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.)

Did you do the DEXA scan privately? How did you go about it?

Yes, in London, a lot of sports science places do them privately

Hello and welcome @Verbenabon there are starting to be a few providers that will prescribe "off label" but they are expensive. There is the Headland Clinic in Leicestershire and the Aestha Clinic in London that I know of. I'm sure there must be others. Obviously, I wouldn't advocate this or suggest anyone do it, but me personally, I'm happy to use the pens beyond 30 days and extract every last drop! That way I can do my own dose.

@MalteserGeezee how are you finding Oushk? Good to know that all your tests came back ok. Increasing muscle mass is a nice thing to have to work on now. Gives you a goal to work towards.

I find their need for a photo a proof of weight (and height?!?) for every new prescription mildly annoying but understandable in the circumstances given presumably how easy it must be to "trick" some prescribers. Broadly, I'd like a bit more support with the mounjaro "off-ramp" but am savvy enough to do my own research. I'll need to dig the dumbbells out in the new year -- I've better bone density and fat ratio than 75% of peer group but am also in Lowest 25% for lean muscle so as you say, a very clear goal for improvement

Hi everyone, been on 5mg MJ for a year and am thinking it’s long enough. Want to start reducing as going away for 6 weeks in April and crossing lots of borders so I’m not taking it with me. How do you all get such specific reductions - I see people saying they take 6.25mg or 1.5mg etc - how do you make the pens do that? And have people see weight gain or found it much harder to maintain weight?
also re alcohol - at first I was really off it too which was great, as I drink too much wine - but sadly that’s disappeared and I’m now back to normal. I think if I increased my dose I’d be off it again but I’m not doing that so just have to live with it I guess.

@Ifeelfatwelcome and congratulations. I use syringes because I can’t do the clicks. There are tables you can use to work out how much you need.

My supplier (Swift) said in the blurb they sent that the 30 day limit doesn’t apply to pens keep in the fridge. You can either order a 5mg every 2 months or 2.5mg totally ad hoc.

click chart

@MalteserGeezee you know you don’t need to add photos etc with Oushk every time you order, you can just skip on to the next question, I think you need photos max every 3 months which you can just add to your profile rather than the order and a weight verification every 6 months.
Mind you my latest order was held up as they said it had been more than 6 weeks since I’d ordered, (it wasn’t by my dates) I got it sorted ok but my pen was delayed by a week, I will make sure I keep up to date in the future.

@MargoLivebetter thank you for the new thread, I’m liking having somewhere to discuss the ups and downs of maintenance, I also find it a bit tricky at times and miss the old high of seeing the scales go down 🥴

I love the title!

I'm off MJ now since September. I put 2kg back on from my lowest weight on the jag, but some likely muscle gains as I've been doing more strength work in the gym than endurance cardio in the colder weather. Maintained at that weight with the odd small time of month fluctuation since then.

Thank you @CrazyGoatLady and @Itscoldouthere . Great to hear that all is going well.

This is the longest I have ever maintained slimness in my adult life. I have been slim plenty of times, because I have spent my whole adult life losing and gaining weight. However, although I was good at losing I could never maintain, so I'd inevitably put the weight back on again. What about others? Have you ever managed to keep the weight off for as long?

It’s all new for me, I just slowly got fat, looking back at photos I was pretty average healthy looking till my late 40s but the weight crept on in my 50s, I was probably tipped into being obese by about 58.
I haven’t spent my life yo-yo dieting, but tried to loose weight using 5-2 diet and then did the Zoe health thing about 3 years ago, I felt like I was eating good food but just kept on getting heavier.
I realise now I was eating and drinking too much, I have a family of just men and I had been eating big portions for years and not really exercising except walking the dog and yoga once a week.
I’ve listened to lots about weight loss/regain so find maintenance daunting, I’m determined to not become fat again, I’m 62 now and it’s all about my health rather than looks for me, I’m so grateful the WLI have been available to me as I was feeling really unhappy about myself before especially as I weighed more than my husband and had sleep apnoea and all my siblings (who are older than me) are diabetic or pre diabetic.
I do love how clothes now look so much better on me now and the best NSV was getting rid of all my massive Bridget Jones knickers 🤣
I really really hope this is the size I will remain, I will stay on WLI forever if needed.

I'd always been on the bigger side as a young adult and got steadily fatter over the years, especially after I had my children. I have dieted a fair bit but never got to goal before mounjaro. I'd always lose a stone or so then hunger would eat all my motivation and I'd give up. I didn't really imagine I'd get to my ideal weight this time either, but the scales don't lie - there really is one third less of me now. So maintenance is a whole new world!

I'm really grateful to this thread and my fellow maintainers, as there's no one I can really talk to about it in my life. It really helps that there's other people going through the same thing and we can help each other out, even if it's just a few words on a screen.

I've been up and down and up and down. I've kept it off for longer before, but pregnancy put a stop to 'it ' I eat healthier and am fitter than I ever was then though so, I hope I've found my mojo. Can't ever fully relax thinking that though.

I loved being on MJ, but I did kid myself that could just not think about food without it. I really enjoyed that aspect of it. Now that has gone, I miss it, but I don't feel I've gone back to how I was thinking about it. It is very hard to not wish for a loss on the scale though. That is odd. I have never reached this weight in my adult life.

I was slim and active for most of my adult life. Then COVID (and regular access to the wine fridge) hit and the weight started to pile on. Thanks to the menopause and punishing work hours I never managed to get it under control and by May of this year had a BMI of 30, raised blood sugar and insatiable cravings for bread and pasta. I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease so decided I needed to sort out my weight once and for all - for the sake of my health as well as my self-esteem! MJ has banished the bread/ pasta cravings and I am now at my pre-COVID weight with normal blood sugar levels. As an added benefit, my hands no longer ache and my Achilles is no longer inflamed! Plan on staying on MJ as long as I can.

