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.)

And you feel the same as me @Azuresky68

Ok that makes me feel a bit better! I suppose it’s not surprising it bothers me.

I get a lot of water retention especially if I travel. And cos I’m fairly big, 70kg even at BMI 23 and only 25% body fat, there’s plenty of me to store water! My ankles used to swell up a lot, especially one side, but that’s not as bad now after the weight loss.

Well I've just gone 2lb over my window! I got careless. Because I didn't calorie count while I was on holiday and only gained 1lb, I thought I could carry on that way! Hah!!!!

Back to it now.

Best to catch it quick! I’m sure I’ll be up on Monday, but I’m wearing size 6 jeans so I will live.

I’ve just jabbed for the first time in 12 days. I was tapering and got down to 7.5 maybe (counting clicks) and then stupidly took a full golden dose so back up to 12.5. I’ve just taken 42 clicks of 12.5 and hoping that will reset my tapering. We shall see. I’m happy to play around a little with doses until I find the lowest I can maintain on.

im going back to work this week after a very long period of sick leave and surgery so its going to be a challenge!

I’m sticking with 5mg for now. I’m not thinking about food all the time, I feel full when I eat a meal but I can finish a meal, not snacking too much but enjoying the odd evening snack, weight is remaining stable.
At 7st 6lbs since the end of Oct, my BMI is 20 and my healthy range is 6st 10lbs to 9st 1lb so I think I’m spot on really. (Although I do sometimes think my flappy tummy skin might look better if I lost a few pounds!) This is all considering my original (unachievable) goal was 10st!

Well done on achieving your happy weight 👏
According to NHS BMI info my weight should be between between 6 stone 8 pounds and 8 stone 11 pounds. I am currently 8 st 10 but was happier at 8 st 5. Cant' imagine going any lower though. The lowest i ever got to was 7st 12 at age 21, I am 69 now and 4 foot 11 and have been up and down..my all time high was over 14 stone

For whatever reason I just can't rid of the 5 pounds to get me back to my maintenance goal of 8 st 5 pounds. Maintained that for 6 months on 10 July to December. December I titrated down to 7.5 but last week backup to 10
I can't lose it on 1250 calories a day so back to another jab of 10 tomorrow and gritting teeth for a week on 1000 calories a day. I wish I could get back to my original jab day of Friday to help with restricting my weekend eating. Any ideas welcome:
1 for moving my jab day from Tuesday to Friday
2 Calorie input
3 Dose

I’m sure someone with better knowledge will clean but I see the jab window as 5-10 days. I’ve moved my day a few times. Maybe delay the jab by one day per week and in a month you’ll be in your preferred day?

@Azuresky68 give it some time! You’ve not been back from holiday that long.

id shift the jab by a day to get back to your preferred day. And yes, sadly I think you’ll need a tight two weeks of 1000 calories to get things moving.

@Azuresky68 what is stopping you from changing your jab day back to Friday? Why not do a slightly lower dose on Tuesday and then do a normal jab on Friday? That would get you back on track.

What sort of food are you eating? I find too many carbs really derail me and give me the munchies. If I keep them fairly low and focus on protein, it all seems easier to manage.

I feel your pain. I'm taller and younger than you and if I get careless on the calories it comes straight back on and is a bugger to lose. A week or two on a tighter reign is not long in the great scheme of things and you will feel so chuffed with yourself when you get back to where you want to be.

@Azuresky68
Always hard to lose on 1250 calories. I've only lost on mj on under 1000 calories.
Give it some more time. 5lbs is a lot when you see what 5lbs of fat looks like.
You'll get there!

My basic diet - High protein, low carbs with 'good' fats eg butter and olive oil but only in small amounts. I rarely eat bread, pasta or rice these days. Only berries not apples, mango or bananas. Breakfast mainly omelette but recently maybe twice a week overnight oats with berries, greek yoghurt and seeds. Alcohol - try to restrict to once a week. Lots of green and leafy vegetables. Sometimes a baked potato. Homemade soup in the winter. My gains are totally related to going on holiday..happily retired!

