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.)

2 months off ?? I would be huge

I def feel I’ve gained this week

I came off (from 5mg) for 5 weeks and went back on at 2.5mg. It’s worked really well and I have lost all the Christmas weight plus another 3lbs, so 8lbs since 1st Jan.

Felt very similar to the first time around - I responded well to 2.5 and 5, the highest I went (in 7 months) was 6.75 (once).

Are you going to take your own advice @FurForksSake 😛😛

There definitely is no "one size fits all" and that is also what makes these threads so helpful, because someone will be feeling something similar, even if others are not.

I do think we are teetering on the edge of all sorts of breakthroughs in the treatment of obesity and that the options will only improve and get cheaper as the years go by.

There are challenges to still be overcome but we can do this one way or another.

I'm on 3.75, down from 4.25 (dizzy heights I know).

When I started I lost straight away on 2.5 - not crazy amounts, just steadily downwards. I went up in doses really slowly too, small increases worked for me (one time I went from 3 to 3.5 and had to drop down to 3.25 to eat properly).

So it was a steady climb to 4.25 where I got to goal, then stayed for a couple of months, then went to 4 for a month then 3.75 and the difference is stark. I know it shouldn't make a difference with such small differences, but it does. When I look back over the past 8 weeks I've gained every week. Sometimes small amounts, sometimes bigger, but it's clear when I plot it on a chart.

I really thought I'd managed Christmas ok, but I feel I'm even worse now with the snacking than in December.

I've made a veggie snack box for the fridge today (chopped carrots, white cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber) in the hopes I can go there first when I'm snack hunting and maybe stay off the crap a bit better. It just feels like 'diet management' though, not the steady food approach MJ gave.

How are you feeling today?

@Blondeshavemorefun 🤣🤣🤣 if I get down to 2.5 and it’s not working I might….not.

I’ve lost another bloody pound. I’m lightest ever been today. I feel like eating in a relaxed way over Christmas and then getting back to it after my body just throws out weight. I think this happened after a holiday too.

im going to go down to 10 on Monday and I’m not trying to lose weight. I’ll have to be really careful as my bmi is a bit lower than maybe is favourable but still healthy.

I am annoyed I do not have a flat stomach. I have had a c section and an apron for my whole adult life so I’m not sure what I expected really 🤔 🤣

Yes I am considering this after next pen. Am sure that is correct. Just need good willpower for the period when not taking.

Hungary at 4/5am !!

had a porridge pot and fruit for breakie and some slices of beef that needed eating up

dizzy heights 😂 15 would have flattened you yet didn’t really do much for me. Yes obv lost weight but higher wouid have been fine

You are verging on the too slim and hopefully going down you can eat more and bmi go up to 19/20

Good luck. I’m not that brave but I went to 15

i think those who went to 5/7.5 it would work

i had to get to 10 to do anything /get suppression a little

@Blondeshavemorefun I can't remember if you said if you were ever tested for insulin resistance or pre-diabetes before you started on MJ?

@Blondeshavemorefun bmi is 21ish, so I’m safe! But yes, I’m definitely the bottom end.

No never. No reason to be

Oh that’s ok. I thought you said you were lower as in 19 as bottom low end

it’s so weird how weight /height works

there is no way I could lose another 2s to get to 8/7 and be low bmi of 19

yet they say that’s a healthy weight for my height

Is anyone in my position? I have been on mounjaro two years. I have been all the way up to 15mg. I lost all the weight in the first year. Maintained on 10 mg for much of the second year. Lately I’ve been battling with binge eating. I’ve gone up to 12.5 mg but no help really. I’ve gained about 4lbs recently. My bmi is 21.2. I do take citalopram so not sure if that is causing the massive cravings. Feel so disappointed with myself.

I’ve taken 2.5mg the whole time! Yes I think have to titrate down first. Also I’m doing a very heavy weight lifting (like end March goal of bench press body weight and deadlift 2x body weight) so figure any excess calories will go towards muscle building goal.

My BMI is 22 but I’m very muscular.

Have you done any resistance training? I wonder if increasing muscle mass might help?

Hi @Pyjamatimenow welcome to the maintenance boards. Sorry to hear about the binge eating. Is this something that you had before you went on WLI? Did it stop completely until recently? What do you generally eat every day and what sort of stuff are you bingeing on?

Yes always struggled with it ( very traumatic childhood possibly related). I’ve enjoyed the last two years not having the impulse to sit and eat. It’s bread, cheese, crisps and biscuits that are my major vices. This morning I got up and made baked eggs but ended up eating two sandwiches while it was cooking and now I’m sitting here having just eaten three packets of crisps.

@Pyjamatimenow have you had any therapy for the BED?

It sounds really difficult, can you reduce access to the foods you binge on?

im so sorry, this sounds really hard.

@Pyjamatimenow sorry to hear that. I was abused as a child and had counselling from an abused women counselor. An entirely unexpected benefit was that it stopped the binge eating, as it was definitely a coping strategy for me. Have you ever had any counselling?

Is there something going on in your life at the moment that might have triggered the return to bingeing?

I think when you are shoving down lots of carbs it becomes a viscous cycle, as you then get a massive insulin spike and then the crash afterwards. This then leads you want to eat more carbs again. Do you have to have carbs in the house to feed other people?

I think need to stop buying crisps or anything else you can easily binge on. I know for maintainance it’s all or nothing, ie no bread, crackers, chocolate as once start hard to stop.

@FurForksSake when I’ve been to counselling I think that’s been the least of their concerns really.
I do try not to buy rubbish but with teens ( family if 5) around and a husband who will buy things if I don’t it’s difficult. @MargoLivebetter no nothing awful happening atm. I think you’re right about the carbs. The more I have the more I want. We’ve had lots of food in over Xmas with relatives and friends visiting and that has definitely kicked me off. It has coincided as well with me starting citalopram for anxiety as well.

I think as we are coming up for the second year it gets harder

we spend a year + losing the weight. Then being good and maintaining an then reliese this is for life and it’s scary and start to eating bad stuff as for me the thought of never having again is hard

not sure if that’s how you feel ?

crisps are my downfall and love them

@Pyjamatimenow sorry to prod, but what brought on the anxiety or has that been going on for ages and you've only just started the ADs?

Christmas is a bugger and lots of us struggled to stay on the track. It is even harder if you have to have loads of treats that you actually like in the house for other people.