March 2025 starters Thread 5

[TheSpoonyNavyReader]

New thread for all of us.
Thank you for allowing me to rant, share our ups and downs. Our group blows my mind of how we are so supportive of each other.

Some of us are now hitting the 12 week mark, some of us are nearly at their goal, some halfway and some still have a way to go, but we are all losing even if it’s half a pound a week. We have all come so far and are making a difference to our health.

@tryingtobesogood 'the eagle has landed '😭🤣 trying to currently get an eagle to bloody land but the fecking thing won't shift, christ the constipation is real isn't it?Omg @Puddingpiper you'll have your hands full! How lovely

I’ve been keeping a record of my measurements whenever I’ve been dieting since 1986, although I only started writing down my weight alongside them in 2006. I was looking at them after doing a MeThreeSixty scan and, comparing my current weight over the years, I can see that my body shape has changed. My waist has got bigger, and my bum and thighs have got smaller. It may only be an inch or so but it does change the outline markedly.

I’m certainly not doing as much exercise this time as I did on previous diets but I think I’m going to have to get more serious about that rather than just a few minute squats and weights every day - the 30 day Shred might have to make a reappearance! 😳😀

@Justformounjaro OMG not the 30 day Shred! That killed me the last time I did it. It did work really well though. I know I need to build more muscle because that'll really help with the fat belly problem. @Puddingpiper My smaller trousers and skirts are still a bit tight on the waistband so I know I'm not the same shape as I was last time I was at this weight - and I definitely don't look as good. I was super fit then, though, so my body composition was very different. I don't think I'll ever be in a place where I don't carry some fat on my belly, but I can hopefully shift a bit more of it as well as shift the last few pounds.

I’ve never got up to the third level (but had good results repeating level 1). I’ll leave that to Natalie and Anita 🏃‍♀️🏋️‍♂️💪

Good afternoon all

I I have not been on as post wedding recovery has hit me hard, I have not stopped running around picking things up dropping things off.

I have also been recovering from a nasty cold which had really taken its toll.

Weigh in week 13 and I am very pleasantly surprised as I thought I would have put on weight this week, although I could not eat much I could drink champagne, Pimm’s and wine, everyday from Wednesday last week until bank holiday Monday I had at least 2 large glasses of wine a day.

Week 13
SW 13st 4lbs
CW 10st 8lbs
TW 9st 7lbs although I think I want to make it 9st
Total lost 38lbs

Oh no take it easy this weekend x

As in on yourself not the wine 😂

Oh @TheSpoonyNavyReader I remember being exhausted doing loads of stuff post wedding when I was MOH to a friend, and you must have so much more to do. Poor you, although that's a great result on weight given everything.

Birthday weekend incoming - out for dinner with friends tonight, and then off to the Beacons tomorrow. The walking steep hills probably won't be enough to offset the also incoming calories - but total denial doesn't work for me, I need to be able to not be hyper focussed on calories and macros when it's a weekend like this. As @soupforbrains said, food is not a moral choice. I won't totally pig out because I don't enjoy the overfull feeling that I get 30 mins post eating, but there will definitely be cake and gelato from my favourite cafe down there this weekend. I have zero intention of resisting the urge!

I’m finding it more difficult on the 2.5, I’m not doing great psychologically I think is the bother. Maybe I’ll go up to 5, but I’m worried I’m not getting enough calories as it is. I feel like I’m doing this all wrong and my hair will drop out and I’ll get pancreatitis at any minute. Really silly.

Where I’m at after 11 weeks:

SW: 70kg
CW: 58.2kg
GW: 50kg

So a little over a kilo a week on average.

@TheBossOfMeone very sleepy and full baby

@Puddingpiper Oh my heart! How absolutely wonderful!

@MJMabel I'm sorry you're not doing well psychologically - for some people MJ causes low mood. What do you feel you're doing wrong? Sounds like you're dealing with a bit of anxiety? We're all here to help, but if you're feeling really low, maybe talk to your prescriber?

@MJMabel Also - a kilo a week is amazing. You've got to not get dragged into the super competitive losing 10 stone in a week, week after week posts that you see on TT (ok I might be exaggerating, but you get the point). Slow and steady or whoosh and plateau seem to be the most common patterns. And the ones most likely to be able to transition to maintenance successfully.

Always here for a chat if you need one xx

@MJMabel sorry to hear you are struggling. As others have said MJ can be linked to low mood so it may be something to consider?

@Puddingpiper love the puppy pic!

