Mounjaro 10st or more to lose - Thread 6

[Doggymummar]

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11 weeks! I have 2 standard doses from the current pen, 5th dose and then another 7.5mg pen in the fridge.

I'd go up.
It's worth trying it, anyway.

Sometimes, I jab a couple of days early, too.

I could add a bit extra with a few more clicks I suppose, couldn’t I?!

I’m wondering about doing this with my 7.5, and titrating up very slowly. I have 3 weeks on this pen, and one more 7.5 then a 10. I could happily eat “normally” now, I’m not really getting much suppression and I’m having to use willpower more and more (which I don’t have in abundance!). I’ve also bought some needles in order to extract the final bit of MJ, but nervous about doing so but needs must with the price rises.

Ooooh, has anyone else seen this? Looks promising 🤞🏼https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/news/business/revealed-lilly-creates-mounjaro-rebate-scheme-for-pharmacies-EEVRLVDVR5D6TGCVDH2AVNCJ7A/

@OvertiredandConfused what exercise are you doing? I started off doing a daily 30-mimute walk and 2 x weekly weight sessions at the gym. When my weight loss started to stall I upped the walks to twice daily and that has really helped.

If you haven't already I'd also suggest doing a new TDEE calorie calculation based on your current weight.

Thank you @Janie934

I should have said, I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user. I’m more active than I used to be, but it’s all very relative and not enough to count as exercise.

I have recalculated my TDEE and it suggests a drop of 100 calories per day - still more than I consume most days.

My plan is to try a couple of weeks zigzag dieting. I guess that’s more similar to how I was eating when I was on holiday. Beyond that, I’m going to stick with it and trust the process.

Morning all. I am broken 😭

The burps turned into terrible diarrhoea yesterday evening. I was up alllll night and saw every hour. Still going now. When will it end? 😞

Clearly my body doesn’t like the 5mg. Should have carried on with 3.75, I only did it for a week. I’ll be going back down to 2.5 on Sunday!

MISERABLE.

Oh no @PearlsPearl - that sounds awful! I hope it all calms down for you.

Morning all! I just weighed for the first time in a while, and am feeling a bit down - not about the gain (these things happen), but about what feels like a decline in efficacy. I was on 2.5mg for the first 10 jabs and it all felt so easy, I literally had no interest in over-eating, it was like something had simply switched off in my head. Perhaps naively I thought it would stay like that, because I couldn't imagine ever wanting to binge again. A couple of holidays didn't help, and since then I've struggled to get back into my previous patterns. I have upped to 7.5mg, using extra clicks on a 5mg pen (luckily I had a spare), but have done that for 2 weeks now and still been struggling. It's like some evil imp snuck into my brain and turned that switch back on! I'm not back at pre-MJ levels of over-eating, but I'd be lying if I said I was finding this anything other than a struggle now. A struggle that feels very familiar. I feel a bit panicky about it, because like most of you, that 'out of control' sensation about food has left me mentally scarred.

I keep telling myself I have to stick with this - I can't fail yet again, for my own sake or my family's sake, and they have been so supportive! Plus I have LOADS of new dresses I need to fit into!

I know this is a long game, especially at my weight, and there are going to be ups and downs. I will try to be positive - I just jabbed, and weighed in, and this is a whole new week! Hope everyone is well - so helpful to read everyone else's experiences, triumphs and challenges. I've lost track of what week this is, but my first jab was March 21. I don't want to do this, but here goes...it's still a great loss overall, just a bit disappointing that I was 18 stone last time I did it and looking forward to hitting the 17s, and now I'm not. But it's not a disaster, it's fixable. I just need to figure out how, and find some way to give my will power a boost!

SW: 307lbs
CW: 256lbs

Oh no, poor you. Good job you came home. Feel better soon.

@eibbed999 sorry to hear you are having a tough time. It's miserable when our brains override our more rational decisions. Keep on keeping on and you will get there. Promise.

It’s probably a combination of going up a dose and bad constipation. I suffered awful diarrhoea going from 5 to 7.5, so I dropped back and did 5, then 6.25 for a few weeks before going up to 7.5. But you need to sort out your constipation. Are you getting tummy ache? There is a situation where your stool becomes so hard you get overflow diarrhoea around the impaction, which is why I’m asking about tummy ache. Have you tried lactulose? I’m lactose intolerant and it gives me diarrhoea, so the pharmacist suggested an alternative. But if I get bunged up lactulose works a treat on me! Speak to your pharmacist and get advice on treating the constipation and burps. .

I’m on 7.5 and feeling the same as you. We need to remember this is a slow process and part of that is unlearning the behaviour patterns that caused us to gain weight. I think less suppression could be a good thing long term, as we have to use willpower eventually when we come off MJ or go on a maintenance dose. Remember the tortoise did win the race!

Totally agree @Kay2000 - logically I know all of that is 100% correct, and I'm happy being a tortoise! I think with all the worry about the price rises etc as well it all feels a bit more anxiety-inducing than normal. And yes, willpower does need to come into it - I think in those earlier stages I just didn't need it at all, so this is a change I need to adapt to.

Oh no @PearlsPearl sending hugs, I hope it passes quickly x

@eibbed999 also sending hugs, if it’s any consolation I remember feeling similar when I upped to 7.5mg, but looking back you need to remember when you moved from 2.5 to 5 mg, your dose was doubled so it felt amazing and fills you with the confidence that this is a battle that can be won, then with the jump to 7.5mg you expect that same feeling, but you’re not doubling the dose again so that expectation is then crushed and makes you feel despondent about the whole thing. It passed for me and I got back on track. Im not recommending this, but I jabbed every 6 days when on 7.5 mg and it really helped me. You’ll push through this 🌸

@PearlsPearl so sorry you're having a miserable time. I've had similar twice - both times when I'd upped a dose and for the 24 hours when the medication levels were highest in my body. Give it a couple of weeks if you can, unless it lasts ages or gets much worse!

