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 :)

@thaliablogs am also on week 3. I had some pretty heavy suppression on week two in the couple days after the shot, wearing off by day 5-7. This time I am feeling more normal hunger signals at appropriate times (eg: a few hours after waking up). I have noticed that I need to keep an eye on how much I am eating as in “am I eating enough?”. It does sound like you are not eating enough - do you eat more towards the end of the injection week? The total calories over the whole week is in many ways more important than individual days. But under 1200 calories can cause metabolic problems, hair loss, muscle loss etc.

My hack for when appetite suppression is very strong is mixing a chocolate protein drink half and half with vanilla or raspberry kefir and adding some collagen peptides, and ice cubes. I drink in an insulated bottle with a wide straw. The chocolate drink has 20g protein, the collagen peptides another 20g and the kefir 5g.

Probiotic prunes and apricots and Greek yogurt with pumpkin seeds and defrosted berries is also good.

Overnight oats is great and your salad sounds yummy.

@thaliablogsI am also having good suppression and had to make myself eat something at dinner yesterday otherwise my daily cals would have been 500.

I’m W3D4 and planning on staying on 2.5 for at least the next pen if not longer, depending on the suppression of course.

Thanks! That’s really helpful. Yes I definitely eat more on days 5-7, not a sharp increase, more a gradual increase through the week. All meals are much smaller than before Mounjaro, but much less so over the weekend. Eg we usually have burgers and sweet potato fries on a Saturday night, last 2 weeks I’ve had about 2/3 of the burger.

I was worried it was just too little the last couple of days which is why I started the MFP tracking yesterday. Definitely don’t want to lose my hair as have already had that problem a few years ago and now have a hair ointments which has mostly fixed the problem.

My salad was yummy (one of my superpowers is good salads) but just figured out from putting it into MFP that it wasn’t very many calories so I may have to look for other ways to up the intake! The protein shake is def one to think about but I’ll have to find the right brand as I tried the one my husband uses and I hate the artificial sweetener taste. Let me know any recommendations - I have ordered some vegetable protein powder online so can maybe try making my own blend when it arrives. The overnight oats were a good bet as I put chia seeds, flax seeds in etc but just couldn’t eat too much of it.

Which collagen do people use? I bought one of those liquid ones in individual pouches about a year ago on a whim but struggled with them as they were SOOOO sweet. There must be a better option.

Thanks again! Knew Mumsnet would be the place to go for this.

Hey, Bit late to the party here! I took my first jab 31/7... just gone up to 5mg and so far I haven't felt any food noise or hunger reduction. Been sticking in there and I would say using willpower as I feel the same as I did last year. I am taking it as I have also read it helps with inflammation - which I have body wide.

I lost 28jg last year through diet and exercise and got down to 110kg in Dec 2024. I then got ill, couldn't maintain the gym and its been fatigue and joint issues since and so I put on 12kg :(.

I am still of a weight where I thought I would see similar weight loss as last year when I first started (I was 140kg), but i am down 4.4kg.

I do weight every AM & PM and keep an excel sheet as I am trying to figure out what it is that affects my weight - not just the food but how exercise has any short term fluid retention effects.
I have APS and I've just asked to have my thyroid and B12 checked as well as I am eternally fatigued! I am also time poor. Last year I had a lot more free time, but with the kids hobbies, work and life I am struggling to stick to being as physically active as I think I need to be. Lat year I was walking 4miles 4-6 days a week. Now I can manage 2 days (also any more and I am struggling to stay awake)

Date - Weight - Fat % - Fat weight (KG) - Lean % - Lean Weight (KG)
26/8/25 117.60 59.60 70.09 40.40 47.51
19/8/25 118.30 60.10 71.10 39.90 47.20
12/8/25 117.40 59.30 69.62 40.70 47.78
5/8/25 119.90 60.90 73.02 39.10 46.88
31/7/25 122.00 62.80 76.62 37.20 45.38

I use body composition scales, so I guess 2.13kg increase in lean mass and a loss of 6.53kg of fat to show an overall loss of 4.4kg.

My BMR should be about 1890, with a TDEE of 2270 - though I am eating around 1500.

I am struggling with the slowing down of the gastric functions to be honest. I find having a full stomach presses on the vagus nerve which gives me palpitations and dizziness, and I swear that having that food in there rotting for longer is giving me headaches (and some very vey very nasty gas!).

@thaliablogs I take just a supplement tablet from Home Bargains. Not flashy but its got 0 taste. I take 2 am and pm. For the hair I take nutrition geeks biotin as I noticed last year I started to lose hair very quickly with weight loss - however, part of me wonders if its more a case of are a reduction - less of a fat head = less area for hair,

I am also planning to stay on 2.5 next month, I've planned my meals better this week so managing to get up towards 1200, but last week I really struggled to eat. Someone on here suggested extra healthy fats eg. olive oil, and I've also been having more avocado etc which helped.

So I don't fancy going higher right now, I'd rather see where I am after 6weeks. I've just requested another 2.5 pen, it feels a bit early only half way through second week and I'm aware I could start getting mad hungry next week and regret it, but there just seems to be such a delay everywhere.

Other news, yesterday I tried a mars bar, more out of curiosity than craving - woweeeee it tasted sweet. Can't decide if that's MJ at work on my taste buds, or if that's just what chocolate tastes like when you don't eat multiple bars every day 🙊

@peanutbuttyi couldn’t finish my all time favourite oat flat white last week as the brand of milk tasted unbelievably sweet, same with dates that DH picked up, Zamli instead of medjool.

