Mounjaro/Wegovy with > 5st/30kg to lose: Thread 7

[MooBaggage]

Thread SEVEN of this lovely community. Anyone using weight-loss injections to lose more than 5 stone or 30kg is very welcome to join us, no matter what stage of the process you are on. Share your losses, your non-scale victories (NSV), your frustrations and your love of Longley Farm cottage cheese and kiwi fruit here!

Nothing is off limits to discuss - from protein sources to B bellies; Hammocks to smart scales; feeling chilly to easier bum wiping 😃

Please don’t post discount codes on this thread as your post will be deleted. These need to go in the dedicated thread on this board

An easy breakfast would be something like overnight oats made with Greek yoghurt.

I feel you're probably not eating enough. Your body will be holding on to every calorie if it believes there's a famine. So even though it sounds counterintuitive, have some bigger calorie days. Have a feast day, randomly, once a week. Or think of your calories over the week so instead of having 1500 a day (or whatever) you have 2500 one day and 500 another day.

There also might be something else going on that makes it hard to lose weight. Do you actually have weight to lose? Maybe your body likes the weight you are now, and if it's somewhere in the healthy zone, maybe that's okay? Could there be an issue with your thyroid health? Or maybe you're over exercising?

If I were in your situation, I would ditch calorie counting, and instead focus on three high protein, high fibre meals a day, strength training twice a week, and daily gentle walks or swimming. I would cut out as much sugar and processed food as possible. Get my thyroid and vitamin levels checked and supplement anything I am low on. And stop weighing myself for a while.

Things will shift in time but weight loss is complex and there are so many factors involved. It requires a lot of patience!

@alwaysscared I have had my fair share of weight-loss stalls, so don't lose heart. I see it as my body using water-weight to do it's thing; a bit of a reset, and it makes me feel better.

The key (for me) is to keep my insulin spikes to a minimum, so if I am wanting a sweet treat, I tag it on to my meal, so my insulin isn't spiking twice.(lower carb ice lollies are great and give a feeling of a dessert, when you are needing it).

I generally don't log my food these days, but I bunged into carb manager what I had yesterday and it gave me the total of 21g carbs; 106 g protein and 109g fat. (Calories 1477). As I've said previously, I don't count calories, just macros, but when I do check them, they are within my limits.

Every so often, I put in what I've eaten to double check and it's always fine.

Bear in mind, I don't count vegetables (except tinned tomatoes), so my actual carb number would be higher. I eat tonnes of vegetables.

Yesterday
Lunch: avocado, tuna mix (with mayo & spring onion)
Protein Bar (KIND choc & nut)

Dinner
Pork Stir Fry with cauliflower rice (I counted the pork, oil and soya sauce)
Greek Yoghurt, mixed nuts and cinnamon

My portions are decent and filling (I don't get suppression, so when I eat I am generally hungry, but satiated with a proper plateful).

I eat twice a day (as I know you are doing), but have green tea and 2 cups of coffee in the morning (1 with collagen).

My go to breakfast/lunch are
Leftovers from night before
3 egg omelette with onions,/peppers/tomatoes and cheddar cheese with salad/veg
Avocado with tuna mix; cream cheese & prawns, egg mayo
Scrambled egg and smoked salmon
Boiled eggs (2 or 3)
Raw cabbage or salad, 3/4 bacon & half a tin of tomatoes (my version of BLT)
Joe Wicks egg muffins (when I make a batch)

Dinners are
Anything slow cooked (casseroles; chilli; bolognaise; curry; stroganoff)
Fish (often cooked in oil or cream, cheese/cream) and vegetables or if I have a tuna steak I'll marinate it in something before cooking or a salmon steak same or with pesto and loads of veg
Steak/pork/chicken with vegetables (and cauli cheese or a fried cabbage dish I make often)
Stir fries with cauli rice
Mixed salads with meat/fish/boiled eggs
Chicken & Egg Fried Rice (made with cauli rice)

My weight loss is slower than most, but steady (62 pounds since September) BUT following @InfoSecInTheCity's advice, I have really upped my water and whoa, they have come down fairly rapidly since coming back from hols, so I am well chuffed. I know you drink loads of water, so that's not an issue for you.

