Mounjaro February to April 24 starters - Thread 5

[DesparatePragmatist]

Continuing the journey for those of us who have been on MJ since early 2024. Previous thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight-loss-injections/5262448-mounjaro-february-to-april-24-starters-thread-4?page=39&reply=146714858

I’m not getting much suppression on my reduced dose of 5mg. In fact I can’t stop snacking this week 🤦‍♀️

I was doing well reducing from 10mg to 7.5mg but I’m on week 3 (or 4, can’t remember) of the reduced dose now and I just can’t stop snacking. I’ve eaten so much chocolate, sweets etc. I ate a full box of clotted cream fudge yesterday 😣

I’m hoping I’m just having a bad week as I have no intention of increasing the dose. I intend to be on no higher than 5mg, preferably less than that going forward. I increased dose before and regretted it as I struggled to go back down.

I found in the beginning I thought ah this is a breeze seems to be fine but it took a good few weeks for the dosage to drop in my body I think to the new lower doses. Now I’ve upped slightly I am feeling greater suppression and I’ve made smart choices (ie moving the chocolate out of the door shelf at head height 😆- I know when you write it seems pretty straightforward! Now in a drawer at the bottom next to the pens so will give my head a wobble if going in for chocolate )

I went and bought new bras with an M&S discount and my sad boob problems are solved! Got what's left of my boobs into some nice slightly padded bras and suddenly I look like I have tits again. Ended up having to get a 30DD, which was slightly gratifying as I thought I was going to have to go a B cup at one point. Highly recommend this style from M&S if you've lost a lot of volume. It's hoiked mine up nicely. https://www.marksandspencer.com/body-soft-wired-t-shirt-bra/p/clp60554284?

I now need to jab again as I have forgotten this week and I realised when I was definitely feeling much hungrier. Maintenance is a mission!

I have those exact same bras! They do give a brilliant shape.

I'm back from Tuscany 😞

Ate and drank lots, €5 a glass when on the actual vineyard, could say no tbh 😆

Put on 3lb but lost it overnight.

Still not breached to single digits yet, but think the next week or so will 🙌🏼

Hello April 24ers! I am a Late April 25er, and often read the April 25 threads so that I know what to expect next.

I accidentally read your posts yesterday, misreading the title, and I am so glad I did!! Thank you so much @KeepUndercoverfor the link to the bras. I went to M&S this morning and have bought one. It’s fabulous! Such a good fit, so comfy and soft - and only £20. Bargain! Plus my boobs look like boobs again 🤣

Well done to you all on your amazing results and good luck with maintenance. I shall keep popping in looking for more top tips, if that’s okay? 😊

@AbundanceofKatherines I'm very pleased you liked them! I definitely had the same "oh my boobs look like boobs" reaction.

I think I need to check out these bras!!

Hi OG class. With all the talk of boobs I thought I’d post again. It’s now almost a year since I had my original appointment about implants. I am not using the first person I saw. I didn’t gel with him and it felt like a lecture.

I met another surgeon yesterday. Love him. He doesn’t think I need an uplift and just implants. Probably helped by the fact that I have never been pregnant or had children. A tummy tuck would also be very easy to do as “my muscles are rock solid under it.”

My skin has improved a lot in a year. I still slather moisturiser on, but I’ve been doing that for years anyway as I’m prone to dry skin.

Gym is totally my new addiction.

Still maintaining at 8 and a half. Pretty much a very toned size 6/8.

This is what I want. Same weight and size. Desperately trying to build muscle and praying the last bits of loose skin will sort themselves out.

Can’t afford a boob job at the moment though.

@FlappyFish
Wow, congratulations on the body. I bet you look amazing.

For those that know me, this is big news...I'm exercising properly! I've started a Reformer Pilates class. I go once a week and would do twice as I absolutely love it, but it's £15 a pop. In a couple of weeks, my friend's daughter (who's as fit as a butcher's dog) is taking me on a free day pass to her gym, to introduce me and show me the ropes. I'll then join, and go once or twice a week to do strength stuff. I did 10,000 steps yesterday for the first time, I usually do 5,000.

@I've got a smart watch and am finding it really motivating (the comments it makes are very kind, it's sussed pretty quickly that I'm a sloth and possibly 90 years old - at the weekend, I had a such a lazy day, it congratulated me on taking a nap - I was actually bingeing Netflix 😅).

I'm very conscious of my poor body condition since losing all this weight so I'm really focusing on this now. I don't think I'll be looking at surgery, far too nesh, but I already feel stronger and maybe a tad more toned in just a month. I'm not sure that it'll be possible to build such big muscles that my wrinkly skin is solved but I can hope.

