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

What’s your water intake like? Are you getting lots and lots and lots of it?

Sounds very uncomfortable 😥

Yes I was going to say water - lots and lots of it - at least 2 x litres a day - and I'm finding that milled flaxseed is really helping, along with dates in my morning smoothie. I've always had IBS-D, so this is a new problem for me... but water, flaxseed and dates usually do the trick.

Really hope you get some relief soon...

Week 5 run 2 done, that’s 5min warm up, 8 min run, 5 min walk, 8 min run, 5 min cool down.

The next one is a bit intimidating 5 min warm up, 20 min run, 5 min cool down.

@Twodogsisbetterthanone Prune juice worked really well for me when I had a backlog. Be warned, it can be quite explosive!
I now take two psyllium husk tablets each day, and I eat approx 3-4 dates. No problems since. As others have said, also check your water intake.
@InfoSecInTheCity thanks for sharing your very inspirational photos. You're very brave! You look fantastic, the pictures looked like two different women! You'll be needing a new passport photo if you want to travel 😄.

Well done to all the losers and NSVs. It's lovely to read all the wins.

WK6 D1
I have lost 2lbs this week, so total loss is 11.5lbs. I'm very happy with that, even though its slower than others. My mood has also improved since I went back to morning jab, and right side tummy.
I did the golden dose of 3mg last week, but suppression had completely gone by day 4. I was so flippin hungry.
I'll be taking jab 6 this morning and I can't decide whether to do 3.75 or go for the full 5mg. Any thoughts? I'm having extensive dental work done tomorrow so slightly worried about SE kicking in at the worst possible moment iyswim.

I’ve weighed this morning, I’ve gained 4lbs. I don’t know if I can do this mentally anymore. I am meticulously counting calories. I’ve started exercising again. I don’t know what to do, I feel like I’m broken. Nothing is working. I can’t stay between 192lbs and 196lbs forever, surely.
I understand about not eating enough calories and the body storing fat, but surely that can’t continue if you stay at low calories? Surely it isn’t going to hold on to fat for 7 weeks!

@Reginaphalangeeeee have you tried any of the vegan protein powders? Maybe a green smoothie type thing (lots of recipes about or aldi do a frozen bag). They do have some fruit but also got cucumber etc in. Add some vegan protein and you're getting some fibre plus protein. I struggle in the morning to eat but know I feel better if I do so tend to have a protein smoothie and use it as an opportunity to get fruit/ veg in (although i use whey protein not vegan). This mornings had banana and pineapple. So good!

Oh and to add - i rarely drink it in one go cos I just don't feel hungry enough. It sits on my desk and gets drunk over the course of a couple of hours. Just thought I'd share as it sometimes is more palatable for me if I see it as a drink rather than 'I'm having breakfast now'

I did C25K about a decade ago - I remember the session where it tells you, almost out of the blue, to run for 20 minutes. It felt like "WHAT THE HECK?????", but actually it turned out I could run the 20 minutes. You are fitter and stronger than you think and the process works. Enjoy.

I'd like to possibly try C25K again - maybe this summer. Not sure how ankle/knee will cope though.

Would it help to consider taking Mounjaro as being about health overall and not about weight loss each week? As in, it's enabling you to exercise which is great for your healthy regardless of any weight lost, and it's enabling you to manage and monitor your diet and manage your diabetes. So, any weight loss is a bonus rather than the aim? To take the pressure off you for a bit.

I think that the weight loss will come eventually, and perhaps your system is just very determined to stay at this particular weight and will need some more persuasion to get past it.

@SilenceInside yes, it’s a good way to look at it but unfortunately it makes me feel rough a lot of the time so it doesn’t feel like I am getting healthier. It has got my blood sugars into normal range which is excellent of course.
I was actually able to exercise more before taking MJ, I’m assuming because I had more fuel in my body. I was exercising every day, but eating rubbish so wasn’t able to lose weight.

My water intake isn’t great anyway, if I drink more than a litre I get up 5-6 times in the night to wee, and considering I don’t get much sleep anyway as I get up for work at 4am, the sleep I do get is precious 😫
I will give the prunes a try

Eat more. You are fighting your body! Work with it instead. As long as you don't feed your body properly it will assume it's in a famine and will hold on to every last bit of fat it can, to protect you. So teach your body that there is sufficient food and no hunger. Then it will chill out and start to seek balance, e.g. letting go of fat stores that it feels are no longer needed. It takes a while to get your head around it but it will make a difference.

@alwaysscared I think you've got yourself into a bit of a panic spiral here. It is demoralising to see gain on the scales but you have to get your body to a place where it can respond healthily going forward and there may be a period of "re-feeding" if you have been undereating consistently. @SilenceInside is right, this is about health, not just weight and a diabetic body often reacts quite differently to a non-diabetic one.

