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 :)

I’m the same, over the last few weeks I’ve managed to get another couple of pens from different providers but all at the lowest dose. I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to go higher than 7.5mg. I think this will be an interesting time for us August starters, but we will still get there!

Yes I've bought 2 extra pens so now have 2 providers and 3 unused pens! Only one provider is reporting to my GP.

So am going to try for a 5th dose from pen 1 next week, and go on to my new 2.5mg pen after that and see how it goes. The other 2 pens are 5mg. It's tempting to think of short dosing on those to stretch them out further if I'm OK on a lower dose still, but depends how its going and what the new prices end up being.

I’ve just done my fifth dose using a new pen, but I experimented with my golden dose - I just didn’t inject it as I had heard you can force it to the 1 symbol but you then can’t press the plunger down. So I managed to force the pen to go to the 1 and then when I pressed it, the liquid shot out and I could have delivered a full dose easily with a little fluid left over in the syringe. So next time I will be administering the golden dose into my body rather than into the air!

Yes I also did a 5th dose from the same pen last night. I just forced the dial and it went in exactly the same as my other jabs. You don’t need to exert any extra pressure on the plunger. It’s so expensive. No way am I throwing that magic potion in the bin ! Just got the price increases confirmed by medexpress. I have gone to Asda to order another pen £20 cheaper !

@Blowingrasberries oh no, how annoying!!

@LaGioiosanotLeviosa I have a bread maker and do most of my bread for lunch (2/3 white, 1/3 wholemeal flour). There is the odd slice of toast in the morning at weekends.

Pasta and rice - definitely a lot less

Potatoes - proportional wise the same as before.

If you do 8 day weeks, plus a golden dose, then a pen can last 40 days. That’s my plan. And I’ll probably try and stick to 2.5mg throughout.

OTOH, if I moved to a 5mg pen, instead of 4 x 5mg (plus a golden dose), I could maybe calculate 5 x 4mg (plus a golden dose).

And if I ran an 8 day week, then a pen would last me… 48 days, with 6 doses.

Something I might think about.

@Daftmum47 that's an interesting thought, spreading doses out a bit further apart. Obvs it goes over the 30 day thing, but looking online it seems that a lot of people do this.

I did wonder if that is why the higher dose pens went out of stock first, because as well as people using them to prescription, people are also short dosing to get more doses per pen.

So after my post this morning saying I'm not hungry etc, ive been hungry today - 1st time I have felt hunger since I started! I have been good though and not caved into anything I shouldn't or gone over my calories. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! Otherwise ill be trying the 5mg next.
That's a good idea with 7.5 and smaller doses. Something to consider

That is food for thought…

Surely the 30day thing is just the pharma covering their arses in case someone uses it months later and becomes ill?

W2 D1 Took my second dose yesterday evening. First weigh in this morning, loss off 4lb 14oz or 4.8lb.
Pretty pleased with that.

I haven't felt hungry at all today, was still working on my lunch time smoothie at 5pm

SW 14st 13½lb
CW 14st 8.8lb
GW 10st 7lb - 11st 7lb

Wondering if I should convert to recording in kgs, st and lb feels hard to accurately record with the ounces

I hadn't really set a goal, I think I could end up losing more weight this way but would I be able to maintain it, last time I was under 11 stone I was miserable with how little I could eat. Something to think about.

I’m in week 4 on MJ and down 8.3kg. I’m eating well but unfortunately not exercising. Have about 40kg to lose but don’t really want to set a goal weight, just want to lose weight.

Wow Othersideofworld 8.3kg in 4 weeks is amazing.

W3D1 today is weigh-in and I’ve lost 4lb this week, so half a stone in total over the last fortnight. Very happy with that!

SW 14:12
CW 14:05
GW 11:00

Weighed in one day earlier as going to change jab day to a Sunday - start of week 3.

3.6 lbs off this week - 7.2lbs loss in 2 weeks.
Average cals this week 1600
Average daily fibre this week 19.7g
Average daily protein this week 101g

Now having 2-4 prunes every second day as it was too much having every day. Feeling so much better to have constipation cleared up.

I have made the decision to change to Wegovy due to price increase and availability issues with Mounjaro. Using the injection as a tool to stay within calorie deficit (my calorie aim is between 1600 - 1700 daily) I'm still able to eat 3 meals a day and able to finish them. The only difference I see is I don't have the desire to snack.