I’m really enjoying the uptick of activity on here it’s so nice knowing I’m not alone.

I’m struggling. Weighed in today and am now 1lb below my zone of tolerance. I injected 2.5 mg on Sunday and wasn’t planning to inject again until the 28th. I know I’m not eating enough - especially for the amount I exercise but I’m finding it hard to make myself eat more because I can’t stand the thought of the scales going up. Even though my zone of tolerance is 10st - 10st 7 and I now weigh 9st 13lb I don’t actually want to weigh more than 10st. I’m so worried about my Xmas weight gain and going in our friends hot tub at new year and also not being able to get rid of any gain in January. One of my daughters has anorexia and I can feel my thinking being similar to hers… I don’t think I’m experiencing high suppression I think I’m a bit messed up in my head…

Husband is going through a really tough time at work right now so I can’t burden him… we see a therapist together and I think I need to speak to her about this but I won’t see her again until Jan. I feel better just having got it out there though.

Is anyone else struggling with similar? I always knew maintenance would be hard because I’ve lost and gained so many times before but I hadn’t anticipated feeling the way I do now.

@Incognitoburrito88 it’s great that you’ve noticed and feeling aware of your eating and that you are maybe not getting it quite right.

It’s normal to feel a bit stressed and out of control at this time of year and with everything going on, so it can feel important to hold on to what you can.

can you think about things a bit differently? Think about fuelling your body and hitting some nutrition goals and nourishing your body? The scales might go up and down, but you’ve lost the weight, formed healthy habits and any gains you absolutely can manage. You’ve got the tools.

remember with hot tubs and swim wear people are far more concerned about themselves and you’ll quickly be submerged!

can I sneak in? I've lost 4.5 stone total (3.5 since starting MJ in March 25) - I'm pretty much in my goal zone (was 10st 3 to 10st 10 and am currently 10 st 6) now and will start titrating down properly after Xmas (I have cheese board and after eights anxiety about doing it over Xmas)
Worried about maintenance and not seeing the scales move so trying to focus on the non scale results.....

@Incognitoburrito88 it sounds like you have a lot going on at the moment. I suspect that all of that stress is making you feel even more stressed than you should about your weight.

I find it really helpful to do the zoom out technique and look at my life and my problems from a zoomed out perspective. I pretend that I am looking down at myself from space and see how teeny weeny I am on a tiny speck in the universe that is filled with even smaller specks. That helps me gain a sense of perspective and is one of the things I do when I get all up in my head with my worries and problems.

I also think that this is an absurdly stressful time of year too and that just compounds everything. Remember you have traveled so far on your weight loss journey and achieved so much. That is really fantastic and you need to give yourself lots of credit for that.

@mumofmanydaughterofone welcome to the world of maintenance. Lots of us here. Lots of support to be had for this next bit. It is just as much of an achievement to see the scales stay roughly the same week after week as it is to see a drop. So come and celebrate that on here whenever you want to!

@Incognitoburrito88 its great that you’ve opened up about how you feel, maintenance is so tricky and I think we are all slightly on edge thinking the new slim person isn’t going to last and we are going to fail, we also need to remember for most it’s taken quite some time to get to this point, so we’ve all been on quite a journey, I started in June 24 and had no idea when I started that I was probably entering in WLI for life, I thought it was maybe a 6 month thing (I didn’t do enough research).
Ive been looking back at photos and realising how far I’ve come, rather than worrying that I’ve put a bit of weight on (2kg gain) I’m at my max barrier of 60kg, which is keeping me focused.
I’m trying to re focus on my protein intake as I know I’ve been eating more carbs and letting too many sweet things creep in and drinking more wine which I’d really almost stopped drinking until the last few months.
I think I’d somehow wanted to stop feeling like I was continually on a diet, which is the wrong way to think, as actually this healthy way of eating has to be forever and I shouldn’t be thinking that it’s a diet, it’s just how I eat now.
Maybe you need to log your food to make sure you are eating enough, high protein, high fibre will be better for you than not eating enough.
I’m also very aware how fortunate it is that we can still access WLI in maintenance, I have quite a few friends who would love to have access but aren’t obese so just have to try and loose weight without WLI.

@Incognitoburrito88 thanks for talking about this. I’m feeling a bit like that too. Hard to give up losing. Can’t bear to put on a pound, even though I’m supposed to have a zone of tolerance.

i do have a lot of monthly fluctuation, which sort of helps because I have to accept a lot of up and down. But I keep wanting the overall trend to be downward.

The advice from PPs above seems very good. I’m going to get my mindset back into optimizing nutrition instead of weight loss. And also toning and muscle building, improving body composition. Positive self care for the slim and active woman!

@Incognitoburrito88 no advice other than you are not alone. We are all battling demons - it's hard. But understanding that all is not quite right is the first step to working out how to fix it.

Solidarity.

I lost 3 stone between June and November and am at goal. Haven't jabbed for a couple of weeks and was managing fine. Never had higher than 5mg and with other health issues the slow gut motility was starting to be problematic so I stopped. Unfortunately Christmas food is calling me from the cupboards now!! I think I'm going to try a half dose for a couple of weeks 🤣 I have a couple of doses left in the fridge for such an emergency!

I seem to have missed most of thread 2! I was on MJ for 30 weeks and had to stop suddenly due to some health issues. I’m now 26 weeks off MJ and maintaining my weight at around a BMI of 23.

I really relate. I’m also terrified of gaining weight.

I would ask you to logically think about where the zone of tolerance came from? Would losing more be ok from a health POV? Can you try and gain some muscle mass so you stay the same weight but do a body recomposition.