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.

Hi there. Thanks for all the support on this group. Am going to move to Pharmulous for my next pen, but I have a couple of 10 pens left which will take me to December. If I order now then take a break do I have to go back down to 2.5?
I have been maintaining at 23.6 BMI for quite some time. Currently on 10 mg spaced out 8 days. Will probably go down each month to 5 mg and see how it goes. Just returned from a 3 week holiday and for the first time ever I have not gained weight..so happy! I know @Blondeshavemorefunhas had a great experience with Pharmulous and knows all the rules 👍

I've been 'maintaining' for about three months now, although I might go back and go for another half stone or so off at some point as I'm sitting a bit above the top of a healthy BMI. Wanted to let my head and body settle in to where I'm at for the moment, and seem to be sitting happily with a variance of about 2lbs up and down.

I'm a lesson in how not to follow medication instructions, and play it by ear as to what I take and when depending on how I feel and what I have going on. Am injecting anything from 5mg to 10mg, and have ranged from 5 days between jabs to 14 days so far.

The last fortnight, I upped it a bit gap-wise, as I was finding snacks calling me when they hadn't before - but this seems to have settled now so will back off a bit again.

Very much not approved usage, and am not (personally) worrying about the 30 days limit on pens - but it's working for me so far.

I was on Conti with Oushk, but have swapped to Flexi and happy to pay the retainer for the moment until I get towards the end of what I've got in the fridge at the moment. I am convinced I will be a lifer in some form or other, and am at ease with that.

Hope it’s ok to jump on this thread.. I’m a newbie and wanted some reassurance.

I started MJ just over 2 weeks ago (3rd jab was Monday) I’ve heard some people are losing loads but so far I’ve lost 2.8lbs which isn’t much at all - 3rd weigh in will be Fri.. I don’t know I feel like all the side effects and feeling rubbish I’ve had lately and is it really worth the effort of feeling like that…

I know 2.5mg is a starter dose and was wondering do the losses really get better the longer your on it? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I’d be grateful for all your experiences

@Azuresky68 when I spoke to Pharmulous they said that after any break you had to re-start with them at 2.5.

@AugustMounjaroTeam I think the 30 day thing is because the manufacturer can't guarantee the integrity of the drug after that. I went beyond 30 days fairly early on as Voy kept sending me the wrong dosage pens and I was damned if I was going to throw any of it away! I keep my pens in the fridge and I didn't notice any issues. Obviously, that is just my own anecdotal experience and not evidence. Glad you are finding a way through it all that works for you.

@Witchyandtwitchy that's good news about only gaining 2lb on holiday. I'm sure it will come off again fairly quickly too.

@Elliebearblues lovely to see you here but you may not find this is the most helpful thread, as it is for people who have reached goal and are maintaining. If it helps, that means we have all hit our goals, so the WLI definitely work!

Oh I'm not remotely worrying about the 30 days, I just know that others might and that it's against manufacturer advice, so am just pre-empting being told off for it.😉

Any positive information is welcome, obviously they do work as you’ve all bit your targets. I just get in my head thinking will I be the one it dosnt work for.

@Elliebearblues yes they do work, just give it time. There should be an October started thread you can join, they are very supportive.

Got another 10mg pen from Pharmulous today. It arrived 26 hours after being ordered. I now have 4 x 10mg pens in the fridge. I have been doing 7.5mg for the last month or so and am going to try 5mg this week. If I can maintain on 5mg that means I have 40 doses in hand! I need to buy a smaller pen but the 7.5mg pen is £215 and the 10mg pen is only £240 so much better value.

Maybe next month. If taking 5mg is going well I will get the 7.5mg and then get a 5mg the following month and then tell Pharmulous I am going to take a break but actually use my stash.

Thanks I have joined but obviously we’re all new year and I wanted to hear from those who have been on the jabs longer.

Thank you! Good question. I’ve been on so many diets over the years I couldn’t tell you! I have gone from zero exercise to about 4 gym classes a week which I am sure is helping with maintenance too.

@Sadteacher I would 100% agree that exercise is helping with maintenance.

@Elliebearblues everybody reacts differently. Some lose weight faster than others, some slower. Some have side effects, some don't - I recommend you don't compare, but you find your own journey. 1.4lbs per week is a good, healthy loss. When I look back at my weight loss it averaged 1.5lb per week and it ended up at just over 3 stone by the time I was done. If you keep on losing that (on average - some weeks may be more or less) you will have lost a stone by Xmas. Have faith - and remember how long it took to put the weight on!

Thank you for the words of encouragement, I need to trust the jabs.

@Elliebearblues i think the first few weeks were the worst for everything! I was so anxious. About doing the injections, about managing side effects, about whether it worked. Just everything.