Again my aim this week is to increase my fibre intake. I’ve found I am eating less fruit than before - don't fancy it as much at all.

Some amazing weight losses on here. I’m on W4 day 7. Coming home later from a few days away and shall weigh tomorrow morning. I’m not sure what to do about my next pen though.

Has anyone moved up to 5 yet and how are the side effects?

I ordered a 5 for my next pen as during week 3 I felt quite hungry and I thought that it was normal to move up after 4 weeks. However this week I’ve not felt hungry at all, the suppression has been greater than any other week, except perhaps for the first 2 days after the first jab. So I panicked a bit as I’m worried about side effects on 5 and ordered another 2.5. My last 2 pens were approved immediately so I held off ordering as I was away and it’s still pending approval. So now if I want to inject tomorrow I only have 5…. I will wait until weds anyway as I am at home weds and Thursday if I have bad side effects. I’m hoping the 2.5 might arrive by then.

Otherwise 4 weeks in to this journey I’m loving that my clothes are starting to feel looser.

Today is end of week 2 for me, I weighed and lost 2kg, I'm happy with that.

SW: 92kg.
CW: 90kg.
GW: 70kg.

Hi All, I took my first 2.5mg dose on Friday evening.
I am surprised at how hungry I am! I have decided to try and combine the meds with a healthy eating plan, so have joined an online coach. They want me to eat 2000 calories a day which really goes against what I'm used to with losing weight, however I have never kept weight off. Im focusing on protein and fibre. any tips or insight gratefully received 😊

That's how I am tackling it, I am getting advice from a nutritionalist and hoping I can change my eating habits for good with no more yoyo dieting.

You mention hunger, I still feel hunger too at meal times which I think is a good thing. I had to remove myself from a FB page due to competitive undereating - some people only taking on board 500 to 800 calories a day.

My focus is protein and fibre too...I aim for over 100g protein a day and want to get to 30g fibre a day - currently hitting just under 20g 😅 my calories at 1600 to 1700 which puts me in a 500 calorie deficit.

Good luck with it!

Wow! How much experience does this person have of GLP-1s and metabolism? I’ve been on MJ since Feb and would struggle to eat that much even though only on 5mg. I’ve overhauled my diet completely after realising I had incredibly high BP and cholesterol so am with you on the healthy eating!

Started August 12 - almost two weeks ago - and I’m down six pounds, and I can absolutely feel the inflammation dropping. I’ve been eating lots of fibre (fruit and veg), hitting 100g protein, lifting heavier weights and taking creatine in an effort to not lose muscle mass (I have A LOT of visceral fat in my abdomen to lose). So I was expecting to lose maybe three pounds max.

The weight does go up and down by 2-3lb depending on how much water I have drink and post exercise. So I check the scale regularly to see the trend.

Normally losing six pounds take three months of ruthless restriction and constant hunger, often being too fatigued to exercise.

Off for a walk! Good luck everyone, some great results in the last week or so!

They seem to have a lot, the guy himself has used mounjaro so that he could research it fully.
I get the logic behind their plan - restricting myself to 1200 calories before has worked but isn't sustainable. His idea is that 2000 calories is still a lot less than my body is used to (I am over 17st) they target you to reach protein, fibre and water goals as well as steps and workouts.
im hopeful that the meds and a sensible eating plan will work brilliantly together and this will be the last time I have to lose weight 😁

Is anyone else struggling with tiredness? I don't have any energy for anything. I could happily stay in bed all day, I'm really struggling!

@Lifeisforliving2025 i come off a couple of Facebook groups for that reason too. People were posting photos of their meals and they looked very sensible, healthy, reasonable portions and everyone was telling them they are massively overeating and should be having a maximum of 800 calories a day. It's simply not healthy or sustainable to have such a low calorie intake.

I'm aiming for 1500 kcal a day and really trying to be aware of what I'm eating. Making sure it's varied and high in protein, lots of vegetables etc. as I want to set up some good long term habits to make permanent changes.

I’ve decided to switch to wegovy because of the price increase, But I’m worried it’s not going to work as well? Has anyone else switched? I’m only on w3 of mounjaro and it’s such a shame I have to move from something that was working, but I guess that’s the case for a lot of people