Thread 2 because we have reached our goal weights and we want to maintain not regain. We might be going cold turkey or titrating down or staying on!

[MargoLivebetter]

Can't believe we filled up a whole thread! Welcome to thread 2.

On a positive note to start us off, I've lost 1lb of the two that I gained from my autumnal apple crumble caper. Filling full of resolve and pleased to know I can gain a pound or two (which is of course completely normal) and then lose them again.

@MargoLivebetter
I am truly buzzing!!! Not been this weight in 17 years 😊 Maintenance, hmm, carrying on with gym (3 x week weight training) and will see how it goes. Weighing every day, so hopefully will be on top of any increases. Maybe have a month on and a month off? All a bit unknown at the moment tbh 🤷‍♀️

That’s great to hear @MargoLivebetter I hope I have the same success as you.
I paid for nutracheck today. I used it a couple of years ago and lost 7lbs. I ummed about paying £27.99 but then realised I’d pay that a week on mounjaro. I can’t lose my holiday gain, but then haven’t put any more on so maintaining that well!

I tried to copy / paste your first thread (long thread lots of scrolling down on desktop!) directly into ChatGPT but it was too long, so I copy / pasted into a word document and dropped the document into ChatGPT and asked it to summarise which worked.

First time it hadn’t picked up anything about set point theory which I am interested in (and hope is true!) so asked it to add any points on that as thought you would have likely discussed it as some point.

It isn’t perfect, probably missed some interesting points but gives some things to think about. I particularly liked the summary it captured from all you posts,

Maintenance isn’t passive — it’s an active, lifelong process……………accepting vigilance as permanent.

Thank you @WeAllHaveWings

I've been maintaining since the end of May, mostly on 2.5mg, occasionally on 3.75, all from a 5mg pen.

Wonder how many points you get and what discount they get you

I was just randomly musing last night that all my life I longed for some magic spell that would allow me to eat what I want and lose weight and keep it off and to take away the urge to eat when I wasn't hungry or eat too much and now it actually exists.

That really is what WLI have been for me. Every time I put on a size 10 or even 8 or catch sight of this almost unrecognisable slim person in a mirror or shop window I get this little shock of "how can this be me?".

I'm on 10mg right now and will start moving down. Not sure at the moment what I will end up on, 5mg maybe? I never want to go back, I've lost weight and regained it so many times over my life, I couldn't face doing it again.

@DareDevil223 that's exactly how I feel! It's just amazing 👏 🤩

I was out on Sunday in my size 8 jeans - and for the first time ever I noticed women who were bigger than me. I have been the biggest one in the room, group, family, holiday photo, office etc all my life.

Im tentatively joining this thread. Been on MJ for just under a year and I'm very close to BMI of 25 (only 3kg to go, but frustratingly weight hasn't changed last few weeks).

I'll just lurk here to see how you're all doing your maintenance, whether titrating down or spacing to 10 days, or something else so i can have some idea of what might work for me once i finally hit my target.

Go up a dose unless on 15. The. Be strict with calories

What are you eating in an average day?

The MJ has helped me totally transform my diet, so I've massively cut down on UPF (although it's almost impossible to avoid them all together). I used to grab a pack of crisps, a bottle of coke, chocolate bar, etc when i fancied a snack and they've all magically disappeared from my food radar.

A typical day will start with porridge with seeds and fruit for breakfast now its getting colder, lunch is wholegrain sourdough with egg and some salad type veg like tomatoes, radish, etc. I'll have some greek yoghurt and fruit after the gym and I'm mostly cooking dinner from scratch (today its a slow cooker chilli with rice, tomorrow its chicken and veg tagine thing with couscous). I might have some fruit or hummus with veg sticks as a snack if I'm hungry between meals towards the end of the week . Overall my suppression still seems at a good level where I can still eat and get hungry at mealtimes but all my previous snacking out of boredom has just vanished. And my portion sizes are definitely smaller than pre MJ. I haven't really calorie counted throughout the journey, just cut out all the junk and focused on protein and non upf foods.

My typical food day has been giving me slow but steady losses since end of last year, around 1-2lbs a week so I'm not sure if I'm having a few weeks stall stall because my body is now trying to "hold on" to last few kg of excess weight. Weirdly my body shape seems to be changing (jeans are now baggier) despite scales staying the same. I guess if i continue to stall for another 2 weeks I'll order the next pen up and see if that kick-starts my scales going down and gets me to bmi of under 25.

Diet is quite good but possibly not eating enough protein. I don’t find fruit condusive to weight loss esp when at a lower bodyfat (not sure what fruit is in breakfast and yogurt, or how much of it you are eating). Have a look at macros; I aim to go over 120g for protein and under 120g for carbs.

Hi @DragonScalesyour diet sound really good from a non UPF and vitamin and mineral perspective but sounds like a lot of carbs. I try to only have one carb element per day so I would have the porridge or the bread or the rice rather than all three. If exercising I might have two carb portions. so if I had had porridge I would have egg salad with some tuna or chicken and no bread and a bigger portion of chilli with no or v little rice.

Don’t forget the kidney beans, fruit and even some veg all have mid to high levels of carbs and I find this affects my blood sugars and appetite. I think at or near maintenance it really helps to calorie count as there are surprising differences between choices you might make.

