Nov 25 starters - thread 2 - the one where we don’t eat everything in sight this Christmas!

[Springbaby2023]

Hi everyone, starting a second thread as the other one is almost full. We made it through month one, now here’s to a happy, healthy and lighter 2026!

@SexyFrenchDepression I would say 1.67 and 2.5 are similar suppression

I'm not getting huge appetite suppression, but to be honest that would freak me out anyway.

Good to know that you used your pen that way.

I should add I'm not one of these people who has food noise

I've never eaten a whole packet of biscuits or any of that kind of thing. I'm still annoyed I gained weight, but I didn't react enough when it started creeping up.

When you have used up the 4 needles that come with the pen, are you using the syringe needles that we use for the golden dose to get all your additional doses out? I’m doing the same as you and taking smaller doses from my 5mg pen.

The extreme suppression was in equal parts amazing and horrible. It worried me i physically couldnt eat in that first week but luckily that severity soon passed.

I am annoyed I didnt just lose that initial half stone I put on rather than just letting more pile on. Seems ridiculous now I look back, I was so unhappy with my appearance I dont know why I couldn't motivate myself to sort it out.

I have received 5-6 needles with every pen I've ordered so I use any spares then once the clicks are done i use syringes. I may need to order some pen needles soon, I havent checked what I actually have left for the pens. I find the syringes pretty easy though so dont mind using them.

Also I keeo a big stock of syringes as my mum gets hers free as she has diabetes due to her cancer treatment and a liver problem so she gives me her golden doses which is handy. She is the most obsessive/hygienic person ever so I am happy to take that tiny risk of the seal being contaminated (its so unlikely anyway). Its worth so much money and she has to collect her pen every 4 weeks so cant take it.

That’s pretty handy @SexyFrenchDepression I would totally use her extra doses in your position, too.

I think being hard on yourselves for gaining weight and not addressing it sooner, doesn’t take in to account the emerging evidence that weight gain and obesity are a disease process. Some would now argue it’s like being mad at yourself for being diabetic or having an under active thyroid.

Its strange as where I have generally been slim most my life I have always struggled so much with food noise and control of what/how much I eat. Before I got an injury I managed food/exercise well but then didnt adapt after. I just thought I was greedy but since taking MJ and how it has worked so well for me I do believe that I have something wired wrong (for want of a better phrase). I just hope I can come off it at some point and keep these good habits.

My sports coach has now named me skinny, I am definitely not skinny but he is very sweet and so supportive, he has commented on how I have improved also, its definitely being lighter on my feet that has helped. Just need to build my strength up a bit again.

What's the deal with taking it out of the fridge? Does anyone know?

I'm just asking because I initially kept the spare in the fridge, well I've kept the ones I've had in the fridge, but I'm increasingly concerned about it. My family are around quite frequently and there's no reason why they wouldn't look in the fridge if you see what I mean. The one that's already in there. Can I take it out and store it in our bedroom? It's been kept it fridge temperature for more than a month now. I don't know where the pharmaceutical companies or the selling companies store them.

If I decide to microdose that last one it will be in there for a really long time. Actually, that means once it's opened it would be in storage a really long time so I suppose I have to keep it in the fridge?

If you are using longer than 30 days it will have to be kept in fridge. If pen arrives and you use straight away then you can keep at room temperature for 30 days. Mine are in a non transparent food container in the fridge.

@SexyFrenchDepression thamk you

How’s everyone doing? Feeling like it’s been a bit quieter on the thread recently so just checking in. I am frustratingly still 0.25lbs of the next stone bracket (12s) but I feel like I’ve had a much better grip on my calories recently so hoping it won’t be long. My 7.5mg pen arrived yesterday ready to take next week. I’m a little worried about the side effects, I find the tiredness in the first couple of days after taking the jab really hard to deal with. But I do really need to speed up the weight loss a little bit as I feel like I am stalling and very conscious of the cost so I’m going to see how it goes.

Things are going well for me. I’m down to 77kg, which is great. 3.75mg suits me well as I still get peckish at times, which I like because in my head it’s teaching me to manage those feelings. I haven’t been as disciplined with drinking water and haven’t done any exercise which isn’t great but I never exercise really, just daily to day pottering about.
l’m losing a fair bit of hair at the minute. Luckily I have a lot of hair so it’s not noticeable, except on my cloths and the floor.
I’m also going to need to by new bras etc soon. I got myself a new pair of jeans which are now a size 12 so I was chuffed with that.
I hope your 7.5mg goes well and you only have minimal side effects. It’s definitely something I’m worried about with increasing dose so I probably won’t go any higher than this for as long as humanly possible.

Morning!

Had a nice bonus this week, I always do a Sat and Tues weight in, when I weighted myself Tues I thought I was exactly rhe same as i was Saturday but when I logged it later that day it was 0.5kg off so I was really suprised. Happy to have been able to get out my old clothes to wear again.

Am still on 2.5mg and definitely hungrier but not craving rubbish so I think its a good thing to be hungry.

Yesterday wasnt a great day, meeting at work overran and I had to get a train to go to the theatre so I didnt get to eat my dinner. I only managed about 600 cals in the end but actually got in 80g of protein and 17g of fibre within that so I thought it cant be too awful.