You could jab 7.2mg (counting clicks) every 5 days, and in 2 weeks you'd be back to your regular Friday time. Or just take a half dose on Tuesday to top up, then a full dose on Friday?

I also find it is harder to lose weight if there are other stresses in life - high levels of cortisol are notorious for stalling wieght loss. It's not always easy to find ways to reduce stress, and get quality sleep, but it will happen eventually.

Retirement feels hard for maintaining weight loss. On days when I'm working (freelance so still do occasional days) I find it really easy to eat exactly to plan, with no snacking. But holidays, lunches out... all take their toll.

@Azuresky68 it is depressing to think we need very few calories to lose weight.
my way of keeping my weight in check (bearing in mind i am new to this maintenance business) is two have two evenings a week where i go for a yoga or other exercise class and drink a protein shake after instead of having dinner.
i do prefer eating real food but it is much much easier to do it this way.
Let us know which option you went with, your diet sounds amazing already!

Thank you. The diet is good and based on restricting carbs, high protein and good fat..no margerine or corn oil. ..I lost over a stone in weight in lockdown following keto but it's difficult to sustain and eventually no diet on it's own worked anymore. Anyway my diet is as I said but I don't follow it every day of my life as i holiday frequently and i do like alcohol...when not on holiday I try to drink once a week only. Currently waiting for an operation for parathroidism which makes me very tired so find it hard to do anything in the evening.
Tomorrow I am going to join a new daytime dance group which I am very excited about as I love dancing and dressing up...the group is mainly extavert older people who wear loads of sequins! They have made some great videos and collaberate with other organisations in the Arts. I already walk a lot, especially when the weather is less wet and windy 😀

@Azuresky68 the extra exercise might help tip the balance. Also lots of fluids.

@20bloodypounds thank you. I have decided to top up with half a dose on Tuesday then start jabbing back at 10 mg on Friday. I do keep busy and worked free lance until 2 years ago. Still work part-time at the theatre which is great as I see lots of West End shows that are touring and other events/people on tour. Chat GPT is very helpful for advice on maintenance ..help with setting realistic goals; advice on calories and macros for a woman of my age with parathyroidism. Thanks again!

Was going to top up my dose today but have managed to get by, probably because I kept busy all day..dance class, gardening abd washed my car it's 8.30 and I feel a bit hungry but can manage for now so I will jab tomorrow, then delay next week until Thursday if I can.

That’s a result @Azuresky68. Each week gets you back on track.

How can this be right? I have a 10 mg pen. Always syringe any extra. First dose was 5 as I had 2.5 from old pen, 5 x7.5 then last week 10 mg using a syringe then this week 10 mg using syringe and there's still a bit left...the maths doesn't work does it 🤔 This is why I checked recently that I was using syringe correctly, even though i have been using syringe ever since I started.

45 clicks for 7.5 out of a 10 pen .6 mls with syringe for 10..thats right isnt it?

@Azuresky68 no I can't make the maths work on that either. It's def 45 clicks for 7.5 from a 10. And 10 on a syringe would be 0.6. Have you missed a dose somewhere, or had had 2 pens on the go?

a 10mg pen has about 52mg total (4 standard doses of 10, plus bonus dose, plus usually a little extra).

You can't have had 5 + 37.5 + 10 + 10 - that would be 62.5... unless you have a miracle pen!

It’s .45 as .6 is a whole dose

or 45 clicks

I have no idea how it happened...and will never know! Think i need to start with a new pen now.

Re maintenance providers - I had my maintenance consultation call today with a lovely doctor from Swift Doctor. I was concerned that they wouldn't prescribe to me with a BMI of 20 but she was very pragmatic and took my family health history into account as well as my body shape - small framed, apple with a high waist hip ratio even at BMI 21 - and confirmed that they would accept me as a maintenance patient and continue to prescribe. The icing on the cake is that maintenance patients automatically get £10 off every order - well worth the £30 consultation fee if you plan on taking MJ long term!