January 2025 starters - it's our anniversary!

[HeidiLite]

new thread, losers!

@DGmaintaining it’s hard not to worry but that’s human nature. The chances of it being nothing to worry about are pretty good so it’s one for the back burner.

I was on my own yesterday evening so decided to take the easy option and picked up a GF frozen pizza. I don’t think I’ve had one since starting MJ. Not as good as I remembered and I couldn’t finish it. Not the treat I’d hoped for but at least it didn’t involve too much of my time.

Thanks for the reassurance ladies. I put it to the back of my mind for most of the day as I had so many meetings. Wasn’t till I got to my last call that I realised that the referral email hadn’t even come through. So I need to chase them on Monday. I’m back on Thursday afternoon, have a shoot on Friday.
On a plane to Italy today to visit family for half-term. My grandma is 95 and I planned this beginning of January as I thought it might be the last time the DC could see her. My dad and aunts got the call on Thursday that they need to go see her as she’s seriously ill. So we may just get there in the nick of time.

I love being at the front now, I always used to shy away at the back. I've not thought about this until you mentioned it but I love being proud of the body I've made.

@zempyI can pinch many inches. I was tempted to get a body scan as renpho is really unkind but ultimately it doesn't matter.

@DGmaintainingat my mammogram I was referred for an ultrasound due to precaution as I have dense breasts (what used to be boobs and now empty sacks with dense tissue in it). It was all fine, some of us have these dense areas. I was warned by the doctor I was likely to be referred for an ultrasound but it was likely to be nothing.

I'm still binge eating and desperately reading all the diet advice. My plan is to go skiing and enjoy myself and then give it one last go to try and get back to normal with out mj. I'm half a stone up but other than my jeans being tight around my thighs and a little more plump all over it's not a bad look. Arguably stomach less wrinkly. So my plan is to not so much worry about losing weight but more about eating consistently and knocking the binging on the head. If I can't stop binging then I'm bringing mj back.

@DGmaintaining sending hugs. I hate mammograms and have been referred once, but it’s always better to get checked.

I felt OK this week on 6.5, will stay here for another week or so before trying to go down further. Weight staying the same at slightly more than I’d like but muscles feeling good and clothes fit so I’ll take that for now. Just had a very off-script heart shaped crumpet with DH (free gift from Waitrose), this is as romantic as we’re going to get today as he’s out and then away overnight!

Protein is helping me a lot, I’m still tracking and trying Nutracheck but I’m not sure I like it more than MyFitnessPal as it seems very geared to pre-prepared food and the search doesn’t seem as good either. It also adds every activity calorie from Apple Watch so it thinks I should be eating much more food than I do.

@DGmaintainingalso sending hugs. I found a lump and was referred, turned out to be fatty tissue. Hope yours is too, understandable to be worried but hopefully being away will at least mean you have less time to think about things. Amazing work on the body fat. Wow! No idea what mine is but like others I can def pinch more than an inch!! It’s mostly on my stomach which is pretty awful tbh. Sorry to hear about your grandmother too. Hope you get to see her and that you can still enjoy the trip. Wow your job sounds so glam, presenting and shooting. What do you do?!
to be fair to Oushk after me being stroppy they’ve finally relented and are sending me some needles!!

thanks for job well wishes. A few interesting options, I do international HR/ change/ od and a few HRD roles in cos that are transforming so 🤞🏻.

Have great holidays everyone who’s going away, envious!! The sun is shining here today though, it’s a lovely day! Did reformers this am. Walk with DH and dd and off for a walk and coffee with a friend in a bit, maximising exposure to vitamin d! Ds 17 had a party last night and was worse for wear and ill so I slept ( or didn’t) on a mattress on his floor, I’m hanging! He on the other hand is chipper 🙈

@DGmaintaining sorry to hear about your grandma, I really hope you manage to get to see her. Re mammogram, I am sure that the odds on it being nothing are higher than anything else. I've been recalled so many times it is untrue, first one in my early 30s and at least three times in addition to that.

I love nutracheck @Aimingforearlierbedtimes , I scan barcodes and weigh stuff and I don't really eat prepared food very often. Mine doesn't add exercise calories back into the food section. I've created my regular recipes in it so can add them quickly but often choose something similar if I cba, like I've made broccoli and stilton soup for lunch so added in the New Covent Garden version as I am sure mine will be healthier than that.

