May 2025 Starters Thread 7 - Ending the year as we mean to go on ✌️

[FlorenceNightshade]

A sparkly new thread for our chatty gang!

It does feel like other people have only just noticed my weight loss and I agree it's good to be able to wear clothes that fit me well.
I still look in the mirror and see that I'm too fat - it makes no sense; I've lost 4 stones in 10 months and I'm going to keep going until I've lost another. I would like to fit into a size 14 easily and be around 22.5 BMI.
I feel so much better than this time last year and hope I can increase my fitness by being more active. Once I'm happy with my weight I'll slowly reduce my dose from 5mg but I doubt I'll be able to give up altogether.

My view at work today. Looking out at my elderly horse. Enough to lift the morale!

Didn’t add the photo!

Oh wow. That’s stunning.

What a view from the 'office'!

Hi everyone! It is nice to read everyone’s updates and see familiar names! Lots of positive news (holidays, NSVs, sunny weather and new clothes!). It is heartwarming!

I guess i kind of grew bored of it all around nov/dec when my weight was stagnating… Then end of Feb i started reducing my dose to 1mg a week… ive realised that despite all the positives lifestyle changes i have made, i am not ready to stop.
i am still the same weight as i was in Nov, that is 77kg (BMI 28) i thought i was happy with that weight… but the good weather and the pressure of an upcoming trip to the sun as well as a depressing session of trying out swimsuits in john lewis, have made me want to up my dose again, lose that last stone and finally reach a healthy BMI. Part of me is a bit disappointed to actually want a lower weight so i can look better in a swimsuit, the other part of me rationalise that i am still overweight and it is ok to lose a bit more….
From reading your updates, it seems that a couple of you are also trying to shift that last stone…

Hello all ! ( waves across the miles from Cyprus ).
All great here - the sun is shining, WiFi sorted, the house and garden are cleaned/ pruned/ hosed down and I’m sat under the lemon tree with an iced coffee and a Philippa Gregory novel.
Trying for lots of walking, and a few moderate days before we go to DD and SiL’s on Friday for the food fest that is the Orthodox Easter.
Can’t wait to see everyone !!!!!

@Placestogo I too was stagnating in December - I kickstarted losing again by joining the Low Carb bootcamp - I didn’t lose much on it overall as the diet wasn’t much different to my usual one but I’ve had steady losses since. I’m hoping I continue to lose a couple of lbs a month.

@Gingercar Your posts made me smile. So nice to hear. I fear we are all going to have a lovely summer being comfortable and more confident in our bodies than we have been for some time. Oh dear, how terrible, how will we cope 😅

Just caught up with you all. I love that we are all doing so well, I started on May 19th so almost a year and what a year it has been.
@DidILeaveTheGasOn so pleased your knee is healing well and you are back on track
@Gingercar I have also been brave enough to tuck a shirt into jeans, I never thought I would have the courage to that ever again, what a good feeling!
I am now nearly at goal, but not sure what goal should be. My weighing scales app tells me I should be 52kg but I will never see that!
SW 82kg
BMI 32
CW 62kg
BMI 25
My goal was always my BMI, I know it is just a number but I would love it not to be in the over weight category! My first goal was to get under 10st and I am now 9.7st. But thinking I should maybe get to 9st which would be 57kg.
Just had my 67 birthday and my scales say I have the body of a 68 year old!!! Maybe I shouldn’t of bought them!
Pretty scared of maintaining though so maybe this is why I don’t want to come down a dose yet, I am currently on 12.5.
How are the rest of you lovely bunch thinking of managing maintenance?
I love this group, even when I don’t post I like to catch up with all the gossip. I can’t imaging us all dropping out x

Hi @Kbr22 sounds like you’re doing really well. I can’t imagine having a healthy bmi. Mine is still 29 and I’m in a size 14. I only want to drop another stone then stop, which will keep me mid range of over weight. But I’ll be a size 12 hopefully so that will do me. I’ve no aim of being a size 8.