I was considering going back up to 3.75 but currently I have no side effects at all, definitely less tired and no nausea so I think now is a good time to manage the slight hunger in preparation for less/no MJ. It also hopefully means I can enjoy the odd meal out as until now I havent really looked forward to going out as never fancy anything. However, last week was my lowest loss so far but as it looks like I will have a good week this week maybe its fine.

I have a spreadsheet that I complete with my losses and just looking at it now it shows that the last 6 weeks I have lost a big amount then smaller the following week so around 3-3.5lb every 2 weeks. I love looking at the graphs and trends. Also I log on shotsy which I like as it shows you the % of bodyweight you've lost and all the other info on a single screen.

It wont be long till you're in that next bracket!
I feel it gives that refreshed motivation when you hit your in-between goals. I have another 4lb to get to the next half stone then 7lb after that to what I set as my goal weight.

I am researching home workouts to try and get in a routine. There is a good thread in AIBU that gives some good ideas so I am following that. I think I can get some decent toning on my arms and top abs but I still have way too much fat round my lower belly so need to shift that. It looks twice as big in the evenings than the mornings so maybe if I do lots of ab work I might look ok first thing each day 😂

I keep putting off taking photos but do need to get a comparison before reaching goal.

I think it’s a good idea to manage with the hunger. That’s probably going to be my aim too. I have a couple of stone still to lose and then I plan to go down as low as I can and stay on MJ for quite a while to make sure the weigh stays off.
Although I think I look great now, my aim is to be at a healthy weight to give the best chance of a healthy long life going forward. I am the spitting image of my late nan, body is the same shape, even my legs are the same shape and my bad habits are the same too and she ended up unable to walk well due to arthritis and died at 75 pretty much house bound. My aim is for that not to happen to me.

@TheP1per its strange as I dont really remember looking this slim when I weighed a lot less. I know its most likely that its because I was so much heavier more recently so feels that way but also I have been (very on and off) being lifting weights for last couple of years so I think my shape has changed. I am worried I think I look better than I actually do, esp as I am short and really dont carry weight well.

My small clothes fit now which is good. The tell tale will be any candid photos that are taken. Posed photos always look better as you make sure you look ok but the ones taken whilst I was playing my sport are absolutely hideous last year/year before!! I am looking forward to comparing them for sure.

@SexyFrenchDepression I’m sure you do look great. Especially as you play sport and weight train so probably have toned muscles.
I’ve always thought I looked great until the last 6 months (before November). I’m quite lucky to have no problems with body image. Although maybe not because I ended up 5 stone overweight. Stress eating and peri in my case.

@TheP1per Growing up mu mum was so obsessed with body image and commenting on who is fat etc, I also was a dancer till I was 18 so even at 8 yo the ballet teacher would poke you're fat with a pencil. I have never had a good relationship with food/body image but have actually got better since I hit 40 with that.

@SexyFrenchDepression glad turning 40 has improved things for you. I was pretty lucky with my mum. She never mentioned weight at all when I was young. So I guess it’s just something I’ve never thought about.
I bet you haven’t got far to go now with weight loss have you?

11.7lb to go to get to BMI around 22/23. I might go for a couple of lbs lower depending on how I feel. Just gives somr leeway.

I took my first 5mg dose today. I’m not sure I need it but I’m intrigued to see how it feels. Might drop back down to 3.75mg next week if it isn’t for me or makes very little difference. Current loss is just under 3st 2lbs/ 19.9kg (20kg is so close!).

good to hear about everyone’s progress

My mum mostly had a good attitude toward body image, she was confident whatever her size although she did fluctuate through her life. Sadly she was diagnosed with stroke dementia in her mid sixties and died at 70, and I would say her diet was better than mine. I want to be around for my children as long as I can.

I have been listening again to the Fat Science podcast. I find it so informative and helpful - I really recommend if you want to know more about GLP.

They were talking about two studies: one that showed if you calorie restrict on GLP, you reduce your metabolism by 40%. The other study showed that people who didn’t calorie restrict and ate “ad lib” still lost weight on GLP but avoided the metabolism decrease.

Also, they advised against putting too much emphasis on the scale. I already knew that advice but they explained you could be losing lb of bone or muscle, not fat, if you restrict too hard.

I am going to try harder to eat well every day and trust the process, rather than weighing daily and fixating on the scale number.

@TaffyTabby I definitely feel like just eating whatever towards the end of this will be beneficial to me. I try to concentrate on macros so even days like yesterday I ate a decent amount of the good stuff, then other days I may go 50-100 cals over but it isnt eating rubbish. My TDEE is really low anyway so I know I need to be in extra good shopping and cooking habits.

@TaffyTabby that sounds very interesting, I’ve never heard of that podcast, I’ll have a listen. I’m not counting calories, macros or whatever. I just wanted to teach myself to stop overeating, a habit developed over the last few years. And wean myself of the chocolate, which I wanted many times a day! Now, I have it once a week and not even a whole bar.

@TaffyTabby That’s interesting, I definitely need to worry less about what the scale says. My jeans have been so much looser this week even though the scales aren’t changing. I do however feel like MJ is only working for me because I’m logging every calorie and I think that will be crucial to be maintaining. I was just massively overeating before without even realising. I hope to get to a point in the future where I can eat more intuitively but I can tell that even being on MJ I’d still be overeating if it wasn’t for calorie counting (but then I think that’s because I’ve not had the huge suppression others have had).