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.

@Azuresky68 my problem has always been drinking my calories, not eating them!

Has anyone found their glasses don’t fit as well!? I think my head must have shrunk a bit too 😂

Well I can say it 😅😅😅

Oh, absolutely about the drinking my cals. Me and my brother plan to become sommeliers, and I'm getting a head start by trying new wines, new areas and new grapes.

But I'm maintaining at 10.5 and I'm happy with that. So bring on the wine 💃🏼

Is anyone else struggling to stop "dieting"? I'm a healthy BMI, I'm a size 8-10. I've done heavy weight training throughout so i haven't lost muscle and i look about as decent as a woman in her late 50s who has lost nearly half her body weight can look without surgery but I'm finding it really hard to let go of my "just a few more pounds" mentality.

I've been losing weight for over 2 years so I've almost become a little bit addicted to hopping on the scales and seeing a drop but I do need to up my calories a bit. I'm definitely not in the grip of an eating disorder but I need to relax a bit!

@DareDevil223 I felt not dissimilar when I reached goal weight. I had so enjoyed watching the slow but steady progress on my scales as I lost weight, that I really missed it. 8 months later I still feel the same to be honest. I keep toying with the idea of losing another 7lb now that my skin has tightened up some more and then I ask myself am I doing that to be healthy or because I like the idea of losing more weight!

No answers, but I know what you mean.

@DareDevil223 I find it hard because I'd got used to that dopamine hit of seeing the scales move downwards, and even when weight loss slowed, or stalled I coud still see the slow downward trend. It felt like I was achieveing something. Now that momentum to achieve has gone. I am maintaining well but it's nothing like as exciting. I find it a bit like when I was at school wroking hard for exams, there was a thrill of feeling I knew some of the answers, or a question fitted well to my knowledge. Then when all exams were over it was a bit flat, and all the things I planned to do (craft projects, days out, baking) seemed uninspiring and unexciting.

I think this is what I have to learn now, no more yo-yo dieting, but steadiness.

Hi
i I am titrating down given the price rises but plan on staying on a maintenance dose. I have 3 15mg pens in the fridge. I went down to 13.75 for 2 weeks, intending to drop by 1.25 every 4 weeks but this weekend I only had 10.25 in the pen before the menachism stopped and I couldn't be bothered to get a syringe for the rest, so I'm seeing how I get on. I have noticed feeling a little hungrier but nothing I can't manage so far with tracking. It's a bit anxiety provoking to feel the hunger coming back though!
I worked out that at the top whack price I can take 10mg from a 15mg pen and keep costs where they are right now, but that doesn't factor in removing the bonus dose. However I don't plan on paying top whack (hoping Oushk will get their act together to get prices more competitive before I need another pen)
Has anyone tried taking a week off during titration to see if that improved efficacy?

I agree with PPs - maintenance is really boring compared with trying to lose weight! I am only five weeks in so nowhere near used to it yet, I am still a bit jittery with fluctuations in my weight. I need to find a new hobby I think, it’s time to get on with life!

I agree @DareDevil223 it can be hard to let go of the aim of losing. It's good to know I am not the only one.

I weighed in this morning and had lost less than half a pound. My first reaction was 'That's not much', but then I remembered that I am now aiming to stay the same. So had to refocus and tell myself that that is an achievement.

I had had a 9 day gap between jabbing, so it's now OK to go to 10 days, which is my aim, so again an achievement.
Perhaps it's because all my life losing was 'good' & gaining was 'bad'. Trying to always lose is so ingrained, That when I don't, my reward pathways in my brain just don't light up.
It will take a long time before my instinctive reaction to staying the same is 'oh good, Happy day, I've maintained'.
Another thing to work on!

Thanks all, it's good to know that I'm not alone! I agree that there's a certain excitement to the scales showing a loss and i need to replace that with a maintenance mindset!

I completely agree about the desire to keep losing. I am 10 stone 3-5lb which is perfectly acceptable at a smidge off 5ft8. But when the scales went down to 10stone 1.5lb for a day it made me want to see 9 at the beginning, I still do tbh but am struggling with maintaining at the moment.