I've not been on the thread since last week as I was away on holiday. We had an absolutely lovely time but I was worried because I was out of routine, not doing my intermittent fasting and having more alcohol than normal. I didn't deny myself anything but tried to be mindful e.g we had fish and chips at the beach one day and I had a child's portion, or when we got ice cream I had a single scoop in a tub rather than a huge combination of flavours in a cone that I would have had previously!

Anyway, back home now and looks like I've put on 1lb which I'm fine with as hopefully it'll come back off quickly. I'm actually really looking forward to getting back into my routine.

Stats for Week 13:

SW: 14st

CW: 12st 2lbs

Jab 11 today
SW 13st 3
CW 11st 7
GW 9st 7

In the grand scheme of things feel this is fairly speedy loss of 1 or 2lb per week and steady. Am strength training x 3 per week to work on muscle loss.

Happy weekend all.

Morning all, I'm very behind on the thread.

My wine consumption is creeping up but I know it's stress related. The trouble is, the stress is kind of ongoing although there is an end insight (longest running divorce in living history)

I'm still not doing any exercise. Again, I'm active and i do walk a lot. I have ponies so feeding, mucking out etc but I do that every day and have done for ever.

I NEED to start some weights, I feel like I can see muscle loss in my thighs 😩 but I struggle with time, energy, inclination....

I also used to do 30 day shred. I dont think I'd manage it now!

@Ingangoolie that is indeed a nice steady safe-speedy loss. Well done. @GameOfJones glad you enjoyed yourself on holiday too. 🙂

@Illbefinejustbloodyfine I started really short and sweet with weights - mostly arm work and squats. No more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Plan is to slowly expand my repertoire. I know how my mind works and if i think I'm going to be at it for ages I won't do it at all.

@MJMabel I'm sorry about your low mood. Do you think you might be loosing weight too fast and/or are slightly malnourished? You are loosing at one a kilo a week which is faster than the recommended 0.5-2 pounds a week. You don't say your height, but I’m guessing you must be shorter than five foot four as otherwise the goal weight of 50kg would be underweight. Why do you want to go up to five if you are loosing s oeffecitvely on 2.5? Do you think you could be physically depleted and that is affecting your mood - I say this as someone whose iron reserves have gone down and has developed hypotension while on mounjaro - and has a friend who became anaemic on ozempic. It’s really easy to get run down if you are not tracking macros and watching your diet carefully, and it is easy to become weak if you don’t eat enough protein and excerise, and it's hard to fuel properly when your hunger signals are out of whack. It’s also completely normal to worry about pancreatitis and hair loss - I do too - and if these are real anxieties all the more reason to stay on 2.5 as the more agressive the weight loss the higher the chance of these happening. I have started building in maintenance days as I thought I wasn't eating enough and I was loosing too fast to sustain. I hope you feel better soon.

Morning all. Absolutely amazing dinner sitting on the terrace at the River Cafe last night with friends, pure joy. 4 courses, didn't finish any of them, but very, very delicious food, and I think I may have thrown a hand grenade into my weight loss this week 😂

Scales showing a bit of a gain vs midweek, but I'll live with that for how lovely last night was.

SW 10st 4.6lb/144.6lb BMI 25.7 (prescribed MJ because of diabetes risk and hideous waist measurement)
CW 8st 10.9lb/122.9lb BMI 21.6 - 21.7lb down, 96% of target achieved.
GW 8st 10lb/122lb (22.6lb total target loss, 0.9lb to go (2.9 allowing 2 for a bounce) BMI 21.6

Loss by week:
W1 (2.5) 5.5lb
W2 (2.5) 1.3lb
W3 (2.5) 0.7lb (ate out loads)
W4 (5) 3.3lb
W5 (5) 0.5lb gain (ate out loads)
W6 (5) 3.8lb (Post Easter weekend plus period)
W7 (5) 2.6lb
W8 (5) 1.5lb gain (BH weekend away, ate out loads)
W9 (7.5) 1.1lb (NY trip)
W10 (7.5) 1.1lb (Hakkasan and weekend away)
W11 (7.5 split dose) 3.7lb (Chelsea, BH weekend)
W12 (7.5 split dose) 0.6lb so far

@Illbefinejustbloodyfine and @GiveMeWordGames agree, ‘weight training’ feels a bit grand, what I actually do is once a week Aqua Circuits, fun and it’s working stuff, and 40 mins in gym twice a week on a very basic programme, all new to me, using the machines to reduce risk of overdoing/injury. Half of the 40 minutes is resting between sets, very important and fine by me.

