September 25 starters thread2 - gliding into autumn

[outofofficeagain]

We go (vy) again …

Week 7 weigh in:
SW 131.6kg
CW 122.5kg

So down 0.4kg or about 1lb this week. Not too bad as still have a cold plus my period, so haven't been swimming or walked as much as normal. Haven't scoffed chocolate like I normally would on my period, and haven't missed it either :)

I'm down 20lbs since starting MJ, which I'm very happy about!

Injected my thigh this time. Did have the slight skin reaction again despite letting the pen warm up before using it, but again nothing that really bothered me. It wasn't as red as last time, so I will try thigh again this week.

Let's go! Wonder how much we will all have lost by Christmas. Anyone have any goals set?

After 4 weeks and 4 jabs I’m 11lbs down, which I’m pretty happy with.

Went up to 3.75mg for my fifth jab and the suppression is noticeably stronger. I also feel slightly nauseous at times. Yesterday was my first social eating out occasion since I started, and I had the full English (it was brunch), thought it was sensible to go for something high protein. I managed to eat it most of it (think I still have ‘must clear my plate’ psychology), although left most of the toast, but then didn’t have anything at all for the rest of the day so calories wise I should have been comfortably under for the day.

Wow, your 20lb loss in 6 weeks is very impressive, well done.

I don’t have any specific weight goals as I have a huge amount to lose and it might put me off! But I do want to lose as much weight as possible in order to have knee replacement surgery, hence starting with Mounjaro after already losing close to 2 stone by dieting. Ideally I want one knee sorted before the end of this year and the second one done by March at the latest.

My second goal is to be a lot thinner and to not need to use two walking sticks to walk at my son’s wedding in May 2026. He has asked me to be a witness so I need to look good in front of my ex husband - the guy who had an affair with my friend because I was too fat!

I’m on my way to my first goal and will be booking an appointment soon to see the consultant again.

@SoUncertain I’d like to be in the 11s again by my tenth wedding anniversary just before Christmas. I’m eating for more like a 1lb/ week loss though and currently high 12s - so I’m not pinning all my hopes on it. Also have a mini target of being in the lower half of the 12 stone bracket by the time I present at a conference in the third week of November but again not too fussed if I don’t make it as long as I’m still slowly losing.

Has anyone done any progress photos by the way?? I weighed at 12 stone 9.5lbs on Friday, which is a stone off, but I was feeling like I couldn’t really see a difference so I retook the exact same photo I did to get my first prescription. It was quite an eye opener as there was a very visible difference!! So that was nice.

Well done!

I have experienced the skin reaction since moving up too. Interestingly, I decided to see if it could be mitigated by applying pressure to the injection site this week. I used a cotton pad and just pressed on the area for around 5 mins. I have bruised slightly, but not the quite large, red area that I had the last few times. Could be worth a go?

Weigh day for me!

SW: 19st 1lb
CW: 17st 2.5lb

-2lb this week, which I really can't complain about at all!

Soooo close to 2st!! It's painful to have slowed down at this point, especially because it feels like it's 'not my fault.' I'm still struggling with being less active in the recovery phase from the sciatica. I have ongoing numbness in my left leg, which is making walking slow and tricky. I am using a crutch as I am very unsteady, but determined to be up and about! Have walked the dog round the block with DH a few times, and wandered around shops. We are going for a swim tomorrow and I'd like to try and do 250m (a third of what I'd worked up to before 😔) just to get back to it.

Still on 3.75mg, but I feel like the food noise is creeping in again and suppression not quite where it used to be. I think I'll go up to 5mg from the GD I have left in my 5mg pen.

Then it's onto the 7.5mg pen, where I am hoping to stick to 5mg! I'd desperately like to stick on 5mg for the rest of the time, because I think I've responded well to the MJ so far and 5mg is so much cheaper.