I hope your October thread is giving you help with side effects. I bought OTC medications for everything: dulcolax in case I was constipated, immodium in case I had diarrhea, travel sickness tablets for nausea, omeprazole for reflux and heartburn. Actually, I only really needed the omeprazole on a frequent basis. Over the weeks and months I learned which foods caused me more problems, whether eating small and often helped. I developed good habits about drinking a lot more fluid, mostly water and not alcohol (that still makes a difference to my weight). I learned to eat much smaller portions, I cut out sugar, I ate much more nutritious food. All my habits changed.

Don't compare yourselves with others. We all start at different points, we are different heights and body shapes, we have different metabolisms. As well as measuring weight, take every variety of body measurement too. There were 3 months this year where I lost almost nothing, but my waist got smaller, sort of the same mass but consolidated into a smaller space. It's not all about seeing another pound down on the scales, it's also the delight of getting back into a favourite pair of jeans, or realising that you walked for 30 minutes without being out of breath, or catching sight of your reflection and noticing the that you have a chin, or cheekbones.

Good luck with your journey.

Many of us on this thread now have a 'healthy' BMI. Lots have achieved the BMI target of 25, and then a bit more. The majority would have started at more than 30 (obese). We've travelled down through that category, through the journey of being 'overweight', and into healthy. I can tell you that does feel very good.

Yes I think if break and no mj then back to 2,5

if stretch one /possibly month on month off they will allow same dose on

but then that counter acts first sentence so now not sure. Worked last night and no sleep today as half term so confused myself now

Thank you for replying, your advice is much appreciated, you’re totally right about not trying to compare myself to others and I need to be more mindful of that. I have actually measured all over too so then of the scales don’t move one month then I can measure and see if I’ve lost inches as like you say muscle takes up less room than fat. I am looking forward but also slighly dreading weighing tomorrow and seeing what those scales say this week. Thanks again

@Elliebearblues have faith. I started over 2 years ago on Wegovy originally. My BMI was 44. It's now 23 and I've lost nearly half my body weight. I'm a size 8-10. I go to the gym 6 days a week. I'm in my 50s and in the best shape of my life.

It's a journey alright and it's still hard work and effort, even with WLI but for me, it's been nothing short of a miracle.

I think you are either a super responder and it starts working straight away or you need higher doses for it to work. Losing 1.4lbs per week is a great loss. I was losing probably 2 - 3lbs per week but also not eating breakfast, very light lunch, my usual dinner and a light pudding. You can't just eat what you usually eat and expect the jabs to do the work. If you follow a diet whether that be calorie counting, slimming world or something else you'd expect it to work. I started slimming world before the jabs. I lost 1.8lbs in my first week at slimming world, you'd expect that to be my biggest week and then my first week on jabs I lost 3.6lbs. It helps you follow a diet better but also makes you more insulin sensitive. Some people never get big losses but if you slowly chip away great things will happen. My BMI was 30 when I started and I'd have been happy with that rate of loss, I'd only be looking for more if I was in a more obese category..
I hope that helps!

@Choux you sound very well stocked! I hope that the drop down to 5 goes well for you.

I'm still enjoying the blissful lack of food noise. Given I've gone "off-piste" now and am doing my own thing, I'm going to wait for the noise to start to creep back before I do another injection, rather than just inject at 7 days automatically. I want to try and use as little MJ as I possibly can. Still contemplating hypnotherapy as my long-term solution.

@MargoLivebetter hypnotherapy sounds interesting! What are you looking at? X

@Fluffypiece very specifically hypnotherapy for the food noise. I had no idea how loud, constant and relentless it was until I started on MJ last year. I thought it was related to emotional eating, which it partly is / was, but that isn't all of it. I want not to constantly, endlessly, always be thinking about food. It goes away when I take MJ, but when I came off it gradually came back again. Even though I'd only gained 3lb, I went back on it again just to try and make the food noise be quiet. I re-started on a half dose last week and it went away again. The half dose doesn't silence it completely but it relegates to 10% of my waking hours vs 80% of my waking hours.

I really sympathise with that - exactly the same for me. Are you thinking clinical hypnotherapist? X

Back in the day, one-on-one hypnotherapy worked brilliantly for me (only stopped working because I had to come on some very hardcore drugs that had a strong hormonal effect which meant I piled on weight)

Great to hear how well everyone is doing. It feels so liberating doesn't it? I am no longer killing myself in gym 6 days a week and sticking to 3 classes a week. I'm stretching a 5mg pen with one dose a fortnight. Is this ok? What are other people doing? I know it has 30 day limit on it once opened.

Oh that’s good to hear - how did you find the hypnotherapist you went to?

@MJOverInvestor I'd be interested to hear about how you found your hypnotherapist too.