Im planning on staying at a similar amount/type of food and slowly increasing it if need be.

Interestingly I took my jab five days late this week, initially because I forgot and then I decided to wait a couple more days to see if any food noise rushed in. I don’t think MJ stops the food noise much for me, nor my appetite, and I am pleased to say that nothing happened. BUT… I have put 4lbs on this week for no reason, so perhaps that might be inflammation- some people say it increases when you stop. I’m not panicking or getting down about it because I know it can’t be a real gain from what I’m eating, so I’m watching with interest to see what happens now. I did jab last night. Thankfully I’ve had tons of people commenting about how much weight I’ve lost and how healthy I look this week, so that’s helped keep me grounded.

I was thinking - we have a few weeks to chat more and fill up our thread so we can start a brand new one for our first year anniversary in May….

Gosh @Kbr22 what an update. I can't wait to have a healthy BMI, mine is 29 (relentlessly twinning with @Gingercar). Huge congrats!
I have some super complicated work to do and my brain will not sit down and get it done. Let it be the weekend already. Tomorrow I'm hoping to put lots of size 18 clothes on Vinted, I bought a few things lately in a 14 that don't fit yet but I'm hopeful for summer. I need to fund my shopping habit and sell some bigger things.

@Kbr22 i can share my (small) experience of maintenance.
i never jabbed more than 2.5mg every 5 days. I stagnated in nov/dec and i thought it was because of the holiday season. But i stagnated in jan/feb too. I was kind of happy with my weight despite being a BMI 27. I had lost 3 stones. I decided to start tapering down and went from 2.5mg every 5 days to 1.25mg every 7 days. Initially things felt fine and if i noticed more food noise, i felt i wasnt eating too much extra. A bit extra but no himgeing or mindless snacking. Maybe two biscuits with a cup of tea instead of of none, a slightly larger serving at dinner time, a 2nd glass of wine in the evening, breakfast everyday…. I felt like eating like a normal person ad opposed to not eating much when on MJ.
weight started to creep up, food noise started to increase and soon i felt i wasnt in control of my eating anymore. I kept opening the fridge and the cupboard. In 6 weeks i put on 1kg. My energy levels dropped off too which meant i couldnt drag muself to the gym. The weather didnt help but there is only so much i can blame on the weather!! I have had to accept that i am not special, i am not going to be one of those who can come off MJ and maintain with a bit of willpower. I have to accept i will have to remain on it for life. Once i accepted that i jabbed 1.25mg every 5 days and my energy levels have come up again (along with the nice weather?) Last week i lost 0.5kg. This week i am off work, i ate really well and went to the gym four times already. I am expecting another 0.5kg loss.
i wonder if, with the nice weather i can remain at 1.25mg evry 5 days and next winter i’ll increase to 2mg.
i am conscious i am very licky to have a great effect at a low dose. DP who satrted a few weeks after me is “stuck” at 12.5mg. He is also under a lot of stress at work so that doesnt help. Maybe if he had a more relaxed lifestyle (looking at you the retired people!!)he would be able to look after himself a bit more and go down to 10 or 7.5mg. He tried to stop cold turkey and regain a bit in a month. He started again where he had stopped.
sorry if this is not very positive news. Maybemy attempt at maintaining was badly timed as February/march are awful months, the weather gets to me so much…
in another news, i ordered some size 12 denim shorts on vinted and they fit me perfectly well! Im going to a girls trip to greece soon and i’ll make sure i’ll flaunt my new body!!

@Kbr22 I'm a bit older than you - hit 72 last month - and I'm certainly not asking my scales what age they think I am.
I started on May 1st at 14st 8lb and am now 10st. My BMI is about 27 and I'm happy with that.

I'm a 12 or 14 top half and a 10 or 12 bottom half and - blushes - I think I look pretty good so long as I have my clothes on. My DH isn't very observant....

