Please share your wisdom with me - I'm totally new to this

[Rallentanda]

Hi everyone, I've just come into a little money, and I thought I'd spend it on a weight-loss drug (I've always discounted it on financial grounds).

I'm 5'8", 108kg, BMI is 35.7. I don't have any metabolic syndrome except I'm on a low dose of lisinopril, I was recently checked. I take 50mg sertraline daily. My health board won't currently prescribe (I just checked, last update 3 days ago).

What is the process for getting an online prescription? Which online pharmacies should be avoided, and which are best? I notice people are talking about price matching, is that a normal thing to hustle for?

What do you do alongside the injections? I already do weights and walk a fair amount.

Do you have any regrets?

(If I have missed a place where these newbie questions are answered, I'm so sorry: don't hesitate to link!)

The process for an online prescription is to fill out the pharmacy's online consultation form with all your details and medical history. They will then tell you if from that information you qualify, and usually offer you a choice of weight loss treatments including injections. You then choose the one you're interested in, and proceed with the application. Usually at this point you pay. Then they will ask you, if they haven't already, for various things to prove your identity and your weight. So, photos of your figure, some places ask for a short video, others for a live video consultation. Then they will consider the application for approval. Once approved, they will send out your medication. Wegovy and Mounjaro are sent out in cold packs as they have to be kept refrigerated before use. Some pharmacies will let you pick up from their physical branches.

As for which pharmacy, have a look at https://monj.co.uk/discount-mounjaro-price-list/ which is a price comparison site. Most pharmacies do a large new customer discount, and then either no discount or a lower discount for subsequent orders.

Some pharmacies are a subscription model, where you pay every 4 weeks and get the next injection pen sent out at the next dose level unless you tell them otherwise. Some offer additional coaching. It's up to you if you think those services would be helpful to you.

You can always change pharmacy for a better deal if you want to. Or use price matching, if the pharmacy offers that option.

Initially alongside the injections, I increased my daily walking. As I lost weight, I started the Couch to 5k programme, which I've just completed and I continue to run. Strength exercises are a good idea too.

I have zero regrets, other than wishing I'd started sooner. It's been exactly a year today, and I have lost almost 9 stone, from 21st 12lbs (139kg) to 13st (82.8kg).

@SilenceInside Thank you so much - really reassuring. I'm quite nervous.

I am so impressed by your weight loss - well done! You must feel like a different person.

Thanks! I feel like a more real version of me, somehow. I realised that many aspects of my life had shrunk and stopped due to my weight preventing me from participating.

Good luck with your weight loss too. There are monthly threads on here that you can join, if that's of interested, so you can chat to people at the same stage as you. There's a July one that's already started, and I'm sure there will be an August one too.

Ordered...just waiting now.

@SilenceInside I think I have come to that realisation too. Life is pretty good, all round, but everywhere I go I'm conscious of my size.

My husband was asking (and I don't know the answer): does it put you off any particular kinds of foods, or is it just that you eat the same things but far less?

He's quite interested for himself as well.

Hi, it put me off lots, alcohol. Coffee, diet coke, pretty much all fizzy drinks. Bread, pasta, pizza I can eat a few chips if we have a chippy tea, but no fried fish etc. no Chinese, Indian.

I can have coffee now and I've managed some flavoured ciders just one bottle lasts several days. Wine. Just the smell makes me feel sick. I had a glass last June and was ill for days. Other than that I eat anything I fancy just tiny portions. I'm six stone down.

My husband can still eat the same things as before, but much much less. His side effects have been worse than mine and I think it’s due to this. He’s having to work harder on what does coming off it look like though.

I can’t bear the thought of fried food now and I’ve totally gone off things like sausages. Other stuff I just don’t really fancy like crisps and alcohol.

Thanks both. Interesting! Quite happy to find alcohol, crisps and fried foods disgusting. I have cut out the crisps and cut back on fried foods and booze, and neither has made a difference outwardly (inwardly it will have).

