Oh come all ye injectors, slimmer and maintaining, oh come ye, oh come ye to Thread Number Three! For all those who've hit goal, maintaining in whatever way they can / want to / aim to etc

[MargoLivebetter]

Welcome fellow maintainers to our third thread! Tis the season to be joyful and we do have reasons to be joyful, as we are still here. Not always the perfect journey and full of treats and temptations, but we'd have nothing to talk about otherwise. So hop on the Magical Maintenance Sleigh of Wonder and lets go! (Apologies to all those reading this for the first time in March! I got a bit carried away my festive season puns.)

Welcome @BigOldBlobsy . I feel it might be time for a change of username! 😉Great to have another maintainer. Keep us posted and good luck with the TTC, when the time comes.

Welcome @BigOldBlobsy!

I think the thing I’m taking from it, is to notice patterns and to correct them quick. We’ve talked here before and I think it’s helpful to have a window of tolerance and to weigh a couple of times before you panic about gains.

over Christmas I apparently gained 6lbs, on 12.5mg of mj. A week after that I’ve lost 5 of those pounds. I’m 1lb above my target.

I am going back to tracking and protein and fibre and I’m confident that that pound won’t stick.

In previous years I might have seen a big gain and reacted emotionally and thrown the baby out with the bath water. Or I might not have weighed at all, burying my head and letting things get out of hand.

The study showed people gained 0.4kg a month. If you notice that, it’s easy to correct and lose. 18 months of that is 8kg (around) and that’s significantly harder to lose.

A lot of us gained our weight incrementally and it will be a life long battle potentially of gaining 0.4kgs and losing 0.4kgs and we just need to have a plan.

building muscle particularly for those who lost weight quickly or a significant amount will be crucial I believe. There is good evidence that while exercise doesn’t help with weight loss it absolutely does with maintenance.

Finding resistance and strength training that protects your bones, builds muscles and is sustainable is not easy but will make a big difference.

Nice the research is so indepth! 😳

Are you all still weighing yourselves regularly? I’ve been weighing on a Friday morning throughout the journey, so I did so as usual this morning and I’ve lost 3lbs this week which I have mixed feelings about. I really don’t want to lose anymore, I’m a healthy BMI but my face is looking a bit thin and I don’t want to go any lower. I have been trying to increase my calories but clearly haven’t done so enough yet. Or maybe my body is just adjusting back to the routine after a bit of Christmas indulgence? It all feels very strange, every single January of my life has been spent on a diet, trying and failing to lose weight. Now I’m trying to maintain and not lose any and failing at that too! To be trying NOT to lose weight feels very odd and I can’t really get used to it. Do you think I’d be better off weighing myself less frequently?

Yes, still weighing weekly, apart from when I'm on holiday. It's allowed me to nip things in the bud when the scale was climbing the wrong way!

Still weighing daily, it's just part of the routine now. But I don't really pay much attention to the individual numbers and go off a weekly average.

@MummyInTheNecropolis sounds like keeping to your weighing schedule is a good idea as it will give you up to date numbers and allow you to adjust? Sounds like you haven't quite got your maintenance dose/diet dialled in yet, which is entirely normal as most of us here are still trying to get ours figured out. Maybe this week add in a few more calories, some healthy fats can make a difference without much food volume change?

Just Catching up. I managed to maintain over Christmas despite an increase in wine! Finished a one and decided to move down again this week to 3.75 from 5. Think I’ve done at least 6 weeks on 5. Or maybe stay in 5. Not fully decided!

I’ve been worried about the reports of weight gain, but also I’ve never been more determined to stay slim. I think the difference is I’ve never actually got to goal weight before, so usually yo-yo from a mid point.

My exercise has suffered a bit over holidays, I did still run and do weights but only a couple of times. Trying to fit it in to life is the struggle for me, as well as dc, dog walks, work and seeing DP (we don’t live together). I run and do weights, but I’m not allowed to lift heavy due to a heart condition. And not allowed to run marathons.

I’ve come to accept that I will stay on MJ for years or even life if necessary. I’m on a long waiting list for adhd assessment and think the MJ also helps with general brain noise. I’d never be able to take adhd meds due to my heart, so maybe this is an alternative.

Weighing daily mostly (stopped in December whilst eating like a crazy person as I was sticking my head in the sand). I changed my scales to kg as I don't really know what it means, where as stones and pounds is more emotive for me.
I'm over my target but within my range (just). I definitely need the scales to start going down rather than up now.

@MummyInTheNecropolis I weigh weekly and I still log calories. My calorie limit is1600 to maintain, with one day a week of going over just so life isn't too tedious. If I don't log calories I end up going over 1600 far too often.

@FoxRedPuppy well done for maintaining over Christmas. It is such a difficult time of year from an eating perspective. Interesting about the GLP potentially helping a bit with the brain noise from your ADHD.

@tinyemmy have you got a plan? I can't remember if you are still taking any WLI or if you cold turkeyed?

