March Starters 2025 Thread 7, where we are now all having advice from Janice, Janice can do one!

[TheSpoonyNavyReader]

Welcome to thread 7.

Thank you for sticking around and making a little community of WL. This group makes me so happy that we are non judgmental and support each other.

@MJ122025, I think I would be like you if I went cold turkey seeing the scales go up, however I think logically what comes back quickly is the water weight and inflammation, when I've gone a bit longer between jabs I know that the increase on the scales is this. It is one reason to keep on dosing though and I think I would like to, but the lower dose prices put me off, if I could get a 10 pen and eke it out that's what I'd do ideally but that's not how it works unfortunately. I'll maybe get 5 pens and micro dose from that I think,as far as I can see many places have the 5 pen at the same price as 2. 5 so you get twice as much for your money. I don't really want to lose much more but I don't want to put it back on and I'd like to keep the added benefits such as keeping inflammation at bay. It's also been a game changer for keeping alcohol as a no no, it repulses me, can't even stand the smell of it, and has been like that from day one of the first dose. I panicked and bought a five when the shit show was going on and they're still processing it, but at least have guaranteed the price, so I'll get a five sometime soon for 124,which should do me on top of my 10s stashed. Then 🤷

@FairfaxandflavorI cant go on paying indefinitely but hoping I'll be ok for a while. Mindset is a funny thing.

@Bipaloss I am on Wegovy from the start 😊 It doesn’t seem to dissimilar to people’s experience on MJ from what I gather from this thread, although I am loosing slower than some (on the other hand, I had about 2st to lose, so that’s not on the high side either).

Checking in - getting closer now

sw 82.6
tw 54
cw 58.1

getting close to target now so it’s coming off much more slowly. Trying to keep up the motivation with lots and lots of exercise. Got a 10k pb at the weekend which was nice as feel like I have really worked at this for the last six months.

haven’t fully formed the thought - so forgive the self pity … I did think I would be happier thinner. I’ve enjoyed the compliments (ha!) and shopping. But still pretty flat much of the time.

Weigh and jab day for me. Weighed in at 87.3kg today so a loss of 2.6lb very pleased about it.
sw 114.4kg
cw 87.3kg only 3.5lb away from a 4 n half stone loss.
@Bipaloss i rotate jab site, from stomach to thighs, only ever jabbed on arm once but that’s because it was hard work to do. I don’t ever feel suppression. I just feel fuller for longer and get hungry at meal times.

Well done to your losses I’m amazed!

yes I don’t have usually full suppression but this hunger was on another level, don’t think I have woken up starving in the middle of the night before LOL (to the point I boiled eggs at 3am and then went back to bed 😂) strangely enough after a larger then normal lunch yesterday where I also added some carbs it disappeared , so may be it was my body telling me I was eating too less or too less carbs. I’m not sure but hope it dosnt return as it very hard mentally (also scares me coming off completely) . Oddly enough as the hunger disappeared I lost 1lb overnight hopefully that continues until my official weigh in day on Sunday and that the next jab on Friday has more normal effect

Yeah, maybe your body needed some carbs, do you count macros? I use nutracheck to count calories and make sure I’ve eaten my macros. I think I will micro dose long term once I reach goal.

@MJ122025 From reading a lot online, it does seem like cold turkey is a less effective maintenance option than titrating down before stopping. I think it helps your brain get gradually used to feeling more hunger over time, without a sudden return, which probably does make people overeat a bit.

@RuthEvershedforPM The last few pounds came off soooooo slowly for me, it was really frustrating. But they did come off! Re feeling flat, I think that's an SE from the MJ, I felt really flat and apathetic, but that feeling is going now.

@northernlight20 You sound like me - no suppression, just fuller for longer, and still hungry at meal times.

@Bipaloss I feel ravenous if I either don't eat enough carbs alongside a high protein meal, as well as if I eat too many carbs. Go figure.

Coming up to 3 months after hitting goal weight. The scales bounce up and down a bit more than they used to, but overall I'm holding steady, weekly average weight hasn't changed much. So I'm a few pounds below goal today, and haven't gone up past goal at all, that seems to be my "cap" now. I think that's probably the way to try and hold steady for me.

I think I gave some beauty product recommendations on one of the earlier threads. I'll withdraw one of them - Trinny's elevator cream is OK, but not really worth the money, I ran out and switched to slathering my neck with Nivea Blue Tub cream instead. Which is about 1/10th of the price and seems to be just as effective. So save your pennies, ladies!

However, I still think the Elizabeth Arden capsules are worth every penny - I don't use a whole capsule every time, I use a half dose morning and evening, and OMG my skin really does look good.

