February 2026 starters

[Crossfitgirl]

Hi all, I have my first pen on the way and as far as I can see there is no starter thread for Feb, so I hope it's ok to make one.
All welcome whether recently started or looking to start this month - I think by the time mine arrives it will probably be February!
Hoping for support, experiences, recommendations, more support and the rest!

I am nearly 40, 2 young kids and full time job, starting on wegovy, with the goal of lowering my cholesterol (and reducing my huge belly).

I'm not sure it is worth it!

I always use a fresh needle to inject. But then we do it that way at work on animals so I’m not going to take less care with myself! Plus sticking it in the bung can really dull the point, so you want it clean and sharp.

Ok, that’s reassuring to know I’m not the only one losing slowly. Thank you.

@InstantRegret i use one needle for extraction, a fresh needle to inject. Otherwise the needle is not as sharp and it hurts.

@Perserverancepayoffplease , so sorry to hear the horrible side effects persist. What dose are you on? Some users came of the jabs. Took a break then started again with very minimal dosing. I read on one of the chats how the Op was having persistent horrible side effects.. she took a break and started again with Mj 0.5mg, then after a couple of weeks went upnto 1mg and so on. It took her about 8 weeks to get to 2.5mg. She's now on 3.75mg and losing weight consistently with minimal side effects. No two people are the same, but maybe something to consider?

@TheEgg2 , sorry to hear you are still feeling rough and the weight is shifting very slowly..too slowly.
Kudos to you.. impressed by your consistent exercise and eating clean. Don't know how you manage that when you are feeling so rough. Would you consider going to a lower dose ... something like a pp on another thread has done like i wrote above? Hope it all gets better soon.

Well, I fucked up and ate about a third of a big lindt bunny last night.
Work has been so stressful and I couldn't help myself. I'd eaten so well in the daytime too, and tracked calories perfectly til then. So much for the food noise!
I've put my gym gear on this morning, I'm thinking get lots of steps in and try to claw some calories back. I have the kids but one of them currently can't walk (hurt foot doing an activity yesterday) so I'm stuck in the house 🙄
Any suggestions?

@Rosetime looks like you've done your research, what other threads have you found useful?

Also, can anyone link to the spare needles you've bought? I'm aiming for 6 doses out of my next pen x

@Crossfitgirl Morning, you’ve actually made me laugh out loud as you posted at the same time I had just checked out the calories in Lindt bunnies, here you go, it’s not so bad, just 300 or so calories! Why not try an Easter egg hunt with the kids? Can they set one up for each other doing the clues? Not sure how old they are but my girls (twins) used to do clues for each other and they spent hours doing it as they got so mean with each other…..can you do some exercise in the garden with them with the poorly one being the umpire?

Sorry to hear so many are suffering with side effects. I did have a terrible headache back on day 2, but I pretty quickly worked out it was caffeine withdrawal as I was trying to attempt too many good habits on day 1.

Weigh in day today, and another 0.9kg off this week (2lbs), taking my total loss to exactly 11kg over 7 weeks (1 stone 10). That's taken my BMI from 45.1 to 41.0. So still a long way to go, but I'm glad it's fairly consistent.

I now need to start thinking about strength training. Any suggestions for a busy working mum of 2??

@Castlebark YouTube is your friend for home workouts. You don’t need to buy weights to start with just use food cans or bottles filled with water. If you’re close to a gym I like the 45 minute Body Pump classes.

@Crossfitgirl , I read a lot of the WLI threads here on mumsnet, the community chat forums on mounjaro website, mounjaro blogs and reddit.
I wanted to have an idea of lived experiences before starting it myself.
Not that it stopped me feeling anxious when my pen arrived!

@Crossfitgirl I’m starting Joe Wicks YouTube workouts next week. He does quite a lot of the beginner no equipment ones that look easy and he’s quite bearable!

Just wondering how everyone is doing on their WLI journey now most of us are a couple of months in?
Here’s mine for comparison:
Age:57
Height: 5 foot 5
Mounjaro 2.5 mg
SW: 14 st 4 lbs
CW: 13 st 1 lbs
GW: 10 st 4lbs
Plan: Move to MJ 5.mg and drop to 2 mg or less a week to combat dreadful headaches (and save money by using pen for 10 weeks!)

Weekly weigh in; here are my details!
Age - 49
Height - 5 ft 3
SW - 12 stone 3
CW - 11 stone 4
GW - 10 stone
Got 2 more doses of current 2.5mg pen, then stopping to see if I can maintain current habits. I feel like I have managed to totally reassess relationship with food from something that I enjoy as a comfort to fuel that I need. Not the most exciting way to live but I’ve been sitting on two extra stone for a long time now and if this is the way I have to live then I guess it’s worth it. Am peri as well so also struggling to drink wine which did add to my weight (and as soon as I had wine I needed crisps…..). I can afford one more pen if I need to.
🤞 anyway. 10 stone takes me to a healthy bmi (just!) and hopefully next time I have blood tests I won’t have ‘pre-high cholesterol……’. Would love to be there by the time DD graduates in July.

Husband’s details;
Age - 44
Height - 6ft 2in
SW - 20st 7lb
CW - 19st 11lb
GW - 17st

Did 4 x 2.5mg, 3 x 3.75mg, 2 x 5mg. Gets good suppression for 3 days then it begins to wear off, this week is the first he’s had an upset stomach after going all day without eating then overindulging in the evening. He’ll stay on 5mg as for long as he’s loosing.