It hasn’t put me off foods but I did actively change my diet dramatically when I started MJ. I didn’t want to eat ‘bad but less’ - the whole point of taking MJ for me is for it to support me in having a healthy diet. I could probably eat as I did before but less, though it would be detrimental to my physical health, whereas wasting a balanced diet has been life changing.

I haven't been put off anything particularly but I have no desire to eat crisps, sweet things etc. I dont crave sugar any more. It's amazing! I can just...ignore that kind of food. It makes calorie counting and meeting my macros easy because I can always choose the right food with no stress.

DP and I are both taking Mounjaro. I have found I am mildly repulsed by the idea of eating any sort of fried food and just completely disinterested in crisps, sweets, chocolate or cake. It’s totally changed what I enjoy, instead of my default quick meal being pasta or pizza it’s now chicken salad. I can still have a little bit of things - eg a slice or 2 of pizza or ice cream but I get full really quickly.

DH still manages a wider range of his old normal foods - just significantly smaller amounts. He’s never felt nauseous whereas I have quite a bit but rarely enough to cause me any problem.

My ability to finish a full size main meal is gone, I hit a wall and have to stop - the one time I tried to force myself to at a restaurant I was sick afterwards.

I can drink a little bit of alcohol but the desire is gone so it’s occasional and I often pour away the end of a glass of wine or have a bottle open for a week in the fridge. This is a big change for me.

I’ve been on it since April and only went up to 5mg this month. No need to rush up the doses if it’s working. I did 4 at 2.5 then same at 3.75 before moving to 5. No plans to increase further yet as losing at a steady rate.

great that you’ve ordered- once you’ve been on this board a while you will pick up all the basics - definitely join the July starters thread, it’s a great support chatting to those at the same stage and also browse the months before yours to learn what’s coming and how to re-order, decide if the 5th dose is for you and be prepared etc.

everyone goes on about protein and it absolutely is important but you don’t need special supplements just make sure what you do eat is nutritious and balanced. But if you have times when you struggle to eat protein shakes/yogurts etc are a decent back up and better than going far too low cal. It’s a weird mindset adjustment that you need to work at having enough calories in a day! Some people count, I don’t at all just make sure I get in plenty nutrition and it seems to be working.

Good luck - it’s the best decision I ever made for my health. Over 2 stone off since Easter and feeling so much happier and healthier.

We are eating better than we ever have before. A lot more fresh vegetables, an awful lot less carbs (bread was a big problem for me).

We are enjoying it, it isn't a chore.

No calorie counting, I am eating a lot less by choice and DH is eating a little more than me.

I have been on mounjaro about 7 months and lost 4 stone 3 lbs.

DH isn't on mounjaro but has lost some weight because of the better eating.

I am diabetic and being on mounjaro has got my blood sugar down into the normal range. I expect to be on mounjaro or its successors for life.

Thank you!!

The main thing I've noticed is I do much less well with salty, processed stuff. So I would still enjoy eating crisps but not more than a handful. A bag would be too much. I took a few when at a buffet the other week and enjoyed them, but was done after about 5.

I also have a lot of variation depending on how many days since injection. So I feel very suppressed the first couple of days, and sometimes it'll feel like a lot to even get a chicken salad down me. Whereas today is day 6, and I had an ice cream yesterday without feeling at all overfaced.

It put me right off bread weirdly. I didn’t even notice until my DC complained there was never any bread in the house anymore! I’d just stopped buying it.

I started in Jan and haven’t had alcohol since. Wasn’t a bit drinker anyway but it has zero appeal. I have always loved cake but again have had barely any.

I actually made a conscious effort not to eat too clean. For my first couple of months I had no junk at all and started to get a bit hung up on it (I have a tendency to slightly disordered though patterns on this stuff around perfection). So I made myself have an odd bit of chocolate or ice cream because life isn’t perfect. I do enjoy it and it’s made no difference to my losses. But for context it took me 3 weeks to eat a bar of green and blacks. We are literally talking about the 2 squares of chocolate annoying celebs in interviews used to eat and that’s plenty. I can’t eat a whole cornetto as it gets too sweet.

Some really encouraging things to look forward to! thanks.