I am trying to focus on changing my shape via exercise instead as I definitely do not want to lose anymore from my top half or face.

I've also found it hard to adjust to this phase. I think I had got used to the mental reward of seeing the number on the scales go down each week and the very satisfying downward slope of the graph.

I’m just like this!! I reached my 8st goal a few weeks ago and then went to 7st 13lbs and felt pleased (I’m 5ft) and thought maybe a few more pounds would be helpful (even though getting to 8st was taking off the few more pounds from original goal of 8:05). And I’ve just been trying to maintain and slowly increase my calories but I feel a bit disappointed at not seeing the scales go down. Even though I’m amazed to have reached my goal ! I started at 14:10 so it’s been a journey and I guess I need to adjust to trying to maintain but it’s hard to shake off the pleasure of seeing the scales go down isn’t it. Been on MJ since august 24 but I’d been doing ozempic and wegovy on and off in the year prior to that.

@Slimhopes wow, you must be so proud of yourself, that is amazing!

and then I opened my Topshop skirt from Vinted and the size 10 is extremely tight, so straight back to wanting to get a few lb off so I can wear it to work thing in a few weeks 😂. The other skirt I ordered in a 12 is too big, so this must be old school Topshop, when 10s were 10s

@DareDevil223@20bloodypounds Could you both set a different health goal which isn’t related to losing weight? So for example @DareDevil223you say you lift weights, can you challenge yourself to work up to a certain amount? Or @20bloodypounds is there any exercise you do? Something like couch to 5k might be good since it’s a goal to complete each week. Obviously you may already be a runner or equally unable to run, but you get the idea. Then you can hit those milestones and maybe you’ll get the same rush?

My current obsession to stop me thinking about losing weight is planning a more refined wardrobe now I’m pretty much having to start from scratch. I don’t have bags of cash to buy loads of stuff so I’m having to be really mindful about what I need and only buying things I love. So I’m spending a lot of time scrolling through TikTok for inspiration, Pinterest, Vinted etc. I hate exercise apart from walking the dog so this is my thing at the minute 😄

@discov thanks, that's a really great way to look at it. I might switch my focus to building muscle which needs proper fuelling. I'll give it some thought.

Thanks @discov I'm mid 60's and I know that building muscle at this age is even more important, but throughout my life I have never found an excercise I enjoy. I hate being sweaty and out of breath and I can find no motivation for it, ever, although I do walk a lot and love being outside. Running - no way! I loved tai chi, but the class leader moved away and anyway it's not exactly high impact! I tried a local dance class (for all ages) but every other person was like a 20 year old ballerina. They all had poise and rhythm, and to make it worse they all appeared to be about 5'10 tall. I'm sure they won't, but it certainly wasn't my tribe!

However... I live by the sea and we have community coastal rowing boats, so I've signed up for one of the 'try it and see' sessions. They are traditional wooden boats local to this area. Most of the regular rowers are women, and many of them are not athletic youngsters. We'll see...

My current achievement for mental clarity is sorting one drawer or cupboard every day. I did the whole freezer at the weekend. As well of all the excess baggage I carried around on my body, I also carried excess baggage in my surroundings. Kitchen cupboards that had the toxic mix of high fat healthy nuts, and sugary snacks; a wardrobe with clothes I loved but would never fit into, a few well styled investment pieces for my larger self, lots of comfy, baggy, figure hiding stuff. I am getting a sense of achievement from gradually, gradually making the changes to my environment - slimming it down

@20bloodypoundsI totally relate to the exercise thing. I do like to walk and have a mad cocker spaniel so we get out for decent walks, but I’ve also never found any other exercise I enjoy. The muscle thing does weigh on my mind though - I know I really need to work on building it up as I get older (I am 35 but time is passing very quickly!) but it’s all just so dull to me! And life is so busy that I think when will I ever have the time (unless I start getting up an hour earlier at 5am!!).

I love love love sorting through the house. I am so ruthless about getting rid of things as it makes me feel so much better. Unfortunately my DH is a collector of ‘things’ and is very disorganised so it’s such a battle. I would happily live a very minimalist lifestyle if I didn’t have DH, kids and dog!! Love the idea of slimming down your environment too 😄 I’m going to start using that.

