Mounjaro/Wegovy with > 5 stone/30kg to lose. Thread 8!

[MooBaggage]

Thread EIGHT - blimey we talk a lot! 😄 Anyone using weight loss injections to lose more than 5st/30lbs is very welcome, no matter what stage of the process you are no.

We're high on protein, low on carbs, upping the water and getting the fibre in any which way we can!

Please don't post discount codes as your post will be deleted - these need to go on the discount codes thread.

Just checking in. Haven't weighed as I am away from home, so taking a break from the scales and hoping my almost 2 week plateau has fucked off. I have doubled down and been meticulous, even logging everything which I don't normally do - so it had better!

Enjoy your hols @MooBaggage - I miraculously stayed the same on mine, but as you say, naturally slim people go on hols all the time and no doubt indulge a little, so nothing wrong with that and get back onto it on return. Life is for living and that is how we should be approaching things in the long term. I see it as Feast or Famine (borrowed from Dr Jason Fung) who talks a lot of sense.

Lunches - I have taken to marinating and cooking chicken (breasts or even better boneless thighs) and then divvying them up during the week for quick lunches (cold with easy salads) or heated up with vegetables for an evening meal. Pre-boiled eggs are fabulous. Wee mini meals all by themselves. My new favourite thing is prawns mixed with pesto - bloody lovely. Trying hard to keep my protein up (fats fine and low carb relatively good), but my fancy scales say I am still low in protein, so I am working on it. On the plus, my water levels are up, so it is paying off drinking more.

Made it to the pool, at last, so getting into swimming again which I love. My trusted speedo swimsuit is too big (had it for years) so have bought 2 new ones - was unbelievable getting 3 sizes smaller! Hoping they fit. Going to bite the bullet and get some hand weights. It is time. My arms are more than a tad loose, so have to get an action plan going.

I am reading every day and it is the number one thread that keeps me going. The more I lose, the higher my motivation, so I am not messing with my head about the no movement on the scales scenario. A whoosh is expected😂.

Thank you all lovely losers.

Weigh in day for me and I am super happy to have made it under 17 stones. My younger self would never have imagined this as cause for celebration. In the past I have weighed myself very infrequently and have been in deep denial about weight gain/my size at times. I guess the toilet roll analogy works the other way around too - if you're already big and gain a stone it won't show up in the same way as someone who is 10-11 stones who gains a stone. I remember going to a weight loss class at the gym at uni (where I work) and being amazed/appalled that I weighed 17.5 stones as the previous time I had weighed myself (about 4 years earlier) I had weighted 15 stones and in my head I had put on a few pounds.

My tum is also changing shape but not in a good way!

I have switched providers (Medexpress to Asda) to save money. They said it will be reviewed by a doctor tomorrow so hopefully it will be on its way soon.

I had a lovely telephone appointment with the pharmacist at the GPs earlier. I needed a meds review for sertraline. But he said I see that you have private prescriptions for mounjaro, how is that going? Any way he was so supportive and encouraging (and well informed) it was probably the first positive conversation I have had with a HCP about my weight.

Re lunches, this is nice, I add chicken or prawns or tuna:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/punjabi-style-chickpea-salad

And I have recently discovered the grain sachets from Merchant Gourmet, £2 each in Tesco and I get 3-4 lunches out of one, 90 secs in the microwave, add some dressing while it’s warm, and then add various bits and bobs to make a salad. There are a few different ones, I have just had their Glorious Grains with tomato, cucumber, radish, couple of peppers that needed eating, spring onion, feta. And a chicken breast. Very quick and easy, might be a bit carby for the PP who was asking but good carbs, and not at all bad for calories, fibre and protein.

I will try that recipe thanks @gimmemounjaro

My new "indulgence" is stem ginger that you buy in jars of syrup. If you take a ball of the ginger, chop it up super fine and mix with greek yoghurt with a little of the syrup poured on top it makes a delicious pudding. Its very sweet so i only use a little - but its flavour intensive so a little goes a long way. Add chia seeds to the yoghurt for more fiber, protein & O3 fats

Thank you for the lunch ideas. I don’t need fancy, I need realistic!

