feeling quite negative and anxious today. I've just jabbed my fourth 7.5mg shot and the bloody thing wouldn't work - I had to use an insulin needle.

HeavyHeidi
Jealous of your toned and muscled arms - you deserve them with all your weight lifting, mine are very wobbly but I have done a Caroline Girvan 15 min arm workout the last few days so I've made a start!

Jins
where did you go on your weekend away (or would you rather not say?) quirky shops and ancient sights sounds right up my street.

Boohoo76
That's fab about your skin - I've noticed the bumpy skin on my arms is much improved.

mananapenelope
dd13 has lost quite a bit of weight being silly about food and is looking a bit gaunt - she's 7.5 stone (she's about 5"4") so can't imagine how 6 something looked on a grown up! Are you quite short? I often wonder what people who get to those kinds of weights are eating? I'm on about 1000 cals a day but I still feel like I'd never get to below 10 stone - I reckon my skeleton weighs 9 stone 😂

Sorry for the long post!

@2025istheyeari thank you so much - this is such a supportive community xx

@JoanCollinsDiva , sorry to hear you’re feeling negative. I’ve got no idea about maintenance so no help there. I’m planning on just stopping when I get to where I want to be. Will you feel like going out with your mates when you get there? Hope so.

@Boohoo76 my skin is normally lovely, not today, I’ve had a bad skin/hair day. I’m going to get up early tomorrow to put my favourite face mask on before work, too tired tonight.

I’m 5’7 these days @JoanCollinsDiva , not short. I always struggled to maintain my weight pre C. When I was pregnant I had to drink those awful fortisip drinks on prescription to keep some weight on.

@JoanCollinsDiva near Shrewsbury! Old abbeys, battlefields, Roman settlements galore and lots of quirkiness in Shrewsbury itself if you get off the main streets.

@meatyryvita and @Jins thank you for your kind words. I’m being hard on myself, I know. It’s just so frustrating and disappointing. I’d set the party as my first goal and I’m falling behind on where I’d hoped I’d be. And it means that I need to keep committing money to more mj pens over a longer period. I have made some progress. Just not enough yet.

Hi all. After the best part of April away and off MJ, I weighed in and jabbed today.

I’ve been on a holiday of a lifetime and I stopped MJ a week before leaving. My motivation was mostly to avoid side effects rather than to indulge in food, although I was in a land of fantastic food. I know many people will be looking ahead to summer holidays so I thought it useful to document my experience.

I had just finished a 5th week on 5mg and was feeling quite suppressed and was in a period of steady weight loss.

Week 1-2: I still felt quite suppressed but I didn’t get any side effects. I ate sensibly and stopped when I was full but I wasn’t actively “trying to eat healthily”. It felt indulgent even when it wasn’t particularly. I was very active, about 30,000 steps per day.

Week 3-4: MJ felt near fully worn off. I ate more but still in the same pattern of stopping when I was full. Even when I ate too much I felt it was a more active decision, like I could tell I was full and had consciously decided I wanted one more piece. I’m not sure I’ve felt that before. Has MJ awakened an awareness of what full feels like? Had I started training myself to stop when I feel that? These weeks were less active but certainly not sedentary.

I’ve weighed in today after a long flight home feeling jet lagged and dehydrated. I’ve jabbed 2.5mg. Now we wait. I’m guessing some portion of the weight gain is water weight and some actual.

31st March, jab 5mg
3rd April 142.6lbs
29th April, 147.4lbs
Weight gain: 5lbs

Current reflections: I feel I made the right decision in my circumstances but if I was going on a more standard holiday I would have kept in routine. I attach no emotion to this weight gain and I’m mentally now just continuing on as if I’d literally just hit the MJ unpause button. It remains to be seen how my body reacts to that and if MJ is as effective as it was once I build back up. My plan at present is to increase more quickly than I did when initially starting, or alternatively taking my doses slightly closer together eg on a 6 day cycle.

@Polkadotdash The problem with weight loss is it’s not always linear and it’s never as fast as we’d like. I bet if you were to ask a friend to compare the photos between November and now they’d be wowed. I’m sure you have but have you been through your diet and made sure your macros are spot on, so loads of protein and water? When I’ve had slow weeks and looked back I’ve seen that my protein has dipped and I’ve let more carbs creep in. I know it’s frustrating but try to celebrate how far you’ve come and think about where you’d maybe be if you hadn’t started.

@Pandora71 thanks for sharing, that’s fascinating! So pleased you had an amazing time and 5 pounds on ( I bet at least half of that is water retention, I always retain water after a flight) in over a month on holiday is incredible! And being able to take control like you did and make maybe more sensible choices is life changing!

to those of you near to goal, massive congratulations! You must feel brilliant!! Will watch your maintenance journey with interest.

im tantalisingly close to falling into the next stone bracket, I find things like that such a psychological boost and hoping I get there next week. Next mini goal is 50 pounds off which will also coincide with a stone to the top
of my healthy BMI 🤞🏻for us all!!

@Pandora71 that’s really useful info, thank you. 30,000 steps a day as well 😱.

