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.

Thanks, ive lost nothing for maybe a month now 😥 time to increase. ill get 10mg and take the hit

Obviously @popdepop I'm not a clinician, just saying my own personal experience so of course check with your pharmacy for advice ☀️

thank you for sharing , Wow you look amazing , you must be so proud of yourself 4 months into maintainance (if you don’t please give yourself some grace)

you may think you have a belly still but if I have a flat tummy like that i would feel like a million £££ and you are such an inspiration !

Hello all, ive been awol. Im really struggling. I had a bit if a break overvsummer abd just haven't got back to it. Im on 7.5mg and have used a full 5 doses and have gained a few lbs. I have a 10mg pen left. I was hoping to eke it out but I think maybe I need to just go for 10mg and hope for the best. Financially, I had decided that this was the last pen but I SO don't want to regain and im not at goal yet.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Similar boat here , was on 12.5 mg for 12 weeks and then went up 14mg straight down to 7mg on Monday and around 2.5 mg next week . 2st from goal (4.5 stone down) but due to personal financial circumstances have decided to take a break until spring

its tough going semi cold turkey and the hunger noise is deffo back already although meal sizes still reduced, but I find myself eating more often this week (weight maintained so far) and food suddenly taste so much better (almost like I have a tastebud again)

there is a few of us who stopped recently or just about to , either by going down doses or cold turkey , we all here to support each other for probably a more difficult part of the journey

@Illbefinejustbloodyfine ,if this 10 pen is your last and you can't find the cash for any more then you do have a bit of a dilemma. I have been at my original goal for a while and have used the higher dose pens I have to titrate and it's been hard, but I never went above 5 in the first place,I've still managed to lose a bit most weeks. 7I think the evidence and reading anecdotally suggests cold turkey without titrating is dreadful, and most people find hunger back x100, so you have to decide, go up to 10 and potentially lose a few pounds more,in five weeks, then cold turkey, or use the 10 to give smaller doses to come off more comfortably, or find the money from somewhere to keep buying it, I get it, it's hard, I probably could have afforded to stay on it at the old prices but not now.

@TheBossOfMe wow, love these bikini shots, I see a fit and healthy body there, well done 👏

Hearing people’s updates about getting to target, changing doses, coming off, it’s a gear shift, maintaining gains and making it stick. I’m with the intermittent fasting gang, I know it’s held me at a weight successfully before and it deals with my danger zone of snacking in the evening. And autophagy health benefits. So that’s my plan, after slowly, slowly reducing dose. Still got half a stone to lose first.

Got my 5 n half stone rosette from nutracheck today! 1st 10lbs left to go. I really can’t believe it.

I am maintaining my Target weight of 160lbs.

I am jabbing 2.5mg every two weeks at the moment, and still weighing every day.

Not noticeably hungrier, but don’t get the uncomfortably full feeling I used to get occasionally.
i had guests round earlier this week and bought some chocolate biscuits to offer them.
i ate a couple, which I wouldn’t have a few months ago. I gave my daughter the rest of the pack, so I didn’t slip back into bad habits.

Morning all. Back from our holiday - and having said that I usually don't gain absolutely loads on a sunshine break, hmmm 😂

Close to 4lb on in as many days - which is probably to be expected because I really wasn't that mindful at all, and lots of things went out of the window. Especially not being able to weigh every day - I really might take my scales away next time I go on holiday!

It was a very good AI with access to lots of nice restaurants. DD is an eating machine (oh to be 17 again), so intermittent fasting went by the wayside, I ate breakfast every day, and even though it was mostly eggs and fruit, it goes to show how important IF is for me for not gaining. I simply can't do 3 meals a day even with a lot of swimming and walking. It's not just the calories, it's the eating window as well. We ate fairly decent lunches, but cold meats and cheese add a lot of calories.

The bread was amazing, fresh out of the oven at every meal, and I may have indulged in that, so that's another thing that I usually avoid, and certainly wouldn't have it 3 times a day. And dinners were three courses. Even though I watched portion size, the reality is that's a lot of calories, and consumed much later than I would normally eat. Plus all the wine, and it really
was all the wine!

However, it was the bomb of a holiday, we really needed the break and the time together, and I don't regret the gain one bit. I put a couple of pounds in the bank before I went, and was below goal, so the gain has taken me to only just above goal, about 0.8lb. I can shift that easily next week (we've got a couple of meals out this weekend so might be a tad more gained) - and then slowly get back down to a few more pounds in the bank before we get to December and the inevitable Christmas gain.

A key thing for me is to not go "fuck it, I'm destined not to keep this weight off" - I wasn't mindful, I didn't stick with my "protocols", so of course I was going to gain, I mustn't beat myself up about it because that won't be helpful. But we had such a good time and those meals were hugely bonding. So it's about refocussing now and getting my head back in the right space.

Onwards and downwards again!