I hadn’t weighed myself in a couple of weeks, so my scales asked if it was really me this morning 😂. 10lb off since starting MJ, 24lb since Jan.

Have booked a holiday for October. If I can lose 2 sizes by then I’ll have a great wardrobe to choose from!

Have just had my pre assessment for my surgery in a couple of weeks, they want me to not inject next week or the week of the op, so a 2 week break, so that has kind of made my decision for me to take a break! @Timetofindme how long a break did you have? And did you go back down to 2.5mg after your break? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do really. I hope you are recovering ok.

Started yesterday when I got my pen

Feeling more satisfied with my food today but not sure if that is the placebo effect

What I am gutted about is actually caught sight of myself in a shop window and felt genuinely sick.

I know I'm obese but in my head I didn't realise that much

Pointless comment but hopefully mounjaro will help me finally lose it for good

Just keep thinking - today is the last day I will be this big…

Keep making one good decision after another as best you can and the time will soon pass. It’s going to pass anyway, so you might as well get healthy while it does 💪

A year ago I was 17st 3 and a smoker. I felt awful, lethargic, breathless, achy. Now I’m 11st 12 and a runner. I feel great. What do you want your life to be like in a year’s time?

Mainly to be slimmer,more active and not be in pain

My Sw 19st 2lb
My goal eventually is 11st

I would hang on to this thought - think about what life might be like when you’re active, imagine yourself fit and strong and pain free. What will next summer be like, what activities will you be doing that you’re not doing now?

Other posters might disagree but I think it’s good to have goals or even crazy dreams that are not to do with weight. I used to think that weight loss was the most important measure, but actually quality of life and the ability to do stuff is way more meaningful. It’s good to track weight loss to keep an eye on things and adjust if you need to, but I can’t really get my head around the numbers, they don’t mean anything to me. But how I feel and the things I can do are really powerful motivators. Sorry, here endeth the lesson.

TLDR: we have all been there, you’ve taken the hardest step already, you’re doing it, it’s happening, just keep going 💪

@alwaysscared I think my last injection before was 1.5 weeks before the op. I then had another 1.5 weeks after the op. I wanted to stick with my original injection day and the first week after the op I was already struggling with side effects from pain meds (constipation - sorry, tmi) so didn't want to add anything extra to the mix.

I did think I should probably do 2.5, but when it came to it I had the end of a pen left so I ended up doing about 4.2mg - not feeling rough as yet but it could yet prove to be a mistake! But - I'm only on a 5/5.5 mg dose. If you're on a higher dose I think dropping back down (even if not to 2.5) and building up is probably wise - I wouldn't want to inject 10/12.5 straight off the back of 2/3 weeks of nothing!

All caveted that im not a medical person and they didn't give me any guidance on how long to wait post op, so I went with how I felt really. Recovery going OK, thanks for asking! Stuck indoors and limited in what I can physically do for myself and boredom cravings are sneaking in big time which is why I thought it best to inject again. That's only the last couple of days though.

Edited to add - also can't weigh myself which is odd as I'm a daily weigher. Well, I could but the large cast and bandages might skew things a bit 😂

@alwaysscared This is something I saw about a break in treatment.
"The way you restart Mounjaro largely depends on how long your treatment was paused. If you’ve only missed a week or two, your clinician might approve continuing at your previous dose. For breaks lasting 2-4 weeks, you’ll likely need to step back one dose level – so if you were on 7.5mg, you’d restart at 5mg. Those who’ve stopped for over a month should generally begin again at the starter 2.5mg dose to help your body readjust and minimise potential side effects."
That suggests you could either restart at 5mg or use this as a start of a longer break

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help reduce sagging skin as we loose weight. Do things like dry brushing help? I’ve lost a stone and have 4 more to go to top of my healthy BMI but if I’m going to do brushing or potions now is probably the time to start. Thanks.