@TheBossOfMe@GameOfJones@Flamethrowersthank you so much for your kind messages, they have cheered me no end, just to know people are ‘out there’

I have a few stresses in my real life right now, and that is bringing me down. I also feel like I’m somehow not mounjaro-ing right. I restrict myself and then I have chocolate - not masses but it’s not ideal behaviour is it?! I feel like others are managing better I guess, but then with the stress I’m under right now with other stuff, I think I’m getting anxious and that is feeding into everything.

I am very short, hence the relatively low weights, but being so short means that being in a calorie deficit is quite tough because it means being about 800 calories a day, which I don’t think is good for anyone even in the medium term. But then how else are short people meant to lose weight?!

I do get these are first-world problems and that overall I’m super lucky.

So lovely to see all the loses and the support for each other on here! I was doing really well and so far 2st down and coming to end of week 13, hopefully someone has been in a similar situation and need some advice- I’m now on week 4 of a never ending period 😔 one day I’m flooding then spotting, it’s so unpredictable so the scales haven’t gone down but I’m now starting to gain. I’m on 5mg but I’m counting the clicks in a 7.5mg pen- I don’t know whether to stick with 5mg or just go for 7.5mg and hope it stops? What would you guys do?

Well done everyone on their achievements on and off the scales. V. Impressed by everyone’s exercise regimes. It might sound silly but I’m currently ‘too fat’ to do much exercise. I have a dodgy back and carry an old knee injury, both of which cause me a LOT of pain when I exercise (but should cause me lots less once I’m not carrying a second person’s weight!)

At the moment I just walk the dog (only about 20-30 mins a day on weekdays but 2 hours ish on weekends) a lot and ice skate for an hour on Thursdays and a few additional hours a month dotted about.

once I am another 3 stone down I will start to incorporate more exercise. Hoping to pick up Netball again and also do some weight stuff in the gym. I despise running, always have even when I was in peak physical condition and fitness but might get back on the bike if the knee is looking stronger.

today was weigh in day.
3lb gain this week 😢
SW:19st10
CW:17st8
GW:11st7

i am not at all surprised by the gain. I started the week off with 4 days in London celebrating my son’s 18th. We ate out for every meal and I also let him choice what/where we ate which meant we ate in places with limited healthy options. Plus I had pre-decided to just enjoy it all. I am actually pleased that I only ended the week 3lbs up. Because when we got back from London I was 6lbs up!

So although I’m sad it’s a gain I’m not overly down about it. I’ve already turned the corner and started the loss and it’s my first gain in the whole 3 months.

so I am 2st2 down since the start of March. Given all I’ve been through in this time I am so SO happy with this. Plus this morning when I was out with the dog I bumped into a neighbour of my mum’s who asked if I had lost weight. So that was a nice positive too!

hope everyone has a lovely weekend planned. I’m having a (mostly) quiet one but off to see Katherine Ryan tomorrow night.

I’m sorry you are feeling this way, I get low mood days on MJ too, where I feel like everything is a struggle. I can’t pinpoint any reason for it. On days like today I’m tempted to not go for my next jab but it does pass. But this is not as easy as people think. I’ll be glad when I’ve reached my goal and I can ditch MJ.

hope you feel better soon

@MJMabel You're not doing anything wrong. You have a lot on and this shouldn't make you miserable. You just have to do what works for you and 800 calories a day does sound really restrictive:
Re chocolate - that's completely fine! I had delicious chocolate sorbet last night. And I have a new go-to chocolate snack whenever I can which the kids saw on tik tok and is addictive : a date filled with a teaspoon of peanut butter and dipped ok dark chocolate, frozen (banana rounds dipped in dark chocolate and frozen also hit the spot).

You must be quite close or at a healthy weight by now? Have you thought about using Mounjaro for a week or two just to eat healthy foods and maintain. get your physical strength back and see if your mood lifts. Establish a routine with a few favoured foods. Even if it's something basic like starting the day with a smoothie with berries and protein powder and almond milk? Exercising even if that's walking round the park (I swam my way out of a break up once and walked my way out of another). You don't have to loose weight all on one go - you could just use Mounjaro to help you maintain for a while. Or if that's unappealing just slow down the loss to a more manageable pound a week - you'd still be reaching your goal by the end of the summer but feeling a bit less physically depleted so you can take on the other challenges in your life without your body working against you? I am 5kg from my goal weight and I've decided to have maintenance days and reel back the pace. Chat gpy tells me this is better for maintenance in the long run.
i think there's a strong case not to increase as it might work against you in the long run if you're already having to eat small amounts.