January 2025 Starters Thread 9!

[meatyryvita]

Time to check in losers!

I've travelled with my pen to France (pen in progress and travelling in January to a cold country so didn't worry about refrigerating), travelled in May to Egypt with a new pen, took it in a frio and then put it in the fridge when I arrived.
There are two reasons I'm thinking about not taking it this time 1) staying with SIL who will look in the fridge and I don't want to out myself 2) it will only be delayed by 2.5 days 3) I'm on maintenance

If I wasn't on maintenance I'd probably consider taking it and figuring out how to hide it, probably leave it in a frio in a drawer below my pants.
I'm using the Frio in my room at moment in this heatwave because I'm too lazy to go down two flights of stairs in jab day / I'm time poor in the morning so don't want to add to it. Plus already got mine and hubby's new pens on the fridge under some new potatoes hiding from our nanny, who has probably seen and has told me she has just started on the pen. Not ready to out myself, not sure why! I don't even like telling people that I go to slimming world!! Although looking through some old photos today I don't know how I didn't see that I'd gotten so large. Even though I don't feel slim enough I am slimmer than I've been since my 20s (I don't have any photos to compare with though!)

@tinyemmy it's really weird to see some photos from not too long ago, when I was overweight. But photos I liked at the time, though I looked actually quite nice.
I did not.
Brain is a funny thing.

You don't have any photos from your 20s?

I was terrible (still am) at taking photos and I've moved around a lot. There must be some from my late 20s, but I don't remember any from my early 20s. There are some on Facebook from 2006/2007... just went to look. I think the thing about youth is you look great whatever 🤣 I'd have been 26/27 went to the gym most days and weighed around 9 stone. I didn't weigh often and didn't really worry too much. Although I also remember someone saying she wished she hadn't wasted her 20s trying to lose that last half a stone, so I presume I was dieting!? Back then it just meant miss a couple of meals, cut out a chocolate bar here and there and you're where you need to be!

Good weekend losers? DH and I went to an all day concert yesterday (can I legitimately say I’ve been at an all day rave?! #finallyacoolkid) and were sweating our way around London all day. Managed to get 29k steps in (lots of dancing) and due to the heat, my appetite was off - 1800 cal deficit which isn’t usual for me.

I’m hoping that the steps/dancing counteracts the lack of water for this weeks’ weigh in but I’m also away with work for two nights and so am hoping the food will be protein-rich and not too fatty. I’ll be the weirdo packing my scales along with my work gear tomorrow!

Have a great week and enjoy the temporary cool!

Morning losers and happy Monday.

i hope lots of good losses, movement and non scale victories…..

I had a big nsv yesterday. Big motivation for me to start with mj was health driven. I’d had a couple of dodgy blood pressure experiences and last time I saw the GP, she really wanted to discuss meds if I couldn’t make changes pretty quickly. Well, yesterday I did my monitoring my blood pressure has come down and is slap bang in the health range. My waist is half an inch away from healthy too, down about 7 inches. Whoop whoop.

also another question I thought I’d not be asking but does anyone who is in maintenance or head g that way not use oushk? I realised that at my rough rate of loss, after my next pen I may be a few lbs off bmi 30 and I saw some providers want to take you on before then. So I want to just start thinking/researching options. My current one (zava) has beeen quite good but doesn’t do maintenance. I want to see what plans are out there especially if I do want to start slowly moving into maintenance before my bmi gets to 25 (if all my other health markers are good, I am quite zen re the number on the scales, especially as a shorty where the difference between 27 and 25 is less than 10lb).

@myladyjane NSVs relating to health are by far the best. Congratulations on having healthy blood pressure. Can’t help with the maintenance provider as I’m with Oushk but more providers seem to nowadays. There are some anti-Oushk MNers who post a Monj link about maintenance so here it is
https://monj.co.uk/mounjaro-maintenance-pharmacies/

Day of mild sewing irritation yesterday as I decided to bite the bullet and make new swimwear. DH spotted me throwing a failed attempt in the rag bag and suggested I go and buy some. Now he often suggests this. Tells me that we can afford for me to buy some clothes etc. Misses the point completely. This time though I decided to explain the issue by circling where my measurements fall on the size chart. Upper bust and bust - size 12, waist - size 18, hips - size 2. So what size should I buy dear DH? 🤣

Hope everyone has a great week.

Thanks Jins. I’m not anti ouskh btw, it’s just that’s the most common and I want to get a feel of what else is out there.

get him to buy you a cossie that he picks and pays for I say. Although that has the potential to get a right dodgy result…

@myladyjane it’s worth getting him to do that for the lolz. 🤣🤣🤣. I can guarantee that it won’t fit.