@MummyInTheNecropolis massive congrats on the 5k!!!! I'd love to run non-stop for 30 mins. Could I ask what is your weight now? I want to give this a go. DH Was saying to me to try the C25k and try downhill areas just to get used to it.

@OvertiredandConfused I understand you completely when you say the weightloss is slow. With so many around us losing 1 stone in two weeks, and weighing less (not that that's healthy!) it's normal to question why we aren't doing the same.

Something that's really worked for me is intermittent fasting. I only eat between 2-6pm and sometimes OMAD. I've only had losses since doing this. And don't worry about the lack of cals, there are studies showing IF to speed up metabolism - I didn't believe it either! Can start slow and push the eating window back by an hour every few days until you get to a time you're comfortable with.

I understand you're limited with exercise, but is there anything you can do to build strength in your upper body? Perhaps some light arm weights? I've started bicep curls whilst watching TV on the couch.

Thank you@mamabeeboo.

I'd love to try IF but some of my medication means I can't eat between 1630 and 1930 and my job means it's hard to have a main meal before 1630 which is an additional complication.

While I was on holiday, there was quite a fluctuation in my calories intake day to day and also a variation in when I had my main meal. I'm going to be more purposeful in trying to replicate that for a while and see how I get on.

And I do know that 1lb a weeks isn't a bad loss, I just hoped that, with 5st to go and only on 1200 calories a day, I'd be able to manage 2lbs some weeks for a bit longer.

@Kay2000 @eibbed999

Some suggestions for binging if you feel like the jab is doing nothing and the willpower is a struggle. Sorry in advance for the long post but if I can help or if this is helpful for anyone then I've done my bit 🙂

Keep the junk out of the house, or out of reach (mine is in a high cupboard that only DH can reach so I have to ask permission to eat it 😂) or in small packs rather than the larger sharer family-sized packs.

Write a list of things you could be doing instead of eating the crap - chat gpt can help with this. Are there triggers or times of day which are a bigger struggle? For me, it was lunch and evening times - now I book in loads of work meetings specifically between 12-2pm and evenings I do my nails, call a friend, do some tidying, take a shower and literally wait for the binge moment to pass. It's the routine to get out of the habits which are diffcult to break, mj or not.

It reminds me a bit of when you break up with a boyfriend, or finish a long running TV show, you suddenly have time in your diary that would have been filled. So it's about filling it again with something else. I know someone who has to make time to eat because she constantly busys herself and can go naturally 6-8 hours without even thinking of eating.

Secondly, with me, I've noticed that binging promotes binging. It's the sugar causing insulin spikes. Once insulin plummets, I'm looking for chocolate/muffin/cake. Cutting sugar completely (reducing over a week or two to nothing) has really benefitted me because my insulin is balanced and I don't feel the need to eat sweet things, let alone binge. The jab has supported this with the way it works with insulin. I previously listened to people offering 'low fat versions' or sweeteners or 'everything in moderation'. And realistically, the body can't distinguish fake sugar from the real. So insulin spikes regardless, then I wondered why I lost control. And you know what - cutting the sugar completely, 3 months later, I can now eat sugar, and recently had a slice of cake for my son's birthday and it was SO SWEET that I didn't like it and left half on the plate - this has never happened in history. 😅The science of insulin spikes is fascinating, I'd encourage you to check it out.

Finally, don't forget how far you have come! The weightloss will take as long as it takes and you owe it to yourself to carry on and fight for your health, every single damn day.* *

I'm not saying it's easy, I'm saying it's worth it.

Brilliant post @mamabeeboo completely agree with you. I did a course on food addiction & your points were the main takeaways. I have to do abstinence, otherwise I go completely off the rails. I had a taste of someone's coke zero last week, tasted incredibly sweet to me & was awful!

Thanks @mamabeeboo, I weighed over 19 stone when I started C25K and am now 15 stone 10.

Great post @mamabeeboo

I have some good news to share! I was offered a new job today, which I have accepted. I’ve been looking for a while and it’s rough out there.

While my weight has nothing to do with my competence, it does affect my confidence and I’m sure I performed better in the interviews because of my loss. I am still obese and will be for a while but I wasn’t worried about fitting in chairs or climbing stairs which was such a relief.

We have been surviving but struggling on DH’s salary so this will really help us.

@PearlsPearl I had similar happen when I tried to move up from 2.5 to 5. Miserable! What worked for me is what people above have said: the diarrhea is related to the constipation, so goal is to get everything moving again. I did peptobismol mostly, some windsettlers, but also tried magnesium citrate before bedtime, and tons of water and prunes.

Once things were moving again I got relentless about fibre and water to keep things moving, which prevents the hideous burps and gas. Since I'm already tracking cals and macros on an app, it was easy enough to watch fibre too. I find that having some combo of raspberries, kiwis, prunes, oatmeal, ryvita, beetroot (and other veg), and wholegrain rice across my meals helped boost my fibre over 25 grams a day, and I also take two psyllium husk capsules in the morning. And relentless about at least 2, pref 3, litres of liquids a day. I don't like being so regimented about fibre and water or logging food on the app, but it's better than the consequences of not doing so.

I do still get mild burps if I've eaten badly or when I go up a dose, but they fade pretty quickly with windsettlers and aren't like the really bad ones. Instead of jumping up doses, I've been going up .5 or .75 a week to make it gradual, by counting clicks. It took me a month to get back up to 5mg, but this time no problems at all.