Newbie questions

[TheHappyHedgehog]

I did my first MJ injection yesterday early afternoon. Felt rough by the evening and went to bed at 8pm. Truly shocked by how not hungry and not wanting food I am today. Feel fine just don’t want to eat!

So newbie Qs…

What is the best/easiest app to track food/calories? Should I even bother?

All I could fancy today was slim fast shake. Is it ok to have meal replacement shakes if you don’t fancy food?

Does the hunger/fancying food come back a bit - if so after how long? If I still feel like this in a week, can I delay the next injection until I need it or do you have to do it after exactly a week?

What is the best/easiest app to track food/calories? Should I even bother?

Up to you. If you are finding it hard to eat then I would track just to make sure you are getting 800 to 1000 cals if you can. Nutracheck tends to get good reviews, MyFitnessPal is ok, probably lots of others!

Is it ok to have meal replacement shakes if you don’t fancy food?

Something is definitely better than nothing, if you are finding the suppression high. Try to eat some food if you can, even if in very small quantities.

Does the hunger/fancying food come back a bit - if so after how long?

Yes, the effects tend to peak after 8 to 72 hours, and then fade over the rest of the week.

If I still feel like this in a week, can I delay the next injection until I need it or do you have to do it after exactly a week?

Yes you can delay your next injection by a day or two if you are still feeling very strong suppression. You can get dose tracking apps (Shotsy, DoseDiary etc) where you can enter the date/time/dose of your injection and it will show an estimate of the levels in your system which can be interesting and help you map the suppression to the estimated dose level.

Jump onto one of the regular monthly threads.

They're v helpful.

If no current one, lurk on the previous month.

Loads of support and advice.
Im on the June one

Well done on taking the first step! It’s different for everyone but you can find so much support and advice on this board. Definitely join the October starters thread - my monthly one has been the best support.

i decided not to track - some find it essential I think it’s all dependent on how you eat and why you get overweight. For me it was all about the snacking and carbs and as soon as I started MJ neither was an issue anymore. I eat healthy, focus far more on protein than in the past and have lost steadily without counting a single calorie. Saying that I do weigh daily which isn’t for everyone but I prefer understanding the fluctuations and genuinely don’t worry when it wobbles up now as I know it will come back down again.

some will say no to the shakes but I settled into a routine quite quickly of a slimfast for breakfast and then normal smaller healthy lunch and dinner. I tried the huel type protein shakes but really disliked them. I don’t wake up wanting breakfast so a slimfast makes sure I start the day with some nutrition even if it is synthetic it’s a guaranteed start with some protein and vitamins. Occasionally if I’ve felt queasy after a jab/dose increase I’ve used them to substitute other meals but very rarely.

When you initially start I would strongly recommend following the dosing schedule as it’s designed knowing the half life to build up gradually. If the effect is still strong after 4 weeks on 2.5mg there is no need to go up. Many never do or only after quite a while. I’ve lost almost 4 stone since March and never went above 5mg.

the food enjoyment does come back - just adjusted to much smaller portions of the things you love. I do now mostly avoid creamy greasy food but can manage a little with care. Months 1-3 I barely ate cheese, now I have been often again it’s varied across the months.

good luck and well done on making this change. It’s been nothing short of life changing for me.

Thank you for the tracking app suggestion. I’ve downloaded Shotsy. It seems that i would need the paid version to see the estimated levels in my system - is that correct?

Personally I would recommend following the dosage schedule in the beginning. At a later stage when you understand how the medication affects you then you might want to adjust when you inject. It’s a prescription medicine and you should treat it as such and follow the guidelines, at least in the beginning. Just my view, others may advise differently.

@TheHappyHedgehog ah, sorry, I use DoseDiary so I'm not sure about what's free and what's not in Shotsy.