May Starters Thread 4 ~ Onwards & Downwards!

[PandaIsMySpritAnimal]

Hoping the lovely bunch of May starters thread 3 finds this new thread. Can't believe we are on 4 in the space of couple of weeks.

Thread 3 is now full so can't post the link for the new one there.

Something that has worked for me re tiredness: I found I was incredibly tired when I first started Mounjaro 6 weeks ago. Zero energy and even gentle workouts at the gym made me dizzy & nauseous.

A GP friend who researches WLIs said that my body & muscles need to adapt to the massive reduction in food intake, and that I need to “train” my body to burn fat for energy, rather than just relying on the permanent cupcake & chocolate-fuelled glycogen that my muscles were used to being able to access all the time.

To train the body to burn fat efficiently for energy he suggested gentle exercise (heart rate zone 2) for a couple of hours while in a fasted state. So I’ve tried a 2 to 3-hr walk or easy cycle twice a week after having no food since the previous eve. After 2 weeks of this my energy levels have hugely improved and I feel so much better! No more dizziness at the gym either. And I’ve been losing an ave of 4 lb per week.

@SutekhsEars Reporting to you live from resting on the bed with four cats, curtains drawn and fan on: I'm absolutely knackered. Are you on 5mg?
I'm considering taking 3.75mg instead when I jab tomorrow.
You say you haven't slept well since starting it, that sounds really tough. Does anything help with that?

That sounds worth a try - if I can manage a couple of hours exercise while fasting!

@DidILeaveTheGasOn I stuck to 2.5 - but I actually take less than that - usually around 20 clicks twice a week.
I haven't been a great sleeper for years, but it's definitely worse now. Last night e.g I was too hot with the fan off and too cold with it on, so I woke up every couple of hours to switch it on/off. I gave up at about 4.30 and just stayed awake.

My cats are wankers and no use at all!

I couldn't exercise for a couple of hours with no fuel. That sounds like a disaster for me. I need to be well-hydrated and ensure I've eaten a balanced, good amount during the day.
Before kids, I could run on air if I couldn't be arsed with cooking or whatever, but I'm not in my twenties anymore.

@SutekhsEars My cats are wankers also. Aren't they grand? 😀
Could you try a drowsy antihistamine? I've struggled with sleep for years but they help me. Also, my fancy skincare routine. 10 mins of sitting quietly and applying various lotions and potions is pretty soothing.

I do get it though, my ex husband could fall asleep in seven minutes or less and for that alone I could cheerfully have murdered him.

@DidILeaveTheGasOn looks so sweet, doesn't he? But we call him 'Murder Paws'!

I’m wondering if 1200 calories is perhaps not enough if you’re doing a lot more exercise than you were previously. Your body might “be in shock” at the changes and hanging onto reserves. I’d consider a couple of hundred more calories- but in the form of fruit or protein that’s going to help. And hang on in there, it will catch up sooner or later. But it’s dangerous because it’s times like these we fall off the wagon. Sometimes we’re too hard on ourselves at the start, with massive new exercise regimes and low calorie diets?

I’m really sad to see people who are disappointed with good weight loss. Yes a few people lose massive amounts quickly, but most of us don’t. But most make good steady, sustainable losses - which is good. We’d all like a magic wand to get to goal in a couple of months, but really MJ is a tool to help us long term.

As I mentioned on the last thread - if you only lost 2lbs a week between now and Xmas you’d still have lost about 3.5 stones….

Gorgeous! I sadly had to have my ginger boy pts a couple of months ago. I still miss him. We still have his sister, who is a murder machine too.

Hi all those disappointed in weight loss you’ve all done great! The only way you would lose bigger amounts would be if you were very very high starting weight, and it’s a combination of water and fat loss.

if you are doing a 500 cal deficit, each pound of fat is equivalent to -3500 calories so a 500 deficit per day will even out to a ONE pound per week weight loss. Plus there’s an added bonus (sarcasm) that as your BMI comes down your calorie requirements come down too, so your 500 calories deficit may have to be 600 from your starting amount, unless you recalculate it.

the only way to get a consistent 2 pounds a week loss is to eat 500 a day less calories (v hard, not recommended) or up the exercises to compensate.

just countering the not eating enough theory with another thoughts, please don’t shoot me down, not everyone needs to agree with me 😔😙

Gorgeous criminal @SutekhsEars. We have many varieties but no gingers! So sorry @Gingercar, cats should live forever ideally.

This is one of our herd. She's tiny and adorable, and a proper criminal. We have to keep their food under lock and key, she's broken through cardboard boxes, cupboard doors, sealed tubs...

Quick question, has anyone noticed more/less side effect from where they inject? I've been injecting in my thigh and have had no unpleasant side effects, but read that absorption is better in your stomach but side effects could be worse so I'm not sure whether to risk it or not?

Hi All, apologies for not posting much. Congrats to those with losses and solidarity to those with slow progress. I'm not aiming to lose too fast though, as I want time for my body and brain to adjust so I don't end up with too much flappy skin etc.

I've been around this weight for a really long time, so am also presuming that it is a solid set-point my body may not be content to let go of, and as I have a lot to lose my skin is used to being stretched over me so will need time to adjust! Also have a genetic collagen formation issue, so may be particularly problematic for me if I lose too quickly.