I've been so hungry for the last few days, I think it is hormonal - still I've managed not to succumb to eating excessively but it shows you how the lack of MJ is noticeable fairly quickly (2 weeks today I checked shotsy). I did look to see how much was left in my system and I've forgotten already, 3mg ish from memory 😅, anyway, I will soldier on without it for now.

Weight is still up 2kgs from my trip away (that was 4kgs when I got back on Monday).

I’m now using both @PrepossessingPenelope , will see which annoys me least after a week or two and keep going with that one. I’ve come to the conclusion that daily weighing and food tracking is good for keeping me steady at the moment.

I got a new smartwatch for xmas, have to play around with settings a bit, because it seems to be set for population who only drives. Every time i take more than 2 steps it declares that I am now exercising! No I am not, am just using my legs for transport.

It’s set for Americans! Did it ask if you’re hiking?

From memory I think I preferred Nutracheck to MFP because MFP was geared up for the US food industry @Aimingforearlierbedtimes - maybe it has changed as this was about five years ago. Nutracheck is UK based and also has a really decent eating out section.

it does recognize I'm walking, but yes records it as a fitness activity and adds a photo of people running in a race 😁Yeah, it was a gentle stroll with dogs, not a marathon.

MyFitnessPal has a massive database now, because they allow people to add foods, but that does mean that a lot of things have been added wrongly of course. I found that by checking carefully and correcting anything that was wrong the first time I found it, it then defaulted to coming up the next time I wanted the same thing which was quite helpful. Nutracheck doesn’t seem to show things I’ve used before as the first items in a search.

I also found MFP more intuitive when adding home-cooked meals meals, plus a lot of the things I use either don’t have barcodes or I’m not near the barcode by the time I’m eating them. I think I just need to try both for awhile and see which one is least irritating!

I used Foodvisor when losing, quite liked it. Large database and the homemade food scan was generally good.

@DGmaintaining fingers crossed it’s nothing. I have a cysty duct charmingly that has seen me in the breast clinic a few times. Irony was I couldn’t breastfeed (literally my boobs never produced so much as a drop ever). They are incredibly efficient and thorough there.

I use nutracheck - I have a few standard things in that I make a lot and I like it.

i have had a nice valentine’s- dh got me some love heart pjs the soppy old twat and we went for a stroll in the sunshine. Both DDs have boys around, both of whom bought them flowers bless them. 16 year old lads are not all bad are they. Off for a ‘run’ later given it’s finally nice enough outside.

moved back to 10 yesterday. Suppression still high but I’ve planned some nice food with veg and protein and fibre and am quite looking forward to it in a kind of ‘nourishing’ way. I think sleep and weather help….

I'm one of those front row people in my exercise classes now too, never would have thought it.
@DGmaintaining hope everything is OK with the referral and you get to see your grandma. ❤️

Ive had a horrendous bad back for the past few days and am struggling to walk, let alone exercise. Came out of nowhere so hoping it buggers off as quick as it arrived.
Quite possibly because I'm grumpy, tired and in pain, I'm now really pissed off with Voy who told me it's jeopardising my health to have injections at my BMI! I had pointed out the insanity of this given that I was with Voy until mid-January - less than a month ago - and at that point weighed not even 1 kg more than I weigh now and that was somehow fine. I'm going to put in a complaint about that language, I think it's appalling!

I had a weird experience when they wanted my to titrate down even though I’m not at goal. My bmi is a little under 23 and I’m aiming for 21, I’m vv smell framed and still carrying fat …
It took ages to sort out. Definitely complain.
hope your back improves soon.

Well Oushk approved my order yesterday in less than 24 hours so that’s a huge improvement. I went for a 7.5mg pen. I’m actually maintaining really well at my current dose but buying 10mg pens is more than I can happily spend so I’m going to try to titrate down to a level where I still get the benefits. I think I’ve recognised that high levels of suppression is a thing of the past.

I had a quiet Valentine’s Day as DH went off hiking with his mates and is due back this morning. I was so tempted to ask him to try to find out whether my suspicions are correct about his friend but remembered that subtlety isn’t DHs strong suit.