[Caveat is I do keto and by default it is a kind of intermittent fasting kind of set up, but more accurately time-restricted eating, but as you see, I eat a lot of food! I love it and it makes me feel fantastic mentally and physically and I get great sleep. I am also mindful of post MJ and needing to get into a way of eating that I can do for life, so I don't have the dreaded weight gain when I come off MJ].

I also take supplements - I had a horrendous scare with an auto-immune issue years ago, and basically researched everything and came up with a plan to sort myself out, but that's another story altogether....

I could also do more exercise, which I will do, but my main focus has been to get the weight off and nourish my body, so that exercise is something I will enjoy and not see it as a chore. Swimming and walking mostly, but need to get some weights sorted too.

Hope this helps

Excellent advice

@taylorswift1989 I have only just crept out of obese into overweight so I definitely need to lose more. But, I have always been heavier, even as a teenager, sharing clothes with my friends but always 2 stone heavier than them.
The exercise I’m doing is not vigorous every day but I try and do a bit every day.
Im try not to eat too many processed foods now, lots of salad and berries. It’s amazing how much sugar there is in carrots! Who would have thought it?!
I have tried higher calorie days, lower calorie days, 16:8, no snacking between meals. I feel like I’ve exhausted everything and I’m still not getting results. I’m now paying for 7.5mg and nothing is really happening, I’m tempted to go back down to 5mg so I can get it on the NHS again.
Im so miserable about the fact that nothing is shifting, I just want to get down to 12 stone, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
I look in the mirror and all I see is fat, I need to do some more toning but I just don’t have the energy to do more than I currently am.
Edit to add, I’ve had thyroid and vitamins checked a few months ago, all that came back was very low vit d, but was prescribed a high dose for 15 days, and now on the highest dose you can buy over the counter daily. I take free soul multivitamins and extra vit d daily

Gosh I eat loads more than that. Breakfast is usually porridge with Greek yoghurt, berries and pumpkin seed, but today it was wholemeal toast, butter and hummus. Lunch today will probably be oatcakes, cheese, hummus and lots of crunchy fruit/ veg. Dinner of Cajun chicken, sweet potato wedges and salad. I’m drinking lots of cherry juice too( for the gout). I bought some protein bars but they made me feel really sick. Calories are generally around 1500. I try to keep sugar quite low. 20 g of carbohydrate is really low, @alwaysscared . Try eating more.
My weight is bouncing around this week. I’m going to trust the process, so if I whine at the end of the month that I’ve not lost much weight, reality checks will be welcome.
Sorry for all the people struggling. I felt shit last week , sick and disappointed and doomed to fail. I’ve talked myself round, but I’m very aware that I have a pretty easy life. I hope something nice happens and just lifts you. @alltablenochairs , I’ve not been on this thread long, I know you are looking for a dress for a wedding. Is it your wedding? Im not sure what size you are, and I know nothing of your taste, but I have a beautiful red dress, worn once, full skirted, which might work well with a wheelchair. I felt like a queen in it but I know I’ll never wear it again. You sound like someone who would look great in a red dress. It’s an 18 or 20@MooBaggage , very glad you got into the 16 somethings , iIm sure you will get a big whoosh once the lumpiness subsides.
Pets. I like dogs and cats, and have always had both, and it’s always worked, our cat adores dogs, but current young dog didn’t get the memo and has let himself down on occasion, so we have quite a complicated life ensuring they live in the same smallish house without meeting. Old dog is unwell and no longer reliably continent. Dh wanders around muttering no more pets, but I think they make a house a home.