Goal!
Can't believe it but after 8 months I've got to my initial goal. I might go for another half stone to give myself a bit of wriggle room but as if now I've lost a total of 60lb gone from a size 18-20 to a 12-14 (14 on top - boobs!); from getting out of breath going upstairs to easily running (jogging really)a couple of miles; blood pressure down from 140/85 to 110/60 and cholesterol from 5.6 to 3.4
I feel much more like me which is fabulous.
To be honest I don't feel like I look different if that makes sense but I feel healthier. Oddly no-one seemed to notice and I was in the same clothes until then last 10lbs when losses have really slowed (around a lb a week and a few stalls) and all of a sudden it's like my body has rearranged itself and I've dropped 2 dress sizes.
Can't get my head (and eyes) around holding a pair of size 12 jeans and knowing they'll fit me 🤣

So many people getting to goal on this thread it's great to see and spurs people like me on who still have alot to lose!

Hope the thread can keep going!

I'm starting to worry about the price of MJ, I'm probably going up to 12.5 next month so realistically it's around £250 which is £50 a week which is alot of money. I'm selling stuff on vinted to help pay for it but I also need to buy new clothes as I'm selling my old ones 😂 I feel guilty spending so much money on myself each month although I know it's a necessity and life changing and all that stuff its just still a huge amount of cold hard cash!

I'm trying to do overtime aswell so bonus money towards mj but sometimes the work is available sometimes it isn't so nothing I can do about that and it's an expensive time of year coming up anyway. I can't drop down the doses as 5 and 7.5 just weren't working anymore, I can see myself going all the way to 15 fairly soon. I don't want to switch to wegovy as all I hear is negative things (possibly an echo chamber) and you only get 4 doses anyway so I don't think you save that much amd also on the higher mj doses like I'm on theres not really a wegovy equivalent until 7.2 comes out ans it looks like it will be a similar price to mj anyway.

If anyone has any ideas for affordability let me know! I can't really use a lower dose from a higher syringe as terrified of being put back to 2.5 if its too long a gap. I already switch providers most months and use monj. Also looked at cashback sites but it's cheaper to use monj

Im sitting here contemplating the golden dose. I have the needles 8mm, but im really scared and dont think I can do it 😥iI would be withdrawing from a 7.5mg pen. The needle shows 10, 20, 30 etc 'units' up to 1ml. No idea what im doing. Can anyone help?

If you want a 7.5mg dose from a 7.5mg pen then you need 0.6ml. So you’d fill the syringe to 60.

thank you x

all done. Really not keen on it. I didn't feel a thing but needle does go in deeper. I hope its ok. Makes me feel a bit panicky!

if thats all it takes, I could have saved a fortune since March...

@popdepop I’ve saved loads using both the golden dose and by using smaller doses from higher strength pens. You just have to be meticulous about checking that the liquid isn’t cloudy or discoloured when you take it out of the fridge when you’re past 30 days use and about disinfecting properly with wipes.

Well done @popdepop ,im not keen either, but I'm less keen on throwing £££in the bin,

I also have done golden doses and used smaller doses from higher dose pens for months. It has DEFINITELY been saving me money, plus I have a small ‘stockpile’ of pens lined up now so I will be able to titrate myself down nicely whenever I do eventually decide to stop buying I’ll have about 3 months ir more still to use as needed.

usually a rapid gain is water, just like a fast loss. With increased meals carbs and travel this is the like scenario. Just get back into your “non holiday” routine with loads of water and anti inflammatory ingredients like ginger and turmeric (fresh is the best).

I’ve said it before and will say it again we all deserve a break and it’s how you handle it when you go back to normal life . Just go back on track and the limited gain will go down again in the next few weeks (may not be as fast as when on MJ so don’t loose the will)

this will be a lesson and you will learn the recipe for future holidays ☺️

i just realised that I came on earlier to post my weigh in but then got distracted by the chat and so posted other stuff and then wandered off. 🤦‍♀️

anyway.
1lb gain for me this week
its been my PMS week so this is a small gain and totally normal for me. But I’m still miffed because all week (literally every day) I’ve been maintaining and so was really aiming to at least maintain. And then this morning the scales betrayed me! So rude.

anyway
SW: 20st
CW: 15st9
GW: 11st7

Good morning

weigh day for me and a 1 lb gain this week which honestly I’m quite happy with (my buffer over winter is +-2kg (4kg to a BMI 30 which would deffo trigger me to start again))

after halfing my dose to 7mg after 9 days last Monday and being pre TOTM

I’m deffo eating more but stuck with my meal plan most week, but for sure get hungry at mealtimes now and food is tasting much better

doing my last dose on Wednesday around 2.5 mg so it will be an interesting week ahead

Good morning all

Well done to all those that are at goal and @Fatmumslim01 you made me cry at you doing Go Ape type thing with the kids. Your comments really resonated with me, my weight also held me back from being me. I felt judged and invisible all at the same time. I was always thin before CV19 and the peri menopause and can not believe how putting on weight changed me physically and mentally.

I am now at my second goal weight and I weigh 9st 💃💃 which means I have lost 27kg or 60lbs.

I am deciding if I should keep going to my new target of 8st 7lbs which would mean I have a BMI of 20.4 which gives me some wiggle room for when I stop.
SW 13st 4lbs
CW 9st
TW originally 9st 7 2nd 9st or 3rd 8st 7lbs

Do you think my loose skin will firm up?
been doing a lot of yoga and got quite a shock in a downward dog the other day when I opened my eyes!!!