I also haven't changed my diet that much, just less of it, as I've always eaten pretty healthily and don't drink in the hope of managing my disabilities better (believe me, I would happily eat all the crap and drink as much as I used to but my body can't tolerate it!) When I did fall off the wagon, so to speak, I'd feel so utterly dreadful it wasn't something I could let myself do too often. I am so grateful that the MJ seems to be really helping me fight those bingey urges.

In the past I often lost a lot in the first month or so, so the fact my loss seems to be slower this time around is actually reassuring, as it is a different pattern from past efforts. I'd then get frustrated as losses slowed, stopped and then weight started going back on despite being really good, so slow and steady from the outset is wierdly comforting for me with MJ, that this time it really will work for me.

It feels so different on MJ, even the gains I'd usually despair over aren't worrying me because I know that MJ is doing its work to signal to my brain that I am carrying too much weight and that eventually it will right itself, whereas before there was no support from peptides my body clearly doesn't make enough of.

We've all got this, whether we are losing quickly or slowly, if we just trust that the MJ will do what our own bodies' GLP-1 and GIP haven't been able to do without this additional help.

Afternoon all, hope everyone is getting on ok.

Week 5 update - 2lbs off this week which means I’ve reached my 1 stone milestone. So pleased! I wonder what the rest of month 2 will bring as I’m staying on 2.5mg. My aim for month 2 is to exercise properly to tone up as I feel very wobbly.

DH has lost 3 stone so far on MJ, I’m so proud of him, it’s really helped us both being on it together.

SW: 13st 7lb
W1: -4lb
W2: -3lb
W3: -2lb
W4: -3lb
W5: -2lb
CW: 12st 7lb

Re. fatigue I am really struggling. Not sure if it's the MJ, the temperature at night, my disability or wot. I've done IF for a few years but can't possibly be fat adapted now I'm hitting the biscuits again. So, so tired all of the time.

@Kbr22 I would speak to your pharmacist, but why not treat the constipation (I take some pricey gum mies off amazon and they work a treat) and go up next month as per the normal schedule? (I am on month 3 of 2.5mg and definitely not feeling the effects recently. Hence the aforementioned biscuits).

@MissFizzyPopI’m also going to 5mg from next week and am about to take a golden bridging dose of 2.5mg plus.

It’s helpful to know that I’m not the only one whose progress seems slow and I know that as a post menopausal shortie, I have less calories to play with. I’ve a TDEE of 1500 so an intake of 1000 - 1200 + exercise does come out at around a Lb a week.

I’m telling myself that this is a race with myself to become healthier, not a race with others with different body types.

Good luck to all of the Thursday jabbers!

I’ve only ever done my stomach, didn’t realise until I had read in here that the ice effects are likely to be less in thigh but it was too late by then so I have carried on the same

It’s a bit disappointing when the scales stop moving, and I’ve found it quite easy sometimes to get a bit disheartened. But it’s the long game and as long as it’s going down and not up, we’re doing well.
im an every day weigher (for the time being anyway), and in the last week ive gone
223.6
223.2
223.6
223.2
223.6
223.2
222.6 (momentous)

today, you guessed it….223.2!

222lbs will be my first one stone loss, if I weigh on Sunday at 223.2 it’ll be my first weekly maintain. That’s when I’ll start considering going up to 5mg for my next jab.

Normally stomach injections go into sub-cutaneous fat and thigh injections into muscles. Injections into fat are absorbed more slowly which may reduce side effects, but it’s quite an individual thing.

Another slow loser here! Lost 6.6kg (14.5lbs) between the 16th of may and today (6 weeks). Im on 2,5mg, im eating really healthy and i havent snacked once so in my book it’s a big win!
1kg a week makes me happy. I’ll move to 5mg when i’ll start hovering the fridge or finding myself at the corner shop…

DP took his first 5mg this morning and is feeling disappointed to still be hungry.
i wonder what pur different reactions mean in terms of our metabolism etc…

Normally stomach injections go into sub-cutaneous fat and thigh injections into muscles. Injections into fat are absorbed more slowly which may reduce side effects, but it’s quite an individual thing.

Do you think our needles are long enough to reach thigh muscle? I'd presumed that the injection sites were chosen for being sub-cutaneous fat. I don't know though, I've only jabbed in my tummy because my brain likes to think that my thighs are solid muscle.

I thought the injection was subcutaneous wherever it went. There’s absolutely no way it goes into muscle with that teeny needle on my thunder thighs!

Just been out for a pre birthday meal. I still managed to eat loads. Hummus and pitta for starter and a big superfood salad with cous cous and sweet potatoes in it. Ate most of that too plus two vodkas and Diet Coke with lots of coke. I do feel full, but not uncomfortable.

Earlier on I went to a NHS pre diabetic course. I thought it was a one off, but turns out there are 15 ninety minute sessions between now and May!! And I ended up sitting with two 80 year olds that didn’t understand a thing and I had to keep explaining what had been said! And they weighed us!! I was like “I’ve already lost 8 kilos!!”

Yeah it would be subcut wherever I’m sure. I had read that side effects were less in the thigh as in the stomach it’s closer to your.. stomach 🤣 so side effects more apparent/quick. I dunno it’s hard to say - my husband takes a medication and he was advised to inject in his thigh and has never done it anywhere else although stomach was an option (it’s a longer needle to be fair)

I just bought some new Renpho scales - how do they actually measure things like water weight or protein or whatever from just standing on it?! I like the app it records your weighs and all the data