Just popping in to 👋. I started in late-April ‘24, was on all of the threads for the first 6 months or so and had been checking in from time to time since then. I’m a frequent name changer & can’t even remember what my name was back then!
I’ve had a slightly frustrating time of it. I was always a slow loser but eventually lost 2.5 stones over 11 months which got me from BMI 30 to 25. By that point I was on 10mg and just feeling lethargic & meh all the time. So I came off it & went cold turkey. At the same time as going on holiday so immediately put on 1/2 a stone. And then, over the next few months, gained a pound a fortnight which is exactly what I did pre MJ days.
I restarted off a stashed 12mg pen at the beginning of September but using it for the starter dose. I’m a daily weigher and there are some downward fluctuations but I’m not sure I’ve actually
lost any weight yet! I have, though, stopped gaining which I’m taking as a positive! I have some suppression and so need to get better at making the right choices. Even at this dose, I have some lethargy and background and nausea so it’s tempting to always reach for the toaster. The lethargy & nausea is also making me think I will continue on this dosage rather than increase it.
I’m injecting in my thigh this time having always done my stomach in the past. I think I prefer it. I feel as though I am having more constant suppression - although that could just be the pen.
Anyway, I am really interested to hear the continuing updates. I relate to a lot of the battles some of you have had as you reduce the dose or come off it and continue to be inspired by the changes so many of you have made and the success stories. I also wonder about the lady whose name I can’t remember who was often in hospital but whose pain medication & things were able to be massively reduced in response to MJ and hope she is still doing well. I will always be grateful to Obsidian and all of the rest of you for starting the threads in the first place and giving me the courage to do this myself. It hasn’t been the quick or smooth journey I had hoped for but progress was made and hopefully will be again.

Still catching up with the thread, but this is me as well.
I've been weaning off and oh my, the appetite and food noise is back! I've gained 4kg from my lowest weight which was back in early July.
I'd gone down to 3.75mg every 10 days and it was doing nothing. Last week I did 5mg, still not really doing anything. Like you, I have not 'learned and embedded new habits' in the 18 months I've been on MJ at all. I'd hoped to have a big reset, but all it's done is prove what I've seen time and time again. I can lose weight, but I can't keep it off.

I was a chubby kid. I was 13 stone at 16 (I'm tall, but still). I've got an under active thyroid, which probably doesn't help. But really, I'm quite greedy! I grew up with food scarcity and now I can buy and eat whatever I want, I'm not good at resisting the urge.
I think I'll have to keep on with the MJ and find a maintenance dose that works. Which is annoying, because anything over 3.75 seems to give me fatigue and batter my sex drive. But I stopped losing when I dropped to 7.5. At least in the future we'll have Retatrutide to try, I suppose. Though I've heard that doesn't reduce the food noise as efficiently. Also, when the kids leave home I'll be able to only buy and cook really healthy food, which will help.

So, for now, more MJ it is. Sigh... I really want to shift the 4kg I've gained by December as I always seem to gain about that much every Christmas. At my current BMI, it actually shows as well. I can see those 4kg in the mirror and they are taunting me!

Sorry for the long whinge.

Hi fellow 18month+ peeps,

I had a frustrating couple of weeks. My GP prescribed additional progesterone as I'm struggling with peri heavy bleeding and it just made everything worse.
I gained 6kg in 10 days - most of it water weight. My ankles puffed up and the swelling continued up to my thighs, and it also caused bloating. Was just awful, but at least due to being a smaller weight it was easy to show the GP that it was the tablets, I dont think I would have been believed if my BMI was still at 35. I've come off them, weight took about a week to reduce down and I'm now about 1.5kg heavier than my lightest.
I really didn't like being in a bigger body again, even if it was very temporary. I'm taking 10mg from a 12.5pen (was on the 15pen but then the price hikes and panic buys happened).
I do want to titrate down some more but I dont think I'm ready to reduce much more this side of Christmas. I definitely think the sugar cravings and hunger come back with a vengance on the lower doses, not sure what I'll do about maintenance but I'll worry about that nearer the time.
My BMI seems determined to hang around just above 25, I do want to get down to about 23 if I can. Am still hitting the gym 3 times per week (last week was only twice due to being poorly, but that's the first time I've done less than 3 times, apart from when I was in holiday, since joining the gym 6 months ago).

Have finally started listing things on Vinted, made £200 so far from my old size 18 clothes. Am determined never to get to that size again - I didn't look bad bigger but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer being a size 12.

Have a good week all, we've got this.

Checking in to see everyone’s updates and to confess…seeing I’m not alone is comforting. I hit target, decided I needed to start moving down the doses for maintenance as well as to hopefully stop feeling bloody freezing the whole time. Managed to put on about 5lbs in the last 2 months whilst on 12.5 and like others am able to stuff my face on all sorts of bad things. Annoyingly my stockpile is all lower doses as I thought I was going to be successful at reducing the dose. Grrr. I am doing that classic thing of being good all day then shoving crisps and biscuits in my gob all evening. I need to get a grip before a holiday next month and then Christmas, otherwise the New Year won’t be starting well. I didn’t want to be paying long term but I can’t see that I can’t be on some sort of medication.