I just need the same effect on my stomach and armpits. Which are slowly catching up but still look a bit doughy!

I’m not obese anymore!!! Just overweight 🤣 I’ve hit a bit of a plateau over the summer but lest two week have started losing again. I’m now half-way there and already so pleased with my progress. I’ve been toying with increasing the dose but I think I will stick to 5mg. It will make my current stock last longer, before they take the golden dose away from us..🤬

I can't wait to be overweight!

I caved and ordered just one more pen 😂
Reading around maintaining and all of your inputs I really think I need to titrate down and not just go cold turkey as I'm worried I'll put it back on again - as it gets to day before jab now I'm starting to crave carbs and sugar so I want to focus on dealing with that food noise coming in and resisting, resisting, resisting!
I've got 10lb to get to my initial goal (and another 8 to get to my 'OMG I'll never be that weight' goal) I've just started one pen, I've got another in the fridge and now one more on the way so hopefully that'll do it!)
pre-MJ SW 210 (15st)
MJ SW 196 (14st)
CW 157 (11st 3lb)
GW1 147 (10st 7lb)
dream GW 139 (9st 13lb)

Hello all - I haven't posted on this thread in ages.

I'm in Ireland, so I started on Ozempic last year as Mounjaro couldn't be prescribed until March of this year. I could only go up to the 1mg of Ozempic as Wegovy wasn't even available. Anyway, so I lost 20lbs, or 10% of my body weight last year over 12 weeks. The weight loss then plateaued. The hunger came back, but not as bad as it was before injections, and I ate treats but again not in the same volume as I did before the injections. So I have some idea what maintenance will feel like if I stay on a lower dose of medication.

I started Mounjaro in March of this year, and have lost another 30lbs, for an overall loss of 25% of my body weight. I'm 5'7" and 155lbs now. I'm in a normal BMI, just, but I'd love to lose another 15lbs to put me right in the middle of the normal BMI zone. I've been counting clicks on the 15mg pen, and taking 9mg over the past six weeks, but weight loss is at a standstill for the past 3 weeks. So, despite the price rises (I get my medication from the North of Ireland) I'm going to up my dose to 10.5mg for the next couple of weeks and see if that shifts things.

Ideally, once I get to goal weight, I want to titrate downwards to a maintenance dose. What I'm worried about is that my maintenance dose would not be much lower than the dose I'm on now. Getting a 15mg pen every six weeks would be quite the financial commitment. Prices are more expensive in Northern Ireland than they are in the rest of the UK, and I have to pay £15 on top for delivery. Cheapest I've found is McKeagney's in Newry, but it'll be £335 per pen, or £55 per week. That's..... a lot. We'll see how it goes when I get there.

I'm a bit skeptical of posts that say "Well I think I'll be fine when I come off it. I've really changed my eating habits and I think I can maintain those habits once I come off the jabs". I have also changed my eating habits - I eat hardly any junk because the medication has stopped me from being interested in it. I eat much smaller portions because I'm so full I can't eat anymore, and regularly put half my dinner portion in the compost. But I know when I reached maintenance on Ozempic last year that the interest in junk comes back, and you naturally eat larger portions because you don't get the fullness signal to stop. Maybe it's different for everyone, but I know that - for me - this is likely to be a lifelong medication.

A little happy realisation I just thought I’d share…

I’ve lost almost 3 stone, so was trying to visualise what that actually looks like. Worked out that’s approx 20 kilos, which is equivalent to a Ryanair checked suitcase, which is bloody heavy!!

I’m imagining lugging that around with me 24/7. I can visualise the size and shape of my big case packed full, and I’m well chuffed! 😊✈️

So I can say categorically that despite revamping my already not that bad eating habits it is very easy to go back. It doesn’t take long to loose a habit. I am trying to reorientate myself but have gained three pounds over the summer.

@AgnethaF I had a similar thing with a 15kg bag of sand for my kids sandpit with is the amount of weight I've lost but I could barely lift it!

Weigh day for me today and I can say goodbye 14, 13, 12 and hello to 11 stone bracket! Weighed in at 11-13 today which is so exciting as my first goal is to be 11-7 which is my pre COVID weight as I ballooned in COVID so it seems very close now which is really exciting!

My weight loss has definitely slowed but it's also been the summer so that's probably why. I'm definitely going up to 7.5 when I jab either tomorrow or over the weekend. I've been on 6.25 for 5 weeks after I tried 7.5 once and it was too strong but I'm definitely ready to try again.

Oooh we are exact same weight this week. 11.13! My start weight was 14.11, so the 3 stone mark is tantalisingly close.