Yes - I agree especially with the fruit. I try and stick to one portion of berries and an apple each day. I’m managing with either no one or portion of grains a day, eg Greek yoghurt with chia seeds and berries breakfast, salad with protein (eg tin tuna) lunch, protein shake mid afternoon, and chicken with veg for dinner. Occasionally will have sourdough with omelette for lunch but mostly I don’t need the grains at all. But some people do seem to need more carbs.

I also wonder if the current deficit just isn’t big enough to lose more? Hard to know without tracking.

Welcome @DragonScales. Bit slow posting as I’m away at the moment. Well done on all you’ve lost so far. I think it does slow as you near goal. Could you bear to count the calories?

Made it back sown to goal weight. Really pleased with myself. Might see if I can shed another pound or two to give me a bit of tolerance. It wasn’t even that hard, just meticulously calorie counted and pretended I was back on MJ. Got into the groove of it again. Took me 3 weeks, which is nothing really.

Waves back at @Zempy

Thank you for the welcome @MargoLivebetter

I’ve weighed myself a couple of times since getting to goal.
I dropped down to 125lbs at the start of the week but am at 127lbs as of this morning.
My GW is 126lbs but with a 7lb buffer as my original GW was 133lbs. I surprised myself by getting there initially.

I’m not actually missing seeing losses on the scales yet which I know a few posters have mentioned.
It is early days though and I’m happy to see a little variation over the week.

Eating has been a little more pleasurable this week which I’m going to remain mindful of.

I’ve extended the time period by a day for my jab this week. Planning on extending that by another day next week.
I’ve still got a 7.5 mg pen in the fridge and have taken two doses of 7.5mg so far.
I might try and dose 5mg from the next pen if I can figure out how to do it 😄

Good luck to all as we maintain 💪

I have cArbs every day. Usually 2 or 3 meals depending on the menu and doesn’t make a diff in my weight

I’ve been trying to maintain for a few months but actually been losing weight even tho eating 500/600c more a day

I can’t really eat more as full unless eat 500c of chocolate which on isn’t the best

b toast /porridge
l bread in sandwich /jacket
t pasta rice potato

It's Interesting reading about everyone's feelings about carbs and fruit.
My metabolism changed quite a bit when the old hormones started fluctuating with the menopause. I found that white carbs really slowed down my digestion, made me feel sluggish and definitely impeded any weight loss attempt.
Yet I have friends who cheerfully wolf down pasta, potatoes and rice; feel great and don't put on an ounce!
So I avoid white carbs as much as possible.

Just back from a lovely few days in Portugal and our lovely hosts gave us pasta twice, boy did I feel the effects! Not only stomach ache and bloating but straight to constipation! Fortunately I had my trusty Senna and prunes, so all was well. But I had gained a pound on my return, which I ignored as it was gone within 48 hours.

Now jabbing 11 days apart, today being day 10. Feeling good so far, no extra hunger or cravings. But I can eat more at meals, and the getting-full feeling just does not happen at all after day 8, so I'm having to keep an eye on myself and be mindful, which is the whole point of the process.
However I will be glad to jab again tomorrow and get back to those feelings of filling up when I eat.

Taking DM and DD away next week to meet up with my DS for a girls break away. They will be wanting cream teas and puddings, but with the support of the MJ I will be sticking to my stay-slim plan! As long as I get a glass of wine in the evening I'm happy!

I'm the same Blondes, I've eaten carbs all the way through my weight loss and it hasn't affected me at all. We're all different aren't we?

Def varies person to person and it’s normal to become more insulin resistant at menopause

I think it’s hard when dieting to get enough protein when eating a lot of carbs, especially ones like rice or pasta or bread that add little to overall nutrition so that’s one reason to eat less eg I’m eating 1,200 but as I am aiming for 120g protein that’s already 480 cals. Hence trying to keep carbs low. Without enough protein you risk muscle loss which will make maintaining the weight loss more challenging.

I’d recommend cutting back on fruit to anyone on a weight loss plateau. I’d also recommend switching grains or potatoes for pulses.

I'm finding I can't tolerate carbs, like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, at all, even on a maintenance microdose of 1.25mg. If i have a sandwich at lunchtime, I'm full for the rest of the day and can't face my tea. So weirdly, they contribute to me eating too little overall in a day. Conversely, I'm great on fruit and most days have a late breakfast/early lunch of a huge fruit salad and dollop of icecream. Seems to be working for me!

It’s so weird how it effects everyone differently

I've come down to 5mg for the last two jabs and have lost another 1lb. I'm ok for now with a BMI of 21 but I guess it does indicate I should come down to 2.5mg soon. I've got into quite a routine with my food and I'd like to think I would stick at it now without the jabs but still a bit scared.

I've totally exceeded my original 3st goal that I never even believed I would reach, with a current loss of 5st 10lb, so I'm more than happy...just not sure what to do next 🙈

Anhedonia is linked to the drug’s impact on the brain and is unusual at such a low dose.

The raised HR is because of receptors on the heart, so a common “side effect”.

Are you sure your body has recovered fully from Covid?
What’s behind the struggle with healthy eating?

GPs generally know very little because GLP-1s have generally been managed by Diabetes Nurses in the past.