@discov we've married the same man! Before dh I lived with my dc in a beautiful, elegant Georgian flat. It was simple - a place for everything and everything in it's place. Then he arrived bringing joy, love, adventure. And a host of daily clutter - newspapers, clothes left laying on the bedroom chair (tbf he didn't have wardrobe space at my place) and a messy, lively energy.

For a long time we had our own places and lived between the two, but when we eventually combined into one shared home he came with all his 'treasures'. Some were a library's worth of journals from his hobby - a complete archive. He'd also been an adventurous world traveller so many of his artefacts being beautiful in themselves (not all of them!), sourced from inaccessible places, authentic to their origin and to his desire to have them... But I went from clean lines and no nik-naks to momentos on very surface!

Over many years we have developed a compromise. My kitchen is uncluttered and sacrosanct. Any stuff that gathers there is quickly dispatched. We have a shared 'one-in one-out' policy. Whether that is shoes, jumpers, bicycles... If you buy a new one, one of the old ones has to go.

It helps that we have a very big garage so much of dh's prized collections can be stored there. However one day we will have to downsize...

I did a week on 7.5mg instead of 10mg and it was ok. I tried to be a bit more active at the weekend when I was visiting friends so couldn’t control what foods I ate but could control the portion size. And made a conscious effort not to snack.

I know from my fitness watch that on average I burn 1,800 calories a day so I can have occasional treats as long as I am making good choices most of the time. I did another 7.5mg this morning so hopefully week 2 of my new ‘low’ dose will be just as uneventful.

Hi, can I join the thread? It’s really inspiring to hear about how people are maintaining their losses!

I’m an October ‘24 starter and have lost 36lb (5’2”, gone from 12st 2lb to 9st 8lb) and been maintaining my new weight since April whilst still on MJ. I went up to 12.5, then titrated down to 10 and now on 7.5. I’m at the upper end of healthy BMI, but don’t want to lose much more as I’m 50 and my face needs some fat!

I didn’t have huge amount to lose (was just into the lower end of obese BMI) but I’m convinced I had insulin resistance as dieting just wouldn’t work and with MJ it suddenly did. So my plan was to titrate down to a low dose of MJ and stay on it for life if I could. I’ve been buying from Medicine Marketplace and currently have a 10 pen that I’m using for a 7.5 dose that’ll take me into late October (I’m scrupulous about storage and disinfecting). With the price rises and golden dose going too I’m now considering my options. I’ve got a maintenance appointment with Pharmulous later in the month and going to discuss switching to Wegovy and titrating down on that. Other than that, I just want to focus on maintaining healthy eating and getting into a proper weights routine (love lifting but don’t actually like being in the gym!)

I need to decide what to do as need to jab this weekend.

At goal on a 12.5 and have a 12.5, 10, 7.5 and a 5 in the fridge to titrate down. Not sure whether to try to get 6x10 out of the 12.5 and stretch to 8/9/10 days.

I’m so indecisive. Someone tell me what to do please.

Personally I’m still taking it weekly but a lower dose than the pen so getting more doses out of it and gradually reducing by a little most weeks. So if I were you @Claudette7934 I’d use the 12.5 to take something like 12 / 11.5 / 11 / 10.5 / 10. If you can be arsed with the clicks of course.

Weigh day for me after 5 weeks of maintenance, still hovering in the 150s which is the plan. Currently down to 6.8mg and feeling fine still. Long may it continue.

Yes I'm also using my 15mg pen, did 12.5, then 12 and then the rest of the pen will be 5 x 10.5mg. That seems to be fine for me so far. I have 2 x 10mg pen in fridge to go further down see how I feel with hunger and cravings to get to 5mg.
Was curious about trying wegovy because I have been exhausted from the start on mounjaro, but don't know if it's worth staying on any WLI. Depends on hunger etc But I was prediabetic wheb I started so have that concern.
My pharmacy say its better to go down doses and extend the days when you get lower down. If you are ready to go down then I would use the 12.5 to do the 10mg and see how you get on.