September 25 starters

[outofofficeagain]

Anybody else planning to start in September?

I’ve been procrastinating for months but decided to go for it despite the price increases. Waiting for my delivery from Medexpress and planning on 1st Sept start.

Yes - interesting how our bodies are designed to do that in leaner periods. Makes perfect evolutionary sense, but very annoying for dieters.

We have to pull every trick in the book to con our clever bodies into not thinking we are in starvation mode! Lots of protein to maintain muscle mass, and if I hit a very lengthy plateau I might try temporarily increasing my calorie intake slightly to see what happens.

All trial - so much trial! - and error.

That's amazing @Georgelassosthemoon

I know it's mostly water weight, but I'm down about 3 lbs on the past four days, which is very motivating for me. Managed to have my first stressful day without turning to the chocolate, which is a massive deal for me.

Yes, I know it’ll be water (and I reckon my clothes were half of it) but it is a start.
Second jab done.

I’ve dug out a pair of trousers that won’t do up. They are going to be my weekly measuring stick as well as the scales.

I think I must have had suppression yesterday (day 3, 48 hours post jab). I had a big bowl of fruit and yoghurt after dinner and put it down half way for a bit of a break. When we went up to bed I realised I’d forgotten about it and hadn’t gone back! Two things that never happen to me a) putting down food and b) forgetting it’s there 😂

Took my second jab last night, all went well. Much less nerve-wracking than last week! Weighed myself this morning to see the results of the first week. I was secretly hoping for a 3lb-4lb loss. But I was 8lb down! Very encouraging.

Morning all. I am feeling rather anxious about it all today about food. So over the last 4 weeks I’ve only lost 4lbs. Which seems so low seeing as I haven’t eaten mucn. Averaging 1200 caleries. But protein is low at 50-7O. So up to 5 for me next week. But I’m worried as how will this help - seeing as I have been eating less?

things I can do is to increase excersise and sort out better food but this is where I’m stumped as this is my psychological barrier - food preparation, textueres, cooking etc

anyone got any good cook books for WLI or follow people with ideas that don’t include Greek yoghurt / fish or preteen drinks?

i will let you know how the 5 side effect are as well xxxzz

My weigh-in day is today. I lost a grand total of ..... 0 lbs.

I haven't busted my calorie intake on even one day. I've exercised religiously. So this is hugely disappointing (and the reason why I used to avoid scales - but this time can't or the pharmacy will stop my prescription).

I'm on about 1200 calories too, @ladygin. But I worry anything less than that will be totally unsustainable in the longrun. Slow and steady wins the race, isn't that what they say?

That said, I do notice the flesh on my stomach, thighs and arms is noticeably softer. That could be a sign of body transitioning given my diet has changed and I'm exercising. I'll take that as this week's win. I guess. 😭

@ladygin i have the fast800 cook book which has a lot of low calorie high protein recipes. I know 1lb a week doesn’t feel like much but over a year that is 52lbs which I would be very happy with!

I took my fourth injection this week. I wondered if anyone else has found the fourth week on 2.5 quite hard? I feel more hungry but don’t really want to eat anything and I’ve also been feeling a bit low. I think I miss food! I’ve always seen it as a treat/reward and I miss that a bit. I’m trying to eat small amounts of nice things but I sort of miss the evenings where I would eat a whole bag of tortilla chips with a whole pot of hummus and several glasses of wine! I know it’s for the best and I’ve been really postive so far but just these last few days I’ve felt a but fed up. Has anyone else felt like that?

I have Louise Parker's 'Lean for Life' recipe book. She's really clued up on protein and there's an accompanying 'Lean for Life' book with a holistic take on fat loss. She also gives good advice on serving sizes.

Sorry, I feel a bit insensitive to have posted about my first week's loss. I'm sure for those who are feeling disappointed, the losses will come. We're all different and lose weight differently. I've had disappointing starts to diets before and I know it can be disheartening. Stick with it, the medication will soon start to do it's thing.

Please don't. It's fits and starts for all of us, and weight loss is never linear.

I got a 5 lb loss in Week 2. These plateaus do happen. I'm thrilled for those who are seeing success.

Our day will come ...

Thanks @Thistleton and sorry you also suffer with emetophobia, it’s awful isn’t it! Pleased you are doing ok though.

I had a rough first week. Whole body aches the day after my first jab, almost like my whole body was bruised. Then the rest of the week was headaches and lots of nausea. I just slowed up for the whole week and hubby was great and just cracked on with everything, thank god!

I jabbed again yesterday and so far so good. Feeling ok, still feel the suppression which is great and I was surprised I felt it so quickly.
5.3 lbs down, which I am very pleased about 😀

@wodantimbercoaster Definitely don't worry about sharing your losses! I'm sure everyone is happy to celebrate with you :)

@Sarahzx6 I haven't heard of whole body aches as a side effects. Did you find it is a known side effect, or is it worth discussing with your pharmacist?

I've felt quite queasy today. (Sorry to the emetophobic people!) Possibly due to low calories (I did have a small breakfast), as felt better when I ate some lunch.

It’s weird isn’t it @SoUncertain i did reach out to the team and have a Google (naughty!) and it turns out that it is a thing but not very common, so typical really 😂
I don’t feel at all like it in the second week, so hoping (for now) it’s settled down.

