August 25 Starters

[saywhaaaaaat]

Hi everybody! I haven't posted on Mumsnet for YEARS, but I thought it might be a good place to get a bit of a community feeling going.

I'm starting Mounjaro on Saturday 3rd August. It's arrived today but I'm doing a cooking class on Friday, and then we are on holiday for a week. It felt like it made sense to get started when we got back.

I've done the entire yo yo dieting thing before. SW, WW, Noom, Intermittent fasting, Keto, Exante, clean eating... the lot.

And I'm just so tired. I have also started to talk to a therapist about food as well. It became very clear to me that my issues with food are around stimulation/boredom etc. So, while I was a bit anti injections, I am thinking that it might be worth giving them a try just to see if it helps block that route, and allow me to find something else to fill that stimulation gap.

I go to the gym twice a week, I do yoga every week, I run and just did a 5k recently (slow but steady). I work at a desk though and not in a position to easily get 10k steps in a day.

My dh is very, very, very, very anti. He is very old school and of the "well just don't eat junk", "just run 10k", "that's cheating". We had a chat about what I was uncovering about food and my feelings the other day and he just seemed to get annoyed with me about it. He is also the one harping on about being healthy and living longer.

So now with that I feel like I need to prove him wrong now, lol.

I'm currently 94kg, 5 foot 6... my lowest since I was in my early 20s was about 72kg. I lost that doing keto, and then maintained going back to regular eating going the gym, but then Covid happened.

Anyway, long post but looking forward to sharing journeys and support :)

What are you all using to track your eating?

I've dabbled in myfitnesspal
but I never feel like I really know what I'm doing with it

it doesn't really account for medical weight loss

First weigh in for me too,

SW: 14st 0lbs
CW: 13st 10lbs

Second jab done!

First weigh in for me too,

SW: 14st 0lbs
CW: 13st 10lbs

Second jab done!

Started Mounjaro 7th August, like lots of others on here have tried various weight loss routes with only limited/temporary success. I was reasonably slim all my life (weighed about 66kg and I'm 5'9") until perimenopause, and now I'm 49 and weigh 100kg. I walk 10,000 steps a day, eat a healthy diet etc. but just cannot get my weight down. If I can get to 90kg and just be overweight as opposed to obese I'd be thrilled so my expectations are quite low. I'm glad to find this community to support and encourage one another. No really bad side effects, bit of an upset tummy yesterday and a slight headache, also waking in the night a lot last two nights. I did have a glass of wine last night but then realised that isn't recommended due to possible impact on kidneys when combined with Mountjaro. Have other people gone teetotal or are you still drinking alcohol?

I drink sparkling water during the day and mix it with 1/5 pure apple juice in the evening. I hate squash.

I read that you should avoid artificial sweetener and so I am really off Coke Zero.

I had one glass of wine since starting and it took me nearly 2 hours to finish it, very different from the pre-MJ days. I just wasn' too bothered.

I’m using MFP purely to count calories and check protein intake etc. I know you can adjust and track weight but I have set my calories and plan to stick there for as long as possible.

No alcohol yet, more because I’m not a regular drinker and often happy to drive. Have a day out planned early September - I should be at the end of W5 by then so trying to hold off.

I don't drink that much either, but the big challenge is our upcoming trip to Portugal where all the food and wine will be on offer, I do feel quite positive atm though as seem to be able to resist things I couldn't before (like licking the knife clean of peanut butter when making the kids breakfast!)

Perhaps a Porto tonic with extra tonic could be your drink of choice… waters it down but still a treat.

I've really not fancied alcohol. I tried a small glass of wine the first week but only drank half the glass and that took a an hour or two.

(This may be a stupid question so bear with me...)
Where is everyone getting their info about what you should and shouldn't eat? There seem to be lots of posters on this and other MJ threads saying avoid this, don't eat that.
I'm getting my meds from the local pharmacist. More £££ than online but it was really important to me to have somewhere local to turn with queries or problems. Anyway, the pharmacist said drink loads, keep fibre intake up, avoid sugar, and gave me a book about healthy eating. No big dos and donts.
Are other people getting their info from any particular websites or is it all based on anecdotal or personal experience?

