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.

I'm honestly worried about the first time i eat out and im not sure why! I've got a night out next weekend so we'll see how it goes 🫣

Anyway, 3rd jab done and weighed this morning. I've lost 4lbs even though i'm on the last day of pill packet so period is due.

SW: 12 st 9
CW: 11 st 6

17 lbs down in total. My bmi has finally gone just under 30! 😅

Have a headache as usual this morning after my jab last night. Lazy day today i think!

Omg. I totally miss food as a treat, celebration, habit, stress buster, community activity etc etc etc. Flat is exactly it. But I am trying to tell myself I will be able to go back to that if I need to - in time, in moderation and with control.

Morning all, week 3 update from me.

W3D1 -4lbs this week
SW 19st 3lbs
CW 18st 4lbs
GW1 15st
GW2 13st

The weight is coming down maybe a bit too fast but I’m starting from 19st+. I’m still sticking with 3 meals +2 snacks. My daily total calorie burn based on Oura ring is 2200 - 2500 (excluding extra exercise but not sure how accurate this is) and I’m aiming to eat approx 1500 cals so I have a quite good calorie deficit.

This made me think when I was reading through the thread and seeing that few of us are struggling to get weight down that maybe the 1200 cals target per day is too low? If I’m trying to hit my protein target of 90grams, I would have no chance to stay below 1200 calories. Obviously each target etc depends on personal starting weight/activity levels etc. but I guess our bodies might go into “survival mode “ if the calorie intake is too low?
My go-to protein source is chicken and protein yogurts at the moment if that helps anyone.

And now I have a new unpleasant problem: constipation! I’m getting my fibre intake (25g) and drinking plenty of water so what next??? Anyone else struggling with toilet habits and any tips how to solve this. I have added 30g of dried plums into my daily menu but what else? Trying to solve this without laxative tablets.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! 😄

I went to the theatre last night and friend had booked pizza/pasta restaurant.

I managed to not touch the flatbreads and ordered a chicken salad. I had one glass of wine and an ice cream in the interval.

What made this different is that it wasn’t that much effort. In the past it would have taken every ounce of willpower I had (which wouldn’t have been enough).

Constipation is becoming an issue

@outofofficeagain see my message just before yours! Unfortunately we have the same problem 😂

About going out and social gatherings.. these are hard. I met with friends this week and trying to decide what to eat is so challenging especially in pubs if the menu is full of burgers etc. I went with chicken burger, swapped chips with a salad and two glasses of white wine. I went well over my daily calorie target on that day but I had a great time! We are going out again next Saturday for dinner so that will be another challenge.

I have a question: how does everyone know their targets for things like protein, fibre etc? I haven't started yet, first pen is on its way, so I'm trying to get all set up with apps, meal planning etc. I've got Shotsy and I used to use my fitness pal so I guess will go back to that. Is there anything else I should be lining up? My biggest challenge will be that my typical diet is basically pure carbs and very little protein or vegetables. I'm prepared to make a change but I think getting enough nutrients in is going to be my biggest challenge. What supplements/electrolytes etc are people using?

@namechange0998776554799000 I’m using my fitness pal, seems to be working ok. Re supplements: I’ve been taking collagen (Absolute Collagen) for over a year and have continued this. Plus just started taking biotin.

I’m not tracking anything. I’m making sure protein is the main part of every meal and drinking plenty of water but I find the constant tracking everything a bit overwhelming. I might need to start later on.

I found a calculator online and it was something like 1g per 1.6kg of body weight. Thats the only thing I've got a number for. The fibre i'm just playing that by ear. If im constipated, I know i need more 😂 i've noticed a difference already in that I only go once a day now rather than twice or 3 times but I guess i'm eating less and its better quality.

I have to say my mood is better. Although I miss the ‘rush’ of food and sometimes not sure what to do with myself, I’m not getting crashes in the afternoon and it feels amazing to not be constantly thinking about food.

I don't log absolutely everything every day, but I use nutracheck to give me a good idea of the nutrition in what I'm eating, and it's very useful in terms of making tweaks to what I eat to maximize the nutrients. Like, I'll feel that I'm eating plenty of veg if I add lettuce and cucumber to a meal, but actually, that does very little to boost fibre.