When I first started on MJ I used one of the companies who provide a wider service (I was with CheqUp but know Numan, Voy, Juniper, etc also do this) It cost more but you got regular calls with a nutritionist, exercise coach, etc. Might that be a possibility? It sounds to me as though you have had a bit of a rough ride with professionals who are not experts mucking you about. The nutritionist I had with Chequp has since left them but I know had expertise with diabetics and cancer patients so you may feel better if you could get some real expert advice.

I am not an expert but think, from what I have read, if you were eating about 1200 a day, I would stick at about 1400, including 100g protein, for a couple of weeks before going up again as your body is going to grab every calorie for a while so jumping straight to a higher level may be too much emotionally. You need to get to a point where you have energy to exercise and can feel well on MJ before trying to move the weight loss forward

@alwaysscared Cortisol is a hormone that increases with stress, increased cortisol has been linked to weight gain and increased hunger. It can slow metabolism, affect digestion and increase fat storage.

its one of those really frustrating things to hear, but I think you need to find a way to reduce your stress. I fully appreciate that you probably want to poke me in the eye for saying that because if you could do that then you would have already, but I’m not sure what else to say.

@alwaysscared I'm gutted for you - was really hoping the scales would be kind this week 😞

I like the re-framing of why you're yaking MJ - I kind of say this to myself throughout each week - that getting rid of the plantar fasciitis and IBS are reasons enough to take it - the weight loss is a bonus. But that's easy for me to say when I'm currently losing weight 🙄. Just please stick with it - and remind me of this when I'm in the doldrums when I haven't lost anything...!

Thanks everyone. You are right, I am stressed about it. I’m always stressed, a lot going on in life (as most people have)
I will try and continue to eat a bit more, and keep up the exercise.
I am looking into a private nutritionalist at the moment

Today has been a baaaaaaaad day for me...

I've been at an all day meeting, unusually face to face, but with some people on Teams - and all I could see on the big screen in our room was me looking so HUGE.... I was side on, which doesn't help and just looked so blooming big... 😐 The meeting room had 6 x skinny men in it and me, which also didn't help 🙄

I also have only had 2 x small cups of water rather than 2 x litres, as we didn't have proper breaks and I didn't have my big water bottle (had to travel for the meeting so was limiting stuff to carry - the contigo for coffee got prioritised!).

So I feel ENORMOUS, having had to stare at my side profile for 6 hours and dehyrated - and am not home for another 3 hours, so it will be too late to drink water when I get back.

Eugh. Need to write today off.

Definitely write it off @MooBaggageand remember that there’s still time for a couple of glasses of water. I need to get myself a seperate webcam, use the built in one at the moment and it’s too low so I look all chin on Teams which is disconcerting 😂

Spoke to my pharmacist as I’m aiming for 1200 calories a day but struggling to get over 1000. Week 2 of 2.5 so early in the journey.

He felt I should be ok on 1000 but absolutely not to go below 800. I think that’s doable.

It's really hard, especially when you look online and you hear ten different contradictory things. I think it would be great to work with a nutritionist who can help you work out how to make it work for you.

Ahh @MooBaggageit's just one day hopefully a one off. Bloody teams though why the hell does everything have to be a bloody video call ??? I used to sit happily sewing all the way through hours of teleconferences 😂 I don't even like video calls with friends

@Reginaphalangeeeeenot very helpfully I really don't like breakfast so currently just whiz up half a banana, 200mls water, a scoop of whey powder & a teaspoon of cocoa powder. (It's only wee but apparently the science says we just need enough to reassure our body that food is available 🤷‍♀️) I drink it because it's good for me (but not very tasty) then let myself eat a yummy date!!
There are pea protein powders & other non dairy alternatives you could try. I saw a thing of someone making "clean" protein powder by cooking then drying lentils- I think I'd rather eat daal for breakfast!

@alwaysscared
I'm sorry it sounds absolutely crazy making.
how's your sleep? Doesn't matter how low my calories are if I'm not sleeping then I won't lose weight. Eg things have gone to shit this week so I'm not sleeping & I KNOW the scales will have stayed the same or gone up so I won't weigh this week 🙈

@MooBaggage sorry you have had a shit day. I’m sure you didn’t look as you think you did. I think it’s really hard to notice changes in ourselves, I still see a fat mess when I look in the mirror but my husband says I look great.

@Arglefraster my sleep is always shit. I am a carer for my disabled son full time, and that means any time he needs me, which is mostly until the early hours of the morning. I am going to try and prioritise sleep and managing stress, not easy but I’ll try.

sorry @alwaysscared I remembered that you were a carer but didn't remember that shit sleep went along with it 💐
I do think prioritising your sleep as much as you possibly can would pay dividends on many ways but you can only do what you can do.

(I know I had particularly terrible sleep for a decade of non sleeping babies/toddlers & whilst I really couldn't fix the broken sleep I could (& should) have gone to bed earlier etc but there was a dangerous combination of me getting wired/hyper when sleep deprived and wanting/needing just a bit of evening time to myself ... so I KNOW it's far easier to say than do!!)