I haven’t tried dry brushing but exfoliating definitely helps with crepey skin. I’ve heard that skin takes a bit of time to catch up with the rest so it should improve. I use a firming moisturiser, did a bit of research and went for a Nivea one and Charlotte Tilbury magic body cream. I don’t know if they do any good, I’m a bit inconsistent with it so probably not!

I’m going to start dry brushing, she said, confidently. I moisturise all over, at least once a day. Currently with what ever I’ve got, but I may buy a firming cream when I’ve used up my random oil and cream hoard. I’m also swimming a lot because when I started this and took those pictures for the provider, I noticed my arms were both fat and saggy. They look a lot better now , 7 weeks in.

@QueenOfHiraeth thanks for that. I think I’m going to take a months break and start back on 2.5mg, but need to speak to the GP.
@Timetofindme thanks, I’m glad your recovery is going ok!!

@lifetheuniverseandeverything42 , I know that @RobinEllacotStrike has information on dry brushing as she has helpfully provided it before.

I swear by Collagen (Nutrition Geeks is fabulous).

[Unrelated to loose skin, but the collagen seems to have got rid of dark circles under my eyes which have been the only downside to my way of eating and was really getting me down. Since starting collagen, they have completely disappeared (had for 9 months so absolutely gobsmacked that there is no trace of them now) - it is the only thing I have added apart from Keto Electrolytes by Trace Minerals, so may well be those, or even the combo, but I am thrilled to see the back of them I must admit].

I've started on the Nutrition Geeks collagen too - but am not sure if you need to take vitamin C with it? Do you?

@MooBaggage I haven't heard of that, so not sure.

@MooBaggage I've just seen an ad for Elavate collagen which rubbished other brands like Nutrition Geeks and some of the H&B ones for not having different types of collagen and Vit C in there. I haven't seen anything official though

I find the whole supplements thing really tricky! I've got the collagen and also creatine so will take both for a month and see if I notice any difference - I've done about a fortnight so far and nothing I can spot yet..! 🙄

Well I have ordered some collagen along with a body brush and some firming body lotion. I expect I will forget to do everything but I’ll try and give it a good go. But then again I’ve been really good with doing some strength exercises every day and been wearing a weighted vest when I walk the school run and I’ve even remembered to take vitamins and iron tablets so you never know! So feel like I’m going quite well lately. I’ve even stopped biting my nails so maybe some of the new good habits will stick.

I’ve been dry skin brushing fairly regularly for a couple of months now. I think I’m seeing a benefit, but more importantly I really enjoy the brushing now. It’s a lovely bit of self care. I moisture tip to toe afterwards which I’ve never done regularly before - lovely French stuff in giant bottle from Tk max.

my skin feels amazing 🤩

living the dream 😴🧘🏼‍♀️🧹🥝🥝

Hello… can I join..? I’ve got my first jab and going to start this Sunday. I’ve got at least 30kg to lose. Ideally 35/40kg but perhaps that’s wishful thinking.

I’ve got a dumb question… lots of people say to increase water and protein and fibre intake. Do you need to calorie count too…? As in, follow a calorie deficit diet? Or… does the hunger suppression do that for you, if you see what I mean? I guess I’m trying to imagine the degree to which I need to control my intake and portions, or I’ll find that I’ll be doing that anyway - if it works well.

anyway. I’m nervous and excited but have enjoyed reading through some of these posts :)

@flipflopson5thavenue Hello 😊

I don't calorie count because I know that what I'm eating is well within my daily allowance and I'm losing weight consistently. I used to hate calorie counting when trying and failing to lose weight previously - spent my whole time trying to fit as much crap into my daily allowance, so don't want to do that again!

But I'm lucky - I have high suppression and no desire to eat anything other than protein and veg 🙄😄

Others on this group do calorie count - so it's whatever suits you! If you don't like to, then maybe try a few weeks without and see how you go?

It's a bit like weighing - some people weigh daily because it keeps them on track and accountable. I hate weighing so do it randomly - usually every 7-10 days - so I don't feel bound to any previous slimming club horrible routines!