@Ihateslugs epic revenge motivation as a bonus to the knee surgery! Blimey imagine everyone’s faces, superb!

in terms of goals I’m hoping to be about half a stone from my goal weight by Xmas, then should be at goal by end of January. If all goes to plan. I really hope it does work like that. I know it’s not fully a downward trend with the same loss each week, but I couldn’t help but map out the weights I should be if I stay focused on what I’m doing. And that’s what it shows me doing. So far I’m tracking to that plan. Notably the week I didn’t was the week I had a party and ate a tonne of bread and treats

Hi all, coming to the end of my 3rd week and no supression really for the last few weeks and weight loss is really slow 4.2lbs in 3 weeks. Do you think it would be ok to move up a dose a week early? Possibly to 3.75mg rather than going straight to 5mg? What are your thoughts on this? x

Hey all. Hope you’re doing well. I’m so desperate to break through into the 11’s but that pesky 1.4lb just won’t move!! Going to try and up my exercise this week and see if that will do the trick. Starting to think of the Xmas parties coming up and also have my 10yr wedding anniversary which we’re hoping to go away on a spa break. So far only OH has noticed my weight loss…waiting for friends and family to notice….

Do BMI charts differ? For a while I know people said they were old-fashioned and based on a previous generation’s body shape and size, but obviously they are now being used when prescribing these meds.
I am trying to give myself a reasonable healthy end target weight and not sure where to pitch it.
When I first did Weight Watchers nearly 30 years ago I think my target was 11 stone (I am 5 foot 4 and a half) and I never got down past 11.5 and got disheartened.
Over the past year I have gone from 14.5 stone to 13 using 16:8 and willpower and have lost another 12lb over the past 5 weeks on MJ.
When I look at a BMI chart it says I need to get to 10.3 to be healthy but I was again aiming for 11 stone.
Am I reading the chart wrong? They are tiny on my phone and I have aging eyes 🤣 Also does it matter which chart I use?

I use the NHS chart to calculate my BMI as that’s the one my doctor and the Orthopaedic Consultant use.

I’ve managed to reduce my BMI by 4.9 to 39.4 - still obese but moved down the obese categories which is something! The consultant I saw three years ago told me to reduce my BMI rather than lose weight, but short of adding a few inches to my height, there nothing that will lower it other than lose weight! My height is reducing with age!

I had the same problem. I took my 4th dose of 2.5mg, 2 days early and the suppression was good in week 4.

Technically you’re not meant to increase dose until after 4 weeks but that’s more to do with side effects. I did find when I did my first dose of 3.75mg at week 5 that I felt rough for 3 days. I had no side effects on 2.5. But have been fine since, just something to keep in mind if you do decide to increase, particularly early.

Thank you I’ll definitely keep that in mind x

Can I join please? Originally started in Jan but came off it after 3 months and losing 2 stone because of the financial cost. After putting back on 1 stone over the summer I feel it is probably worth the cost. I started again 6 weeks ago and friday was my first 5mg dose , I have lost the stone but have spent the weekend feeling freezing cold and nauseous. I am having to force myself to eat and feel weak. Any tips on what to eat when feeling nauseous to keep up nutritional requirements would be good.

OK, tonight will be a test after I injected my 7th dose on Friday night. My episodes of explosive diarrhoea have previously happened on the second night after the injection, ie tonight! So far so good!

I am now beginning to get some food suppression in that over the past three days I have not felt like finishing a meal. I don’t feel bloated, just that I can’t be bothered eating anymore - a bit weird really. It’s more savoury foods I leave unfinished, I still enjoy a bowl of Greek yogurt with fruit afterwards although I did prepare a huge bowl of dried fruits, dates, sugar free granola and a few almonds, all topped with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup. I struggled to finish it but as it was a constipation busting bowl I carried on - I’m not sure which is worse, constipation which I’ve had since Monday or the possibility of triggered the runs tonight!

