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.)

Ooh, I'd missed that there was a new thread, did wonder why it was so quiet on the previous one. Now I've got a lot of catching up to do - there goes the rest of my afternoon!

Just ordered with oushk, £250 with my oushk points for 12.5 if they approve my order. It’s been a little while as I’ve had a stockpile. I’ve uploaded everything and it made me book a verification call for some reason.

What happened to you going down to 10 😛😛
or will you be counting clicks

Counting clicks! It’s cheaper isn’t it? I counted clicks today, I think I did 11mg, sometimes I did a double click and I got so bored counting 🤣
im going to do three weeks at 11, then three weeks at 10, 9, 8 etc. if I am managing my maintenance and get off my couple of pounds of festive fluff.

I went in to Aldi but forgot to look at the ready meals. Grr. Next week!

Yes deffo. I was doing 5 from a 10 and now 2.5 from it

so if I manage 2.5 it will be cheaper

but I’m still thinking about going back to 5

but will do all of jan like I said and see what happens

I am def experiencing hungry

so lucky people like nippy can do 5 tops

i did 3.75 from a new 5 yesterday. I do get hungry, but I just ignore it. I seem better able to manage hunger now. But then I still have MJ in my system. Not sure what it will be like when I don’t.

I feel the same. I'm going to try and go down to 2.5mg from 5mg this week I get hungry but I am good at ignoring it. I also struggle to eat over 1000 calories. I need to gradually eat more.

Not surprised you get hungry on 1,000 calories. I’ve never managed to get that low. Add more protein and fibre to help you feel full. Add 100 calories a day per week and see how your weight moves (or doesn’t)

I am on 70-80g protein. I only get hungry before lunch as I don't eat breakfast. I've always done brunch! I can't eat early. My tdee is only 1250 calories so 1000 calories isnt much of a deficit. I still have a few pounds to lose. I have body composition scales and my muscle mass is good and I'm still losing fat.

god I wish I could struggle to eat 1000 a day

I eat 3 meals. Always have

The hunger thing is interesting. I find hunger relatively easy to manage. I feel it and know it is there and know that it is a signal I probably should have something to eat fairly soon, but then I can crack on and not think about it until the feeling occurs again.

Food noise is a whole other story for me. It is like incessant noisy chatter inside my mind and it is totally unrelated to hunger, in that it is not a physical sensation, although it feels kind of itchy and fidgety. I still can't work out if it is physiological or psychological because the MJ is so helpful with it. If it were just psychological then the MJ shouldn't make any difference. I find myself mulling this over a fair bit!!!!

@MargoLivebetter on WLI so much that we thought belonged to the world of psychology or emotion or moral strength turns out to be just chemical!

@ShrankLastWinter yup! They have been such a revelation. As for "moral strength" and will power, well they are such a joke! I always felt sympathetic towards addicts or those with compulsions but I do even more so now.

Good morning everyone. After being with Ousch for ages I ordered my last pen from Pharmulous. Because I am using a 10 mg for 7.5 dose this means I am not ordering every 4 weeks. Anyone ordered from them with a gap like this? Any advice? I don't need to order until mid February. I think there was another pharmacy someone recommended that was a similar price. I always like to have one pen 'in stock'

Hello everyone, hope it’s ok for me to join.
I’m on the Jan25 starters thread (waves to @Thelittlestranger) which is fab and so supportive but thought it would be great to talk to those of you who have been maintaining for a while.
I’ve lost just over 5 1/2 stone and actually when I look at my spreadsheet, have been maintaining since the end of August, which I’m super chuffed about! Max dose I went up to was 10, and I’ve been on 7.5 spaced across 12 daysish for the past 3 months. I was on holiday over Christmas and put a few pounds on, but most of that has gone now after a focus on protein, water etc.
I calorie count religiously at least for now, and I’m a daily weigher. I’d love to lose 5 more pounds to say I’ve lost 6 stone, ridiculous as that sounds!
This year my focus is definitely in exercise, I’m in week 4 of c25k, have just discovered and love reformer Pilates and I’m doing a weekly weights session at home. Need to tone up and reading up, exercise seems key for maintaining. I’ve never been a great exerciser other than walking, so this is all new for me!
At the moment I’ve no plans to come off mj, I’ve got a 10mg pen in the fridge and 2 5s, may go for 10 next to see if I can get to 6 stone and then titrate down, eventually I’d love to be on 2.5.

anyway sorry that was long! Great to meet you all!

@Azuresky68 Pharmulous haven't liked it when I left it more than 5 weeks between orders. Basically I had to start from scratch again. For me that's fine because I'm fine with a 2.5 pen, but if you are on a higher pen that may be annoying. @Blondeshavemorefun uses them too. She may have more info.

@26inprogress welcome! Good to have you here and read about your fantastic weight loss and how well it is all going so far. Sounds like you have a plan to work towards. Keep us posted on how you get on.

Someone suggested Swift were ok with 8 week gaps but I personally have ordered every 4-5 weeks.

I’m using 5mg, I figure at some point I’ll take a gap in ordering and then I”ll have one 2.5mg pen after the gap.

If they make you buy 2.5, can you then order a 5 etc after that?

Yes, you can.

So I guess it’s best to try and taper to 2.5 and then taper back up if needed. It makes me feel very nervous the idea of not being able to buy the 12.5 I’m currently maintaining on.

I took 11mg yesterday and my plan is to start now going down by counting clicks.

Is anyone watching the Tim Spector show in c4? I really miss Michael Moseley.

I’ve just had an 8 week gap with Swift and ordered my usual 5mg. However, I had jabbed within the last few days of ordering, not sure if that makes a difference but they always ask when you last jabbed.

@FurForksSake I've got a dwindling stash, ideally I'll get down to 2.5 before needing to reorder (as I won't be prescribed anything higher given the gap) but judging by the last few weeks that's unlikely, I really need to go up not down. A stash and then a break to use it up really only works well for saving ££ if you can actually start back at 2.5. I wish we had GPs who can prescribe higher dose pens and support making the pens last 2-3 months the like they do in Europe, Australia & various other places.

Thanks for the tip about the Ch4 show - may check that out later.

It is such a shame that we can't see a NHS or private GP or nurse who could prescribe for a fixed price rather than constantly having to shop around it is too important than buying a tin of beans.
I also wish I could talk to someone, but NHS don't have any support if you've paid privately and I don't trust the private prescribers as they will keep prescribing to make money!

Yes they always ask and I’d always say this week.

My 5mg pens are lasting 11 weeks. I ordered 2 last time so will have a bigger gap.