Ive not been in the 11s for about 20 years! In fact, I had stopped weighing myself years ago.

I thought I was destined to be a fatty for the rest of my life. I love my food, but my portion control had gotten out of control.

im still a size 16 but my face has totally changed.

Well done @Fatmumslim01, we’re getting there!….

Morning
after plateau and wondering if this was me, down another 2lb with a bit of short dosing to every 5 days at 2.5mg for the last 3 jabs.
SW 13st 3lb
CW 10st 1lb
GW 9st 6lb (revised back up a bit after stall)

@lastapache been thinking a lot about what you said about maintenance.

For me it has felt like a brain change and the impact of GLP1 hormone change has been global around not wanting to eat crap, in shop yesterday and was almost disgusted at the bank of crappy chocolate.

yes I have learned a lot more about nutrition and set points and UPF and protein, and I’ve become very comfortable with lifting weights but it will also be different when I then don’t have the help of the hormone changes to support all the behavioural change. I am building habits now, it feels fairly easy now, want to get them ingrained before going it alone.

and if that doesn’t seem enough, maybe I’ll maintain a v low dose indefinitely.

I put a pair of my warmer jogging bottoms on this morning. Don’t think I’ve worn them since April. As I put them on I noticed they were looser. Hardly a surprise given I’m nearing 4 stone lost. But then I took 3 steps out of my bedroom and they literally fell down round my ankles!

a very silly but highly pleasing NSV. (Except they were my favourite cosy home trousers so it’s a bit annoying)

I hear you @soupforbrains - nothing fits me anymore and where I've not been wearing hoodies etc they look ridiculous. This weight loss malarkey is bankrupting me 😆

Luckily vinted had some stuff so I've just parked my old stuff to sell and got some others.

Vinted is amazing. As time goes on and you plateau/maintain at your desired weight, you can slowly build up a new wardrobe. But Vinted is brilliant for the in between stages.

Haha lovely NSV that’s what happened to me as well and went out and bout new pair of jeans and leggings 2-3 sizes down at 3.5 stone loss

tops are so oversize now that I have to watch my cleavage etc but still get away with it but not much longer

i find it really hard buying new clothes, as the style I was wearing at bigger dosnt suit a smaller frame , don’t see myself as slim as I am yet and back of mind still worried about weight gain and how much I have wasted on clothes with previous losses

Brilliant reading about all your weigh ins and NSVs. Even the annoying ones where your favourite clothes don't fit anymore! I've consigned a pair of very lovely silk joggers to the charity shop bin - I think I must have worn them a lot as I was gaining, because the waistband is too stretched for them to fit, which is a shame. But am enjoying getting reacquainted with my old wardrobe - although DD is here this weekend and is going to make me cull anything that isn't current enough anymore. And then shop with me tomorrow for more up to date replacements.

And I have finished my pen today, so last of my jabs for now. I have one more in the fridge which I'll keep just in case I do need to restart, although Juniper, even if it is a really expensive option, do seem super relaxed about restarting if you need to even when you haven't gained that much, so I'm less worried about not being able to restart because my BMI is below 21. Which if you're from a South Asian background like me, is only just in the middle of the healthy weight range.

But my last few jabs have been 2.5mg every other week, and I really haven't had any issues maintaining. Food noise is back and the desire to fridge pick in the evenings is as well. I'm dealing with the former by meal planning and recipe browsing - I know it sounds odd, but it really does work for me, it seems to quell it, which sounds counterintuitive.

The fridge picking thing is more simple - don't have much in the fridge or cupboards that's too snacky (which is easier now the teenagers aren't in residence except for weekends) And always have a bowl of chopped cucumber and carrots sprinkled with a little salt and lemon in the fridge - my craving is salty food rather than sweet, so that hits the spot when I do want something.

What I do need to do is focus more on muscle building and toning up - I've been running and walking a lot, so my legs look great. The rest of me needs some attention now - it was super hard over the summer to find time to exercise, but I've rebooked my PT for a weekly session from next week, resigned up to the next Pilates course, and actually blocked time in my diary to fit more weights sessions in. My arms used to be super toned, and they are far from that now. So that's the next focus area.

Morning all, ive fallen off the wagon this week, been away with work and eaten out. I made good choices given the restaurants we were in but gained 2 pounds. I feel I need to up my dose to 10mg as the supression is not as effective. 3 stone 7 loss since March. im in the overweight category, just, but would like to lose another 3 stone. Im thinking of counting clicks and extracting 10mg out of a 7.5mg pen? how can I do that?

@popdepop I think that's 80 clicks - 60 gives you 7.5mg, so another 20 gives you 2.5mg more.