When people say oat cakes do you mean this type of thing: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-rough-oatcakes-250g?utm_medium=cpc&cmpid=cpc&catalogId=10241&utm_content=shopping&productId=96102&utm_campaign=20333793068&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&storeId=10151&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxdXBBhDEARIsAAUkP6hRYbWB6slwShoJX9FpujfBJzw17c6OCwofNE21vxboLCsyCbTcqjQaAm02EALw_wcB&utm_custom1=&langId=44&utm_source=Google&krypto=akuBMcIISvIRgJiWlLgeAjUozz98ZyW%2BdgvE2OTTo1YmWT146Pb6ZQbrhN3BYgn%2FTiqn5b3bOuNz4VkNG0BevAG1XH6vB3951kMIrvrXsRN2Z7W%2FGrfKbTN2DQcW4n%2FWFp92H%2Bsoa2HYiddSWJ3OtCSIEWv%2FhiYgA%2FOiZtgAglsHIeKAGx7GX85JWoOwBwc8rei6vx83JaF7LGo5f%2BM9Y6zsHXHoZ3sbjltwwmBvQfGz7T2mFXFtbF6XUw8E3Ipe3q7p9PIsWlqjDM%2FCi0ED1LRgaiBGDZhXOARw53k%2FKqmxRyR3A4SHnLyPppwDQYdhxujQhBsa526HVe3C8nu5PX8I87RWDNlmG6KfecpRCR75bdWMeudCeaVxvs1Xixxo0orl35tqRG3saob%2B0XVinI0ntn%2BrhF7a32dHstMCOW9HatG2b1OX4i9qtHDdZ6ssGJj2W3uddrfLbiK%2BbTeIjb%2FKtFVesw%2Bi5n%2FIsGpjJsg%3D&ddkey=https%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Fsainsburys-rough-oatcakes-250g

or these: https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/north-staffordshire-oatcakes/102371427?utm_source=tradedoubler_Velkashopping+CSS+UK&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=0&sprogram=246156&affiliateId=3241174&site_name=Velkashopping+CSS+UK&tduid=a40dfbd0c632b833ab748bd143c6113c

Sorry for the long links!!

Overnight oats have loads of carbs though no??

So I have had 2 rice cakes with peanut butter on. Carbs already 15g. If I add oats to my skyr yog that would add another 24g of carbs. The Skyr has 8g of carbs so that’s already nearly 50g of carbs with just 2 meals. Add in the handful of berries, the peanut butter etc, it creeps up more. Then there is tea, salad with extras, all adding to the carbs. I don’t know how people do it

I meant the first sort @alwaysscared , would love to try the second sort. I’m no expert but 20 grams of carbs is really low. My understanding is that carbs from vegetables and from wholemeal grains are ok. We should try to avoid ultra processed food carbs, so oatcakes are better than ritz, wholemeal bread is better than white bread, etc. I do weigh food now, I’m not just piling potatoes on to my plate, but if I restricted to 20 grams of carbs I know I would feel shaky and sick. Also, it’s about using WLI to instil healthy eating habits that will work long term and your typical days food doesn't look like that to me. As a nation, we eat too many refined carbs and sugar, I previously ate loads of them, white bread and jam, pastries, cakes and chips. I was bloated , irritable and in pain. But carbs have a place in a healthy diet.

@alwaysscared I’ve just looked it up. A low carb diet is seen as 100 grams or less. At 20, you are starving your body of the nutrition it needs.

@Zebracat sorry, should have said, I’m eating more than 20g carbs. Just don’t understand how people can eat so little. I’m trying to stay under 100g and even that is hard. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I hate feeling like this every day. I don’t miss eating all the crap, but I miss not obsessing about calories, carbs, sugars etc.
I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin, but I don’t and I’m miserable.

Excited for this little beauty!

Thanks @InfoSecInTheCity

Just looking back at my weigh ins (I only note it down when I lose), today I am the same weight I was on 23rd March. How disappointing is that? During that time I bounced up and down 6lbs, lost for a little bit, now bouncing up and down 4lbs. I don’t know how much longer I can handle the disappointment. Especially now I’m paying for the MJ. I’m so upset, literally in tears. I don’t know what to do anymore. I really appreciate all the advice I have been given, and have done all the things advised but I’m getting nowhere. I have nearly lost 5stone, which is obviously great, but this plateau has lasted way too long.

alwaysscared I know it is easy to say and less easy to accept - but do hold on to the fact that you have maintained your 5 stone weight loss over a challenging two months - and I think that is really impressive.

Bodies are funny things, and something must be going 'right' for that maintenance to be working, even if the fluctuations and frustrations are getting you down. Perhaps you are chopping and changing things too much - try to settle on what you believe works best for you, and keep going - you're doing so well.

Not my wedding, @Zebracat. I've been married 18 years this year! Not entirely sure how I haven't unalived DH in all this time though. If I had a patio (I don't) I am pretty sure I would have been tempted to bury him under it by now.
The wedding is a family thing. Some of my family have never accepted the fact that we chose to move almost 700 miles away and I get reasonably frequent barbed comments from them about how they should see more of us. Despite them being full well aware there were compelling reasons for us to actually move.