I’ve defrosted a huge joint of pork for this evening. There’ll be plenty of leftover meat for DHs planned Chinese new year celebration on Tuesday. We don’t tend to do Sunday roasts but it’s always enjoyable when we do.

I am a Snake so I am not looking forward to the end of my Year @Jins.

It has been a bloody marvellous one and I have certainly “shed my skin” which is what Snakes are supposed to do during their year.

Good luck to all the Horses!

I'm a Horse so it's my year. Not sure what it means though?
We're on our way to a restaurant for FILs birthday lunch. Hope there won't be too much damage but restaurant is very Alsatian, not exactly low calorie food.

And how is your Monday, losers? Or maintainers, as we mostly are nowadays.

As expected, birthday lunch was heavy and I'm still pissed off at the waitress. I ordered something they called chef salad. She bought me a salad chevre. When I complained, the waitress apologised - apparently she made a mistake because I have such thick accent she couldn't possibly understand me. But she told that to others sitting at the table. I was sitting right there and she was talking like I was deaf and transparent. Rude cow. Besides my accent is fine and I definitely said cheffff and not chevrrrrrre

Afternoon all from a very rainy Italy!

@HeidiLite how bloody rude!

@jins good luck titrating down. If it’s helpful to know, with each lowered dose, I’ve found that I initially get a bit hungrier, but then it settles.

Not at all hungry here in Italy, but I’ve eaten so much pizza, bread, pasta and gelato. Fully expecting to have gained by the time I get back.

My Nonna was well enough for a visit yesterday. She’s done well to have kept going as long as she has. I’ve not been close to her as we live in separate countries and I don’t speak Italian, but my dad likes to remind me that I’m her favourite grandchild. Likely because I was named after her as the first granddaughter. My cousin, who has seen more of her growing up, is not particularly sad about the situation. He thinks she was a very difficult woman, who always found something to complain about. I think likely she was ND, and found the world overwhelming. Happy in her little village, but lonely because she kept pushing family away with her complaints. It’s sad to think she was rarely able to express joy and could only communicate in the form of negativity. I wasn’t affected by her toxicity so it’s easy for me to have this point of view. Families, eh!

In boob news, I’ve made an appointment for next week with a private consultant. I also need to get a referral for BRCA gene testing but one step at a time. It came up at the family dinner yesterday, I haven’t said anything about me but one of my aunts is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer. My dad and all his sisters have the BRCA gene. So I need to see if I’m a carrier, not just for myself but for my DC.

Weigh in. Another 2lb gained. Ordered next pen up (5mg). This will be my 7th provider. Pretty soon every online pharmacy will have my hatchet-faced photo in their collection.
Half term this week. DC do not want to do anything but look at their phones. I’ve decided I’m going to a museum on my own tomorrow. I’m fed up of wasting my annual leave.

@DGmaintaining sounds like a challenging situation. Well, both relatives and boobs.

@Polkadotdash same here, I got home from work and kids had decided that getting dressed is for losers, were still in PJs. Actually still in PJs because what's the point of getting dressed when it's bedtime soon..

I’m with the kids. I love a pyjama day! My work laptops integrated camera has malfunctioned so I don’t have to wear makeup or brush my hair 😆

Mystery two pound gain this week. Hopefully it will disappear as easily as it arrived.

I forgot to jab on Sunday again so did it last night. It was a smaller amount at 6.25 because that’s how many clicks were left. I will see how that works and do needle extraction for the remaining dose all in one go.

Another pen due to arrive tomorrow for my stockpile!

@DGmaintaining glad you managed to visit. It’s always odd to hear a different side of a person, especially at this stage. Good plan on getting the testing.

Weird and difficult day yesterday. MIL was admitted to hospital on Sunday with low oxygen levels. She’s had pneumonia every winter for years so we have been expecting it. This time is different as it’s heart failure causing the fluid build up and there isn’t an awful lot they can do. She’s back in the home on oxygen but not really recognising people.

I did the opposite of titrating down on Sunday and did a bumped up dose instead. It’s so good to feel the suppression again. My weight has been static since Xmas despite feeling more hungry so it’s all going pretty well. I’m 8.10 at the moment and I’m hoping to keep that as my upper limit.

Upper arms seem to have improved a bit in terms of wrinkles and loose skin. Hope it happens to my face as well.