If it’s any consolation I’ve gained another pound in three days. I have no idea what is going on.

I liked your phrase ‘I attach no emotion to this gain’. That’s a good way of thinking about things.

@2025istheyeari thank you. I’m really down about my gains and confused on why it’s happening. Last week I ate virtually no carbs - no bread, no potatoes, no rice, no pasta as I know that piles on the weight for me. And I still put on a pound. Then another one in three days - but I did have a few wines at the party and a very small portion of rice. I didn’t even have any of the bloody birthday cake!!!

@Polkadotdash I know it seems counterintuitive, but are you eating enough? My sister always used to tell me that when I was on f800, 800 calories wasn’t enough and I’d risk putting my body into starvation mode. Do you think it’s worth speaking to your GP to see if they may have some answers/ can run bloods? I’m not sure of your age etc, and not prying, but I also put weight on in Peri and menopause and also as a result of gynae issues. It must be super frustrating, in solidarity with you, I’ve been there and it’s bloody awful. Really hope you can sort things out and you see results soon x

Sorry, to add, I am not medically qualified and no idea of whether the above is correct but what I’m trying to say ( clumsily!) is there could be other things at play, so maybe worth getting checked out.

Hi, checking in after dropping off the thread yet again.

@Pandora71 fascinating insights from your month away, specially about the retraining of your brain around hunger. I bet a good amount of that 5lb will be water retention. But even if it’s not, I love that you attach no emotion to the gain, fantastic mindset.

@Zempy re feeling hungry by the end of the week, have you considered splitting the dose? So take half of it then the rest 3.5 days later. I’ve seen a few people do this with success.

Weighed in this morning, 2.6lb down, bang on 20lb off in total. I’ve not seen this stone bracket since 2019, so I’m very happy. I go on holiday in July so I’ve been having fun working out how much I’ll have lost if I lose half a pound per week till then, then a pound, then 1.5, etc. Sad I know but it’s exciting to see what might happen!

@DGonMJ not quite at goal yet, but I said I'd give myself 6 months as that's what I can realistically afford! I've been taking 3.75 for the past 4-5 jabs I think, and 2.5 before that. My last two pens are actually both 7.5 ones, but I plan to take half doses from both of them and stay at 3.75 until the end now if I can! I'm losing 1-2lb on average a week, so at the lower end of that, if I get another 11lb off minimum in that time I'll be under 10 stone, and I'd be delighted with that.

I've intermittent fasted for 3 years prior to taking MJ, and I had lapsed a bit with my strictness on it, so had stopped losing weight, but I was maintaining. I'm hopeful that with the disciple learned from MJ on what I actually need to do in terms of calories to lose/maintain weight that my plan will work, but who knows 😂.

I'm not sure if I'll titrate back down to 2.5 or just stop - when I have 3-4 weeks to go I might go back down again to make the transition that little bit easier. In all honesty I've seen such a big change already that if I didn't change a bit from now it wouldn't be disastrous - but I'm sort of hoping this last stone will take the last bit of my belly with it.

I weighed in again after a sleep at 145.6lbs. So actually only a 3lb gain. 👍

@emmsyg well done for getting so far in 6 months!

Hi guys! Just catching up!

Have been off MJ for roughly 2 weeks now. Appetite is back, bit nothing crazy. Food noise isn't like it was before MJ. I have put on just under half a kilo, but that's because I literally couldn't eat anything on MJ and now I can. So just making healthier choices.

I will be happy as long as I don't put on more than 4 kilos.

So for 2 week with normal healthy eating, I don't think I have done too bad!

Periods are still messed up though! I'm nearly a week late with all the PMT symptoms but no flow! So annoying.

Hope everyone is well!

@2025istheyeari I’m on a waiting list for a hysterectomy for gigantic fibroids, so I def have gynae problems. Plus I haven’t had my period since March so I don’t know if that is affecting things. I always feel a bit dismissed by the GP to be honest. A bit like ‘ah well these things won’t kill you, so you just gotta get on with it’ so I sort out my own vitamin D and b12 stuff and prod them periodically for an iron infusion.

which reminds me @cloudjumper how is your hysterectomy recovery going?

@Polkadotdash I'm doing well, thank you! Have to take everything really slowly and remind myself to a) lie down for rest regularly and b) not lift anything at all! But I'm almost pain free now if I observe these 😊 It's very easy to overdo it, I learnt that the hard way...
The one issue I have is pooping (sorry tmi) - the combination of codeine painkillers, surgery and mounjaro has proven quite detrimental to my bowel movements, and I am literally giving birth to nuggets every time I do a no. 2 - the struggle is real (and really painful)! 😫 Senna is doing very little (but still something, as I discovered when I stopped taking it!), I have tried suppositories, but can't get them to work. I have now bought some enemas as a last resort.

Morning all, that's wonderful that a month on holiday only caused a 3lb gain! Gives me hope.

I'm still feeling very down about the process, I'm starving and seem to have stopped losing. I really struggle to continue with diets when I don't see results and I didn't expect this issue to come up so soon. 😕