@Femeia was that your eating pattern pre Mounjaro or is it a new thing? I was an evening snacker well binger before. I know I still could be but now try to think logically and plan so:
as few treats as possible in the house
protein rich meals to reduce evening hunger. A decent portion in the evening so I know I am not actually hungry and it’s more boredom, old habits trying to return.
tasty snacks which are better for me than the family sized crisps and chocolate I used to have. My current favourites are Itsu spicy miso soup sachets, Finn Crisp crackers and cottage cheese, protein yoghurts or a mug of hot chocolate. I know the calories of all these things and try to build them into my day’s food so I stick to my allowance.
one night a week I let myself have an old style treat - it’s weird but because I say I ‘can’ have it I don’t desire it as much so probably have a large size crisps every 10-14 days. I usually have some Laila mini poppadums which are tasty but about 200 less calories in a bag than the crisps I used to binge on 2 or 3 times a week.

It’s not fun to be vigilant on a daily basis but tracking calories in and out helps identify ways to align them. Even just knowing 1 biscuit type is 10 calories less than another when you like them both equally can help you save calories and still let you eat things you enjoy in moderation.

Despite thinking I was not doing well my weight is actually staying stable. I'm keeping a close eye on it as my plan is to try and address any creep early. A kg or 2 is much more easily dealt with than 5!

I bought a new pair of trousers that are nice and snug on the waist so those will warn me very quickly if I'm overindulging. It was a good NSV as I bought an XS in Uniqlo, when I started I didn't fit in Uniqlo clothes at all and now I'm in the smallest size. Although I would say these are a generous wide fit so most people would be sizing down!

@KeepUndercover congratulations on the trousers and staying stable.
@Choux that sounds like very sensible snack planning, well done.

So I went up to 7.5mg on Sunday and ohh, what blessed relief (apart from waking Sunday night at 2am with horrendous nausea!). I made salads for my lunches earlier in the week, no snacking, didn't sit around fantasising about sweets and takeaways. Wednesday nights (I don't work Thursday daytime) I'd got in the habit of having a few drinks (usually cocktail cans, so quite sugary and about 500 calories worth, at least!) - yesterday, I looked at them in the shop and just didn't want them. Looked at the sweets, didn't want those either.

Weight is already down over a kilo and I look so much less bloated in the mirror.
Unfortunately, the fatigue MJ seems to give me is also back. Monday was horrible. Tuesday not too bad. Bonus is I'm going to bed earlier!

If only MJ was cheaper and didn't give me side effects, I'd be quite happy staying on it forever. But I really, really don't want to. Sigh...

@Choux thanks for taking the time to write that, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. I have always been an evening snacker, when I was actively losing weight I either wasn’t hungry or I was able to be much more disciplined. On the odd occasion where I wasn’t I was able to make sensible healthy choices. You have spurred me on, I dug out some miso soup packets and have left them in work - that will help to stave off the biscuit snacking that was creeping in. I am also going to resist the massive fruit bowl in work - per se fruit isn’t that bad but it means snacking and that is a slippery slope. Back to being good and hopefully losing those rogue lbs. I have treated myself to a couple of size 12 Vinted dresses and I need to be able to fit into them!

@FlappyFish
Is it the full or mini tuck?

I enquired about a mini and they seem intent on flogging me a full and liposuction. I sent photos.

I literally have no fat to suck.
I have no fat above the navel so no muffin top, no spare tyre. I can sit in the slouchiest of slouches and nothing sits over my waist band! Slightly saggy skin yeah , but I don't care about that, I am not a bikini wearer.

What I do have is an empty parcel of skin below the navel from 2 c sections. That's all I want treated. Reduced if not completely removed. I am so slim my hip bones are prominent in clothes, then this parcel sticks out.
I don't want or need a full one both for cost and size of operation reasons. It's put me off the whole idea now.

Have you seen anyone in person? They may be better placed to advise you I think. I’m going to Nords in Lithuania and I’ve seen lots of people be downgraded but they’ve booked me in for a 360 fdl. I will probably need muscle repair too but no lipo as of now. It will be confirmed in the in person app the day before the op. (I’ve only sent photos so far too) I’m happy to wait until I’m there for the full consult. Also having breast lift and implants as I’ve done from a 42gg to a 36c-mostly skin though :/

@FlappyFish No not seen anybody in person. If I did it would be Nords as well but just contacted a UK one for interest.

I really have no interest in above the navel as it's fine for me. No fat on flanks and no fat round the back or side. Just the c section thing.

Gone from 40DD to 34B but happy with that as I prefer smaller boobs!

You can send them over photos and see what they would recommend- you can also disagree with them and have a lower tier tummy tuck if you want. They do video consultations for £60 I think If you want to discuss it without travelling over. I’m genuinely so excited for mine- about 13 stone less than I was when at the end of my second pregnancy 😱

@Scalessayeek I am going to send pics today! I hope your surgery goes well. Do let us know how it goes , not many on the thread have gone down this route yet.
My worst skin bit is actually below my arm pits, at my lats. Huge amount of bits escaping over my bra strap. Not even sure what that surgery would be called .!