I'm maintaing on 3mg every 10- 11 days.
My only niggle is that the pain in my knee has just returned. It disappeared after the first week on MJ. It can bugger off again as soon as it likes

Good luck with maintenance. I think the answer is to have learnt new eating habits whilst using the jabs. I never went above 7.5 and now feel that I'm using my better eating habits rather than relying on the jabs. Fingers are crossed.

Cant believe it’s almost time for our first anniversary! Where has all the time gone? I’m so jealous of those of you at maintenance now, think I’m getting tired of all the jabbing and ready to dose down. Still not sure whether stopping MJ is the right thing so keep procrastinating. I’ve lost about 3.5st down to BMI 24 this week and in a comfortable size 14(possibly 12 but haven’t bought any that size yet). Thinking I’ll wait til next month to make a decision about whether to stop.

You sound like you’re pretty much there yourself @WhynotJanet.
Isn’t it weird that my bmi is just out of the obese range yet I’m also a comfortable size 14, heading towards 12.

And hey ladies, who gives a stuff how old some scales think you are! As if they have the faintest idea.

But yes one year on nearly. And whatever ups and downs we’ve had, we’re all a fraction of our former selves.

I'm a dress size bigger @Gingercar, I am a 14 on top but definitely still a 16 on bottom, despite having Mounjaro bum. I feel like my arms and legs take longer to slim down than the rest of me.

I ordered size 14 and size 12 dresses from Vinted this week and they are both gorgeous. I'm wondering if I'll be in them by maybe July/August? I'm unsure. It took so long to go from an 18 to a 16 on my bottom half, I wonder if I'd been fibbing to myself about actually being an 18 and that's why it took so long. Hoping to see some change soon, although I'm still relieved the knee op weight didn't stay on permanently.

I was definitely fibbing that I was as an 18 at the start. I was cramming myself into an 18 but I was definitely a 20. I was lying to myself.

I think I’ll be off the jabs by July, whether I’m done or not, and am hoping I’ll be another stone and dress size down, but I’m crossing my fingers and not holding my breath! Especially after the undeserved gain this week.
i really hope this little gain is gone by next week- it’s my last session of the prediabetes course after 10 months and they weigh us. I’d like to be as low as I have been. It gets recorded for our medical records. Nearly 40 people started the course. There were ten of us last month.

Sorry, meant to say, fingers crossed you fit in the 12 by then @DidILeaveTheGasOn

I’m not far off and yeah I’m tall so guess that helps in terms of BMI but believe it or not I’m still in the overweight range, based on my ethnicity. I used to get so hung up on it but coming round to thinking sod it, done well as it is so does it really matter.

Our thread is having a flurry of excitement!!! Yay! So great to hear everyone’s updates! Feel like we should all rock up at @Gingercar ’s coffee spot on our year anniversary to celebrate! That would be hilarious!

I’ve just placed what I think is my last ever order of 2x7.5mg pens. I’m going to up to 7.5 for the next month then tirate down with the second pen. Might need one more 2.5 after that but let’s see. Weighed this morning and was 169.8lbs - first time I’ve seen the 160s since I got married in 2012! Total 59lbs lost so far. Never thought I’d get this far. Need to up the exercise (to any at all…) this week. And in other unexpectedly good news, I got my skipping rope out yesterday and it didn’t hurt my boobs with the bouncing! Whoop!

Here’s a random question: do we think it’s easier to wear heels now that we’re lighter??? I’ve never been able to walk in thin heels but then I’ve always been big (I go over on my ankles easy too). Do we think this might change now that I’m 59lbs down???

I don’t know really. That is random! I used to wear heals a lot, had to for work, but haven’t since I stopped flying 6 years ago. If I do I tend to wear wedges. But our balance ought to be better as we get leaner. Why not go into town and try a few, test out your theory?

And yay to all coming to my coffee box! I’d love it. But if we ever do a meet up my vote is for Elsie’s place in Cyprus. 😀. Or HKG - how about breakfast at Stanley market and a day at repulse Bay?

In other news, I’ve only got the weekend to get through and then life can get back to reality and I’ll have some time to myself. I’ve worked every day throughout the school holidays and I’m exhausted.