The answer to my dilemma is of course a tankini. There’s no fitting challenge in that though

Morning all.

Well done to all still losing and those maintaining. I’ll be using this thread for accountability once I’m at GW. It’s so uplifting to hear how others are managing as you’re reducing doses.

@BreezyPeer Absolutely. I would never have got to this without MJ. The fact that I’m contemplating 126lbs feels like madness but in reality it’s actually a health weight for someone my height (66 inches).

@HeidiNotSoHeavy Thank you 😊
I love the fact that your DH has changed your name in his phone 😂

@Thelittlestranger I’ve been on 10mg just for the last couple of weeks. I’m thinking of ordering a 7.5mg for next month as I will have almost reached GW then and it will be interesting to see how my body reacts to the drop in levels.

@tinyemmy Yes I think another month and I should have hit target. Maybe sooner although I’ve had some big losses over the last few weeks so the last few pounds might cling on.

Good luck to all for the week ahead.

SW 196lbs
CW 137lbs
Original GW 133lbs
New GW 126lbs

Morning! Jab 28 today and another 2.5mg weight is up a bit at 8st 6.4 but hardly surprising given I was eating this weekend like it was going out of fashion!
This morning I've been to the gym and feeling really positive.
I'm with SheMed and still have another 24 jabs to go with them (slightly more now as I've started to use golden dose to drag it out further) and feeling like my maintenance is in jeopardy as Oushk now won't take you under BMI 25. I'm going to worry about it closer to the time but will be keeping a close eye on monj and also whether a pill becomes available in that timeframe. I actually quite like jabbing but tablets are less likely to "out" me when I go on holidays with others etc.

Morning all. Back on the jabs after my surgery break. I have to say, I was really starting to notice my appetite increasing in the second week of pausing. This makes me concerned about what will happen to me when I stop completely. Reflecting on being on the jabs and not being on the jabs, I can see that whilst I’m on MJ I have no interest in food at all. It also doesn’t bring me any joy or pleasure. However, off MJ, I have been loving my food again. Planning nice meals and enjoying eating them. This is a big worry. I also think my husband has been over feeding me in his efforts to support my surgery recovery. I noticed my portion sizes creeping up and asked him if he realised he was doing it (he actually hadn’t).
I’ve also got a bit of a tussle in my head as I now see that I have been enjoying the ‘oh that portion is way too much for me’ effect of MJ over the last few months I have been liking being ‘that girl’ who eats like a sparrow and is full. It feels a bit performative and is tied in (in my head) with being smaller, taking up less space, not being a glutton and not being a burden on anyone. The relationship we have with food is so complex. You’d think it would just be a matter of fuel in=energy out.

I’m back from my little trip away. I will have gained but hopefully not too bad.

Good to see everyone’s progress.

Welcome back @Zempy and welcome back to the jabs @Polkadotdash.

I dug out the swim lycra that I bought for practice garments, surrounded myself with patterns, old swimsuits and tracing paper and drafted a basic pattern that actually fits and can be adjusted to be more stylish.

No chance of me modelling it I’m afraid but here it is on my eBay dummy. 🤣

Very pleased with myself.

@Jins you are so clever.

@Polkadotdash pleased things are going well. Also I hear you re enjoying the ‘eating like a sparrow’ effect. This is partly why I’m thinking about moving to maintenance/moving down a dose when I’m overweight still. So I mentally catch up and loose the ‘buzz’ a bit. I definitely do get a buzz from a loss.

@Zempyhope you had a lovely trip.

@tinyemmy I would like a pill tbh. I’m in the ‘mj for life’ mindset and a pill would be easier wouldn’t it.

Wow @Jins ! Well done, that looks fabulous! 👏

There have been some very interesting discussions on here recently about dry eyes and possible MJ connection and I'm wondering if a problem I'm having is connected.
About 6 weeks ago I developed a rather annoying large floater in one of my eyes. I managed to scare myself silly by googling and consequently buried my head in the sand until I was persuaded to do something about it 🤦‍♀️

After a couple of cock ups by my optician, I finally saw someone last week and they said everything is fine, but it's caused by the vitreous humour detaching from the retina (normal for age apparently) which can then cause floaters. (If anyone else is more knowledgeable on the subject, please feel free to correct me!)
I'm now wondering if MJ caused the vitreous humour to dry out and pull away from the retina, if that's at all possible?

Anyway, just posting in case anyone else has a similar problem. This bloody annoying floater is making reading on here difficult!