Thank you so much for thinking of me though.

@JustAnotherSod thank you. I’m having a really off day, feeling so down. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow feeling a bit more positive

Not really. You have the oats, obviously, and the sugars from the Yoghurt, but I wouldn't say it's high carb. You could make chia pudding instead, or Yoghurt with flaxseed, but oats are good for you. And it sounds like you need more calories!

Honestly I would stop focusing on food so much and let yourself relax a bit. As long as you're eating high protein, high fibre meals and not a lot of added sugar or processed meals, you will be fine. Worrying about how much sugar there is in a carrot is not good for your mental health!

Sending you so much love @alwaysscared . You’ve lost 5 stone, you are good at this. Please dont cry. You are a winner. We all seem to agree that you need to eat more and worry less. Have you tried yoga? It’s really very good for anxiety. I used to go to classes, but stopped for ages so that I could be fat instead. I’ve just started doing a beginners course of Yoga with Adrienne, which you can find online. It is 20 blissful minutes every day. You could also think about upping your dose. But if you can get 5 mg free, I would definitely go back to that! Cos I’m cheap like that!

@alltablenochairs . It’s not a wedding dress, it’s very beautiful and quite classy. It’s not low necked, a lovely thick cotton, so it would keep you warm. I got it in the Anthropologie sale, reduced from crazy expensive to ok for a special occasion. But useless if you’re one of the people on here now tasting the delights of being a size 14.

@taylorswift1989 thanks, yes I have got a bit obsessed, but I just want to stop this plateau.
@Zebracat I am only on week 3 of 7.5mg, so wouldn’t want to up the dose yet. I’m not starving hungry like I was on 5mg, but still not losing, so I don’t think it’s a dose problem, I think I’m just broken. Maybe I should just be happy with what I have achieved, as my husband keeps telling me (easy for him to say, he is a bean pole and can eat what he wants), but I just want to look a bit nicer. I don’t want to recoil when I look in the mirror.

Oh, man the Pip n Nut stuff is soooo good.

Unfortunately for my purse strings I discovered the Ultimate Dark Roast one a while ago and it's actual crack in peanut butter form.

Pip n Nut also do a breakfast bar version BTW for anyone that's interested. Basically their peanut butter wrapped in oats. They're slightly sweetened but nothing like a lot of so-called protein bars. Very filling and tasty IF you like their PB.

@alwaysscared In the kindest way possible way, you need to give your head a wobble! You have lost 5stone! I have also lost 5 stone and it's taken me a full year to do that which is longer than you took!

It's important to remember that, in the clinical trials, weight loss was assessed at "maximum tolerated dose" so you may need to increase further to get more results. I am now on 12.5mg and think I lost best on 10mg - you aren't even there yet

I also think you are stressing too much. One of the hormones that blocks weight loss is cortisol which is increased by, guess what, stress! Try to relax a bit, eat healthily and sensibly but let go of the stress of trying to balance calories, macros, etc. I try to keep my calories to about 1400 and aim to get about 100g protein within that but don't focus on carbs, fat and fibre or I'd go mad

Are you measuring yourself? When I started I was told to measure bust, waist, hips and one thigh every week. I've now cut that down to once a month.
Last month I had bounced around and felt demoralised by only losing 2lb in 4 weeks until I realised I had lost 2cm from my bust, 1cm from my waist, 2cm from my hips and 0.5cm from my thigh

When I had a down day a while back somebody on here told me that I had a choice and in 6 months I would either be still on MJ, hopefully, lower weight and feeling healthy or off MJ and regaining. It's a good way to look at it

@QueenOfHiraeth thanks, you are right. I’m just having a very shit time. Life is super stressful as it is and I’m just adding to that by doing all this measuring and counting.
I am annoyed at myself that I didn’t measure myself before I started, so should probably start doing that now and focus less on the scales. I’m fitting into size 14/16 now, even with my massive boobs, so that’s a positive. Obviously it depends what shop the clothes are from!! But I do most of my shopping at charity shops at the moment and finding some good, smaller pieces

@alwaysscared Sadly, life is stressful at times and I feel it helps me to accept that I can't control events or other people, the only thing I can control is how I respond.
You have not only lost the same amount as me in shorter time, you are fitting into smaller clothes and have massive boobs! I think I'm off to sulk!