I lasted jabbed 22 December. Although I was putting on weight before this with December eating, so it wasn't because I've stopped mj that I put weight on. I spent around 6 months on 2.5mg (highest 5mg). I stopped so I could go onto ADHD medication, which I have now started a low amount.
I'm also doing slimming world to try and reduce the weight I've gained and sometimes plug it into nutracheck too. I prefer the non counting element of slimming world, although I know some people aren't fans.
I'm hoping that the ADHD medication (and being aware of my weight) will help me maintain but if not I have a Pharmulous pen in the fridge and a year left to order with them (pen arrived 7 Jan)

@MummyInTheNecropolis I don't log officially, but tend to stick around 1500/1600 cals daily averaged over the week. With less at the start, and more on the weekend. I don't account for any exercise cals, but do exercise 5-6 times per week. When I first came off I did track properly to find the sticking point between losing, and maintaining and gaining. I had to average 900 cals per day to lose and although I was doing weights it was more like 3-4 times per week. I'm a shortie.

Sounds like you are all over it @tinyemmy . As for Slimming World, whatever works for you! I've come to realise that there is no "right" standard way for any of this. It is what's right for the person doing it.

Like @CrazyGoatLady i weigh daily (when home) but don’t pay too much attention to daily fluctuations, rather the weekly average. I fluctuate a good couple of kilos across the month and even just day to day, so weighing just once a week would give too random results and stress me more.

Thanks @MargoLivebetter for reminding me about the new thread - doh! Xx

@Fluffypiece jolly well done on getting back on it; thanks for sharing, inspiring!

@MummyInTheNecropolis yes I weigh every Friday an Increased my daily 1200 to 1800 as that’s what my tdee said to add an extra 600c daily and still lost weigh for a few months

still log calories on mfp daily

I’m now on 2.5 and def feel hungerier

sorry I can’t rem if you stopped or reducing

@FoxRedPuppy similar. Was on 5 for a while and dropped to 2.5 last week

Thank you for all of the advice. I think I will carry on weighing weekly for now and just accept that I might continue to lose while finding my maintenance dose and calories. I actually haven’t reduced my dose yet, I hit target on 19th December, and had my last 10mg jab on 27th. I have a 7.5 pen ready to go but haven’t jabbed yet as I tend to space my doses out and have them every 12-14 days to save money (I know this isn’t recommended but it’s worked for me so far).

i am still tracking my food and have increased my calories by about 200 a day but i guess I need to try to go up a bit more. I’m sure this will be easier once I’m on the lower doses.

In the book Weightless written by a doctor with amazing knowledge of weight loss medication, she says micro dosing or taking injections spaced out for maintenance is fine. And she understands people may need to do this because of the cost. $1000 a month in the USA.

I weigh every day. I need the accountability- I am very reluctant to stand on the scales if it’s been a few days so I’ve just made it part of my routine - get up, pee, strip and weigh! I hope that eventually the daily fluctuations will stop bothering me!

I don’t track calories though. I just can’t - I get really obsessed and I don’t want to be a person who weighs out their tomato ketchup… also one of my teens has anorexia so she needs to see me eating without fear and respecting my hunger cues. My portion sizes have gone up a little since I lowered my dose of MJ but I still keep my carbs to a very small portion and listen hard for my full signals so I know when to stop eating.

Thank you, that is good to know.

What does your tdee say for maintaining

200c a day didn’t seem a lot

No I know, I definitely need to eat more but I’m struggling to, I will need to lower my dose I think to be able to eat more: I don’t really know how many calories I should be eating, I’ve tried a couple of online calculators and they give different results but all around 2000 calories a day which seems way too much and I don’t think I’d physically be able to eat that much! Certainly not at the moment anyway.

I’ve noticed lately that the things I want to eat can vary a lot day to day now. It’s like I eat a balanced diet across a week, but not across a day.

For example, for the last three days I was just obsessed with citrus fruit and similar. Oranges, kumquats, kiwis, physalis… salad with oranges in, more oranges, endives with oranges… I had protein too, my usual chocolate protein powder in coffee plus prawns and chicken in my salads, fish for supper. But basically a vitamin C fest.

Then this evening I had several slices of baguette with butter with the soup I’d made. I hardly ever eat carbs or butter now, but I really felt like it. Was still only like 1/6 of a baguette, but felt like a lot nowadays. Yesterday I wouldn’t have contemplated it, and probably tomorrow I’ll be onto something else.

Maybe because I eat much less than before, so it’s all sort of spread out over a longer time?

I’ve mostly been eating quite planned meals in the 13 months I’ve been on MJ, so maybe it’s relaxing that which is making this pattern more evident.

https://lastwordonnothing.com/2016/01/11/infant-food/
It sounds like you are eating how humans are supposed to eat. This is a study of how infants manage their own diet without interference from adults and no ultra-processed foods.

Well that sounds very sensible, @Merlin23! I’ll make sure the foods on offer to myself in fridge and cupboards are basically nutritious, and let my preferences wander.

I did think it was interesting in pregnancy that I craved black pudding, something I’d never normally eat.

Suppose I’ve really needed vitamin c this week.