Sorry to hear you aren’t feeling great today. It’s so tough to get the calories in when you don’t want to eat anything. Pleased you felt better after lunch 💪🏼

Ok, 3rd jab done this morning and a 3lb loss this week, so I’ll take that.

HOWEVER, I thought I’d start sorting out my wardrobe and put some of my summer stuff away into storage bags as it’s definitely heading into Autumn here.

I decided to try on a couple of items that were previously far too snug…Bloody hell, they fit. !!!!!!

I’ve spent a lovely morning pottering about sorting stuff and feeling very happy. The scales didn’t show a massive loss but it’s definitely making a difference to my size in only 2 weeks. 🥳

That's so exciting! ☺️

Wow, amazing loss @Sarahzx6 well done!

Well, it’s D Day plus 1 hour! I actually had my first jab an hour ago and boy, was it easy! The pharmacist at my local chemist had talked me through the process using a dummy pen then primed my first pen and boxed it up ready to go. I will admit my hand was shaking as I took the cover of the needle and got ready to inject in my tummy.

I can honestly say I did not feel anything as the needle went in and the only way I know it worked is that the dial went back to zero, there was a tiny bead of liquid on the tip and I could see a faint ring where I pressed the pen against my skin. I am on blood thinners and used to bleed even after acupuncture needles were removed but there was no bleeding at all.

Now to wait until tomorrow to see if I have any side effects, hopefully not until after lunch out with some friends! I’ve been dieting for about three months now, lost just over a stone, and I’ve already began to eat less so I’m planning on having a fairly light lunch, maybe a chicken salad. I’ve just got to make sure I drink enough, I do usually drink at least 1ltr of water a day plus one mug of black coffee but I need to increase that a bit. Queue lots of trips to the toilet!

It's a revelation. I went out this evening for a long standing night out with some friends to a restaurant which is the 'in' place to go in our area and they were looking forward to trying it. We also had a £75 voucher to spend there, so I couldn't really suggest an alternative place to eat. I haven't told my friends I'm on MJ yet, as want to keep it to myself for now. I just mentioned I was on a post holiday diet/health kick.

There is literally nothing healthy on the menu, just the most amazing burgers or chicken wings, so I was a bit worried, as I have been eating 100% clean since starting MJ last week as trying to avoid any side effects.

I ate the meat in the burger (which did also have cheese on it) and the pickles, but left all of the bun and only ate about 7 fries. I felt completely full up. I had a glass of wine poured for me, but I didn't touch it and ended up giving it to my friend. I stuck to water. We then went to a really nice cocktail bar and again, I just had iced water.

This is such a stark contrast to the usual me. Especially the alcohol. I have what is probably described as an unhealthy relationship with alcohol and up until last week, was that person who has at least one or two drinks pretty much every single evening. There is absolutely no way I would ever resist a glass of wine sitting in front of me or not buy myself a cocktail in the lovely little cocktail bar. But tonight, I was able to consciously decide that actually, I wasn't going to have it, wasn't really fussed about having it and I was fine with my decision. On previous diets, I will usually decide to stop drinking but then get really pissed off that I'm not allowed a drink. And give in after maybe a couple of weeks.

I think in terms of the amount of food I ate tonight, my tactic of taking my MJ on Thursday evenings is what worked, as the suppression is then stronger over the weekend which is when we tend to treat ourselves to nice food, or cook intricate meals.

I had a lovely evening and.....only spent £15 😂

@wodantimbercoaster Well done on having a great evening. Yes, sounds like your plan to take it on Thursday worked really well. Interesting that you weren’t tempted by the wine and cocktails either. I can understand the food as you don’t feel all that hungry on MJ but booze satisfies a different urge. Fascinating! 🤔

I took my third jab yesterday morning and the previous two times I had side effects on the Saturday morning with a bad headache and feeling really tired, but this time, I had none at all. I guess my body is getting used to it. Hoping that it still does its work in suppressing my appetite. 🤞

I’ve read that some people feel low or depressed on MJ but I wonder whether it’s because they’re not getting their usual Dopamine hit from the constant snacking?

I didn’t do very well yesterday, a long car journey to visit family for the weekend- jelly babies, crisps, kettle chips, pizza, beer, red wine….

I wrote it all up in Nutracheck and it came out about 2000 calories for the day. Could have been worse I suppose - I was doing physical work all morning - and I could feel the suppression kicking in a bit. Like I ‘only’ had three slices of pizza and did stop quite easily when there was more left (ditto ‘only’ two small glasses of wine).

Makes me think I will need to go up to 5ml though next month….

I’m torn between feeling a bit crap about it (like omg what an idiot, why do I have no willpower??) and thinking that feeling shame around food isn’t helpful and is part of the cycle I’m trying to get out of.

We’re going to a party tonight so I can’t see today going that well either!

Don’t worry at all. It’s good to hear all the outcomes. And also gives us hope. Everyone is going to be different and different times xxxxx

Don’t feel crap about it. The point is we need to change our habits long term if they are to work.

so getting used to having ‘a few slices of pizza’ and ‘a few glasses of wine’ is probably more helpful in the long run than the all or nothing approach

Disconnecting shame and food takes time.