@thaliablogs I'm using the Nutrition Geeks collagen powder which I'm liking - it comes in big sachets as you take it by the tablespoon. Useful for adding as a thickener to things like soup, yoghurt, casseroles, I also put it on my cereal. It does have a very slight taste but not unpleasant.

I started my second pen this morning, 2.5mg. I decided against going up to 5 as I had good suppression last week and I was worried about side effects.

interestingly today I am incredibly hungry. I had breakfast and lunch and my tummy is rumbling. I’m hungrier than normal and have no sense of having jabbed at all. So perhaps I should have increased the dose….. I’ll monitor it over the next couple of days to see if I get any suppression and perhaps increase to 3.75 next week. I was hoping to stay on 2.5 for longer.

The only thing I did differently this time was inject into my leg. My 4 previous jabs have been in the stomach. I don’t know if that makes a difference.

Gah -ordered my next pen from Asda on the 15th and was originally told 5-6 days

then I got an email saying it was delayed

then I got an email saying it would arrive today

now I’ve got another email advising of further delays and they hope it will be Friday

so frustrating

@jan2310 me too! Dose 5 this morning (golden dose 2.5mg) and not feeling suppression yet. Maybe it's too early?! Hopefully will kick in in time for evening meal this eve.

I watched a YouTube vid about injection sites - I think it said that leg doesn't absorb quite as well / as quickly as stomach, but difference only marginal. This was the vid

5 off for me today. So 20lbs down with the first pen. Going to do my first 5mg jab later this evening and hoping for minimal side effects.

Well done everyone - fab losses, lots of enthusiasm and commitment. Go August 25 starters!!

i did my first 5mg on Monday and have never been so ill. Nauseous and can’t move. Had to stay in bed most of Tuesday and was up most of Monday night. Can only stomach water and now have constant diarrhoea and dizziness. Wish I had stayed on 2.5

I’ve just upped my dose to 5mg after a month on 2.5mg - I can’t say I feel any different. Still get hunger pangs when hungry, still don’t feel need to overeat - but no new side effects. Just constipated…

Wow that's an amazing loss @justjuggling !

I hope you feel better soon @iloveredwine , try to get plenty of rest and fluids.

Those weight losses are amazing! Well done!
Its amazing how moving up to 5mg can be so different for different people, you really just can’t know until you try it! Makes me a tad nervous!

I also got an email from Asda about my 5mg pen being delayed until September. Do you think they will honor the price? The transaction is currently pending from my account.

I’m due to have my second injection tomorrow, I’ve definitely felt more hungry today that I have earlier in the week.

@Greentigerprint I have ordered from Asda too and I did read somewhere that if you ordered at a price that's what it will be charged at. Mine also delayed but I'm lucky I won't need it before current delivery date.

Hope those thats not been feeling well have started to feel better. I also think I'll go on 5mg after first pen (2 doses + golden dose 🤞 left) but then hope to stay on that for rest of the time if I can get away with it!

I'm due to reorder my next pen today, was hoping the 5mg pens would become available again, they're back in stock but at the higher price already.

Not sure what to order, I've had good suppression on 2.5mg and food noise is non existent, so thinking I should stay at 2.5 for another month but worried with another 2 weeks to go on my current pen this dose might become less effective. But worried about cost and side effects going up a dose when the 2.5 dose is working for me.
I could only just afford them at the original pricing, so cost is unfortunately a factor.

Im due to take my 3rd dose of 2.5mg tomorrow. Little side effects other than some reflux. Appetite is less and not snacking but I've not lost anything this week. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, am around 1000 calories a day.

SW:81.2kg
CW:76.6kg
5.6% of body weight loss so far!

I am on my 2nd Pen 1st dose. GP prescribed me a second 2.5 mg pen. I am fine with it. I'd prefer slower weight loss over all but sustainable through sensible portion sizes. This week it occurred to me that my portions were huge, even with healthy food one puts weight on.
My appetite was quite suppressed on the 4th dose, we were on holiday 6 of those days and I sensibly brought some lunches with me, and later was very mindful of my portion sizes.
I am not attracted to food but if is in front of my I would eat more than my hunger signals.
My sugar. evels go higher if my meal has too much simple carbs in it. That is my T2 diabetes symptom. I am hoping as time goes by my Insuline resistance should improve. It takes many months for some to come down and stabilise.

Hi joining if that’s ok, started two weeks ago. Feeling a bit blurghhh hope if it gets better 🙃

It’s really interesting, I also felt suppressed on my 4th dose even though we were on holiday. So I decided to stay on 2.5. I took my W5 jab yesterday, and have felt no suppression at all, or any side effects! It’s as if I didn’t inject at all. I’m going to use this week as a lesson in how to control my appetite without suppression. I took my 2.5mg dose from a 5mg pen as I originally planned to increase, so I may increase the dose slightly next week.

I feel some suppression today. It's much colder and that contributes towards me feeling a bit tired. I want to be able to sustain hunger and eat the right amount and type of food. I don't known if people are on forninstance Ozempic permanently? I think brain just needs to learn not to get alarmed at the sign of hunger. And should I get stresses I need to recognise for what it is a d not to numb myself with food. Thst is how I see it now. Obesity being a metabolic condition I need to learn to live with, and manage it.