What do you think about my meal choices? I’ve eaten mainly salads with a variety of proteins up to now but have been looking at warn options now it’s getting near winter. The first photo is the bowl of creamy chicken and Parmesan with noodles I made for the first time tonight from the Fast 800 website. It was delicious but the second photo shows how much I left, although I made sure I ate all the chicken. I made two portions so added the left overs to what’s in the fridge for tomorrow, The next photo shows the Greek yogurt and fruit dish I had afterwards, I did force all of it down to hopefully help with the constipation I had this week, I do feel very full now and did not have the kiwi fruit. My chicken was less than 500 calories, even though it had a little double cream in the sauce! My desert worked out at around 250 calories as I only had small amounts of the fruit, nuts and granola.

So as I did not have breakfast and lunch was only a homemade healthy cookie with some popcorn ( good to get the bowels moving!) with a small packet of quavers (86 cals), I am well within my calorie allowance of 1400 per day - it works out at under 1200 calories.

I use an App called ReciMe to save recipes, it can extract info from a screenshot, a photo or a YouTube clip and I can also directly share recipes from websites into the App. I have paid for a years subscription ( I think around £30) which I feel is worth it but I don’t plan to renew it once I saved enough recipes for the future.

I would love to hear about dishes that you have made to give me healthy ideas.

Photos might be poor quality as my phone will no longer synch to my iPad so I had to do screenshots! Also you will have to wait for them to be approved!

@Ihateslugs it sounds like you’re finally getting the suppression from your jabs. Well done on persevering. 👏

Yesterday I made a roast veg curry for dinner for the family which went down well. I made a basic yoghurt and self raising flour nan as I didn’t have any spinach or feta cheese.

Might try that, I like to make enough to pop a meal in the freezer for later.

I’d just use the NHS BMI calculator: https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-body-mass-index/calculate-bmi-for-adults

Once you’ve got your current BMI on that there is a thing you can click to get your healthy range.

Where you want to sit within that range is up to you and your doctor - depending on your frame, if you are very muscly etc - and just want feels right for you.

@Ihateslugs did you have another episode or make it through this time?

I think your food looks lovely. I think about trying to get my 5 a day and plenty of protein (not measuring the protein though), and always try to make sure I’m making myself food I find appealing.

I’m going to try this roast veg/ whipped feta recipe I saw in the paper a couple of weeks ago this week (attached). I’m looking for a really nice dhal recipe too now as that’s a great one for autumn, and high protein. There’s a BBC Good Food recipe for potato scones and smoked salmon which is really easy and we quite often have that for a midweek dinner, with sugar snap peas. My kids love it and it only takes 15 mins to make, it would be easy to make as a single portion too.

Thanks, that does indeed think I should be aiming for the lower end of the 10s!

I don’t want to say this too soon but I think I’ve had my first side effect free injection! For the previous six weeks, the diarrhoea or constipation began on day 2 after injecting, it’s now day 3 after my 7th injection and I feel fine!

I’ve probably jinxed things now but it’s quite a triumph for me!

Oh, fingers crossed that you stay fine, @Ihateslugs. You've carried on through so much that you deserve to start being able to relax and get the benefits.

I'm using Louise Parker's recipe books. Her food is delicious and tastes like restaurant quality! Sometimes I take pics of my platefuls for 'My Meals' on Nutra Check, all beautifully presented and very flavourful, and I can hardly believe I was the one who cooked them.

Having sampled this way of eating I'm even less inclined to go back to the way I ate before. I'm enjoying my food, and since I ditched all the sugar and UPF I'm convinced I can taste it better. It does require more commitment to actually cook, but not so much as you might think and it does quickly becomes habit. One of my favourite meals of fish with a bean stew (sounds hideous but it's actually divine, cooked with plenty of lemon juice) takes only minutes to prepare.

Basically her method is holistic, sort of a fancier version of eat less, move more, but urges you to look after your wellbeing at the same time. Her programme also privileges better sleep and stress-busting activities like meditation.

I really rate her. Lost 16 lbs now since I started and I'm sure this has helped.

Thankyou for the recommendation. Which of her books is best to buy?