I have this morning signed up to TeamRH, I did say I was using MFP but I wasn't feeling like it was giving me good enough guidance

RH tailor their plan for medical weight loss. I obviously can't vouch for it now having just signed up, but I am willing to give it a go

I am getting mine from a private nurse prescriber at a weight loss clinic for the same reasons. The advice was high protein, lots of water, ensure enough fibre and avoid fatty or sugary foods as they will either lay in the stomach or cause a stomach upset. She also gave me a calorie target to aim for and said we will review this at the end of the first pen.

So far I am eating enough fibre as still going regularly and managing to hit protein targets with the aid of a clear protein drink each morning and careful meal planning.

For me the first week was a lot of trying out.

In general - fatty and sugary food makes me nauseous. I don't do curries well unfortunately. Spices are a bit of a hit and miss.

I feel better with more protein and veggies and a smaller carb. So grilled meat or salmon with vegetables and a tiny portion of potatoes/pasta/rice. I can do a creme sauce.

Breakfast moved from toast to yoghurt with oats and fruit.

It's more that my portions are really small, I would say around 1/2 of what I would normally have.

Interesting question- the drink water and eat fibre is presumably to avoid constipation due to food moving more slowly through the gut.

There does seem to be a lot of stuff on the chat board about significantly upping protein - is this 'official' advice? I saw a post on Zoe recently saying a lot of this advice is overblown and just benefitting manufacturers of protein supplements. Obviously too much sugar and carbs is not good and the source of much weight gain, but unless you're losing too fast or have exacerbating medical issues you shouldn't need to massively increase protein above what you would include in a normal healthy diet?

I don’t think there any particular food you need to avoid, unless you find it causes issues for you personally. But as with any weightloss making sure you get enough protein is important to avoid muscle loss. Fibre is particularly important with Mounjaro as it slows food leaving the stomach so can slow things down and cause constipation. My meals haven’t particularly changed as I’ve always tried to eat healthy, it was the snacks in between that was my downfall!

I would agree with you re the protein, whilst you need enough if you eat to much you’re body will just store fat.

I took my third jab last night instead of this morning and while it made me tired last week I was up until the wee hours but I still think I'm going to stick to nights.
Weigh in will be morning though and 3 kilos off so 7 kilos total (I'm assuming still water weight - I have ten stone plus to loose and have done all the diets = the first stone does normally shift quick) but can't be unhappy to have it going in the right direction.

I have't drank any plain water - all sugar free squash, herbal tea or flavoured electrolytes etc

I've read some people go off fizzy pop - the fizz isn't bothering me but i think pepsi max is tasting sweeter to me than it used to.

@Hellenicnim - I have basically no sugar/sweet craving. It feels my whole taste buds have had a re-set, I also find spice as in chilis are stronger than before.

While I know that this will change post-MJ, I hope I will learned enough to avoid the chocolate/biscuit trap.

I think the protein makes people feel even more full. I definitely see a change in swapping my carb heavy breakfast for protein but I think it's important to stick to protein in food, not supplements.

My protein increase is definitely part of eating a healthier diet although I am having a clear protein drink each morning. On top of that it’s soon adding up by eating better, yesterday for example;
Clear protein drink.
Fruit, Alpro yogurt, nuts and seeds.
Date with peanut butter x2.
Creamy lentils with chicken breast and tender stem broccoli.
Oat flat white x2.

Can anyone recommend an app for tracking food, calories, protein etc please? I tried to download my fitness pal as I've used that in the past but looks like my phone is too old and the app isn't available to me in the app store anymore!

@SkinnyOatFlatWhiteForMePleasewhich protein drink do you use?

I'm having some serious chocolate cravings this evening despite feeling extremely full from the chicken salad wrap I had for dinner.

It's weird because even though I'm still getting cravings for the sweet stuff, I'm finding it easier to ignore them.

This is probably my top habit I want to work on; the need have something sweet after every meal.

The my protein vimto one - although I got the first from Holland and Barrett and second Superdrug as both cheaper than direct.