I’ve had posterior vitreous detachment in both eyes now @mince3point14159265. The first was 3 years ago and the second was February 2023 before I’d even thought about MJ. It does improve with time. I can’t see most of my floaters now. Do you get white flashes if it’s dark? That is still with me a bit

Thank you @Jins for sharing your experience. I did have a couple of flashes on the day it happened but don't think since. I think my contact lens magnifies and blurs it, so makes it worse iyswim. Hoping it goes away like you say! 🤞

@mince3point14159265 sorry about the floaters, that doesn't sound great. I have dry eyes, but also have hypothyroidism. They've probably been drier but I'm just using drops when it gets annoying.

I ordered some items from next in a size 8 petite. They were too big and I popped to the shop to return then and got a size 6!!! I also have a size 10 bikini also from next so I'm taking it with a pinch of salt... Just before Christmas I had to buy a new dress for my granny's funeral and I got a 14 (having previously always worn 8 - 10 but slowly moving towards 12 and obviously 14 over the last few years!!)

I am hyper mobile.

I have had floaters and flashing arcs in the dark, since well before I started MJ.

My eyes get so dry.

Absolutely agree @Polkadotdash , I really enjoy not eating lots, having said that - I still want to eat. I can still eat all food, I just eat less, I’m so interested that most people aren’t interested in food while on the jabs. As you say it’s complex. I’ve had sweet stuff today as been stressed- still under 1000 cals but really maybe these jabs just don’t work that well for me (explains my dawdling!!).

So I have one dose left in my 5mg pen and I think I’m going to split it into two 2.5mg and then stop. I’m still about 6lb off goal weight but I’m pretty happy with where I am now, and if I can lose a bit more then that’s great, but I’ve been getting a lot of dizziness on standing up recently, and I want to see if it stops when I stop the jabs, as I’m really not liking it if it’s a side effect.

It takes me 15-20 seconds of standing still for it to stop and while not massively concerning, I’ve also had a couple of incidents of feeling a bit faint in the warm shower too, so I think it’s time to be happy with where I am now, and try and return to normality.

I have a full medical for work in a couple of weeks time so will get a check over then too, but I think it’s MJ related. Really hoping that I can manage cold turkey but I do have a extra pen in the fridge if everything goes wrong to try and get back on track, but I can’t afford to take it forever so need to stop sometime.

Hi all, Can I sheepishly rejoin the thread please?

Apologies if this is long...
Last jabbed in May.
Went on a two week all inclusive holidaying June, and smugly told you all the hotel scales showed only a 2lb gain. Well... that was not the case! Total weight gain was 8lb.

I've managed over the last 3 weeks to keep gaining and losing 2 to 3lb. Im driving myself mad with daily weigh ins!

After the MJ was well and truly out my system I initially felt pleased my enjoyment of food had come back. Everything tasted better again and I was excited for meals out etc. However, with that I have found im absolutely ravenous! Also, it may be psychological but I actually have food noise, which i wouldn't have even said was an issue for me before.

I've grappled with thinking about just seeing what happens,.or going back on the jabs again.
I've decided that I dont want to just see. I dont want to wait until I feel miserable again.

My BMI whilst now just tipping into overweight is not 30+ so its been a struggle. I have managed though to find a provider to take me and I'll be starting back on 2.5mg.

My plan going forward is;
-Set my target lower so that when I do stop again I have some wriggle room.

• Follow the advice to keep on the jabs longer and then titrate down. ( I only did 5 months and stopped cold turkey at 7.5mg).
• Go to the bloody gym!

Apologies i haven't caught up on the thread as I've been out of sync for too long. Will keep up from here though! 😊

👋@Randomusernameforcode , welcome back. I will be weighing when I get home on Wednesday after a break of almost three weeks, two without MJ. Fully expect to have gained. I will definitely have gained, plus I still swell up in the heat 😖 so I wouldn't be at all surprised if I have a similar gain to you.

I have realised I need to go up a dose to lose this last 11lbs now I’ve lowered my goal weight. My diet hasn’t been great recently and there’s been a lot of old habits creeping back in. I did my jab last night and it might as well have been pure water as I’ve eaten like a horse today! I really need to knock the sugar on the head but it’s so hard - I quit sugar for a few months when I first started then it slowly started creeping back in. I am such a stress eater (I’m also autistic and realise it’s definitely a sensory thing too) and it’s a massive indicator of when things are getting too much for me. I stop having the brain capacity to plan decent meals or do a proper shop and exist on rubbish. This makes me worried for when I eventually stop MJ but it is what it is.

But anyway I had a 7.5 pen delivered last week but should have got a 10mg. I’ve emailed Oushk and they have said I can order a 10 and keep the unopened 7.5 for when I titrate back down, as long as it’s in date when I use it. So that’s arriving on Friday. I’m hoping it can help me get back on track. I’ve been struggling with the end of term with (also autistic) year 6 dd as it’s been so full on. Hopefully the holidays will give us a bit of breathing room!