Fibre and calories are the main things I focus on at the moment. I try to keep my protein at a minimum of 80g a day, and eat mostly relatively unprocessed foods.

I haven't yet suffered from the constipation. But because I read it was such a common problem, I have been stirring through a couple of teaspoons of chia seeds to my greek yogurt, which is something I have most days. I've heard chia seeds are a bit of a 'super food' and have all sorts of health benefits as well as being a good source of fibre. I have also been religiously drinking at least 2 litres of water each day. I have one of those big water bottles with measurements on the outside so I can see how much I've drank. I have a desk job and aim to drink one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Another thing that I've been doing, which I didn't even realise might help the constipation is taking Nutrition Geeks 3 in 1 magnesium tablets. They contain magnesium citrate which apparently can also help with constipation.

So first week done, no side effects as far as i can tell which is good
I feel like mine is more of mental change this week, im more in tune with my stomach and can feel when im full so havent been having huge portions which is one of my main problems.
The food noise hasnt stopped its still there and i still feel hungry but i feel more in control of it if that makes sense and theres no frenzy if i do eat something (as in cant control myself and keep eating). And i have been making healthier choices
I havent really exercised this week had a nice
swim yesterday and going to take the kids today so need to do more next week
Im not expecting a loss i weighed myself yesterday and i turns out im 7lbs heavier than i thought i was so had to reset everything 🤦🏼‍♀️
Im interested to see what this week brings!

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.

This is such a good point, I hadn’t thought about it but it’s exactly what we do, I often cook more complicated things on the weekend and we would share a big bar of chocolate and have crisps etc on Friday and Saturday night. I jabbed on a Thursday because that is when my first delivery arrived so a good coincidence.

Feeling a bit queasy today. I had my usual breakfast of yoghurt, blueberries and a sprinkling of granola but didn’t really want it. I’m off shopping today so need to look for some protein based snacks.

I stabbed for the third time last night and the hunger is certainly creeping back slowly. Think I will certainly go for the 0.5 option next order.

I'm planning to jab on Thursday evenings too, because I work Tuesday-Thursday and I'd rather deal with side effects when I'm not working. Is this realistic? For those who've had side effects, are they worst in the day or two after injecting, or do they come later?

I’ve been adding chia seeds to my oats and yogurt too. I’m also eating avocados and bananas regularly and drink peppermint a few times a day so I think I either need to have more of these or try something else. I read from somewhere that coffee might help so I think I’ll have to try that as one off option.

I drink a fair bit of coffee and haven’t had any constipation.

The coffee would probably help, I hadn't thought of that. It's always been a bit of a laxative for me! I have been having a coffee each morning as I wanted to start taking collagen powder (Nutrition Geeks again!), so I've been taking it by having it in a coffee each morning. So this has probably also helped me avoid constipation so far.

How is collagen in coffee? I’ve been having it in squash but really need to hold my nose. It’s vile.

Honestly, I can't smell it at all. Tbh I can't taste it either. I thought I could the first time, but now I don't notice anything. And I was surprised how easy it was to stir in, absolutely no lumps or clumpy bits at all. I use the one called nutrition geeks glow up powder. It's only been 5 days so not sure what it's doing yet, but we'll see!

I've had it in tea and couldn't smell or taste it at all. It upset my stomach though

After my third dose I'm noticing a definite difference in how full I feel after meals. Has anyone else experienced this?

I had the Nutrition Geeks college in tea and it was grim, but then turned the tea into hot chocolate and that was ok but like @namechange0998776554799000 , it gave me an upset stomach. It was the week before I started Mounjaro, and in might have put it down to drug side effects if I'd already started.

@SerafinasGoose that's probably my main symptom. A normal sized meal will make feel as though I've massively overeaten and so I've had to start splitting up my food into 5 small meals.

Fourth jab due tomorrow and the hunger has hit. I've managed not to overeat today particularly, but can't tell if the medication is helping at all, as it's felt hard.

Up until today I'd planned to stay on the starting dose for my second month, but I don't know whether this would be mistake. Feels like I don't have enough info to go on either way!