Age 59
SW 12 st 6
CW 11st 6

Took 8th jab of 2.5 last night. Have ordered another 2.5 mg pen - was a bit torn as appetite suppression definitely wears off as week goes on but didn’t want to derail Easter hols. I’m going down slowly after the first speedy 5lb loss but am ok with that. Need to start doing weight stuff though which I’m putting off. I picked up a 6kg weight yesterday and it’s heavy so that made me feel good about the weight I’ve lost.

7 weeks in and this week I have lost precisely nothing. Exact same weight as a week ago. Think I have eaten slightly more calories than 1200 but not by much. Increasing to 0.5 for my next injection after 8 weeks on 0.25 so hope things start moving again as I lost 6kg over the first 6 weeks and was doing so well.

Age 58
5’ 7
SW 14.6
CW 13.2
Goal weight 10.8
10 weeks in, 2.5mg Mounjaro. Heavy weightlifting 4 times a week

7 jabs in! (Thought it was longer).
6.3 kg lost.
On 2.5mg every 7 days.
Haven't lost any weight in a couple of weeks but also have not really done any 10k steps/day either. Still yet to recover my enjoyment/interest in working out. But quite glad I haven't gained any weight either in the last couple of weeks.

Main side effect is fatigue and brief moments of what feels like a sudden intense episode of anxiety - this started in the last few days.

I really like the absence of food noise, being able to enjoy the taste of food but very able to take it or leave it & only interested in making healthy food choices. I really like this but it feels alien and I find i am unsettled around this. It is yet to feel normal to me. Anyone experiencing this?

Also, anyone experiencing this fleeting sudden anxiety-like feeling?
At the start of Mj, ALL my anxiety literally melted away. I don't have any concious feelings of anxiety or worry. So this 'free floating' anxiety-like feeling keeps taking me unawares.

10 jabs in, about 6kg lost for me.
It's going slow but a couple of people have actually noticed now!

I have felt much better this week after just injecting 0.3 (22 clicks from the wegovy 0.5 pen) and have exercised, so I think I've found a good middle dose. I may increase again soon, as I'm craving chocolate (bloody Easter!!) but I'm also due on my period again which threw me off last time!

@Rosetime I've been feeling very anxious, but then I do already take sertraline for anxiety and I've been quite stressed at work the last few weeks, so I think it's more related to that. Could it be anything else that's catching up with you that maybe you haven't realised? I've felt stressed despite it being the bank holiday and like I've constantly forgotten something, but again I think it's built up / lingering stress that I haven't dealt with, rather than a side effect of the jab.

I have found I've stressed a lot more about the actual jab itself too lately - navigating side effects, trying to make sure my meals have protein, trying to meal plan well enough to make the jabs worth the money, then umming and ahhing about the dosage and moving my jab day. Is any of that going on for you?

@Crossfitgirl , congratulations on your 6kg loss and on people noticing!! I am sure it's a nice feeling when your efforts get recognised by others. Well done!

I still look exactly the same with similar loss. I can't wait till i see a difference in how i look.

Some of what you said has resonated with me, I am off-sick from work due to recent surgery. There are lots of changes going on at work and so demands from clients needing my input have become urgent. Obviously, i am not supposed to be working but some more urgent/high profile cases get through to me for input. One of such came through few days ago that i am working on.

So in the background, i am very aware of all the work outstanding that i didn't get through before surgery waiting for me when i resume plus new cases that are incoming. I also injured myself badly on my recent operation site some days ago and undid some of the work of surgery thereby extended my return. Causing me to be in constant pain and very badly affecting my sleep at night. And i am worried about recovering.

It is an underlying feeling of stress. I guess you are right that's what it could be. Thanks for getting me to see it.

Oh that sounds quite tough actually, I can't imagine being sent work while off sick - especially if there's not much you can do about it until you return. I hope your recovery goes smoothly from now on and your injury hasn't set you back too much. It does sound like that's probably contributing to the anxious feelings. It can definitely creep up on you!
Sometimes lack of sleep itself can make you feel low level anxious too. I definitely find that - and that's usually when I don't know why I'm anxious!

I'm not sure it's quite 6kg but I've gone with my morning weight today, so there we go haha. A very close friend and my sister asked me if I'd lost weight this week - but I'd told them I'm dieting. DH has clearly noticed absolutely nothing 🤣 I can't really see any change myself, but my pants don't feel quite as tight.

I have a dress I want to fit into again (from when I got engaged) and I'm certain I'm nowhere near that!

@Crossfitgirl , I laughed at 'DH has clearly noticed absolutely nothing'. Can't wait to hear his reaction when he does notice. Sometimes the people closest to us are the last to see changes because they see us every day.

Thanks for your post. After reading it, i realised i am feeling a bit stressed actually. And that anxiety about work, my recent surgery and then injury, constant pain, worry about recovery in time to go back to work is really getting to me and sleep has fled.

I will take some of my strong pain meds tonight. I usually avoid them because they just make me sleep, sleep, sleep. But i need to sleep!

No one has commented on my 18lb loss at all, but to be fair no one commented on the way up either and I think generally people are more sensitive re commenting on other people’s bodies these days. Except my mum who said I looked tired and a friend who ambiguously said I looked ‘well’.

re anxiety, I’ve had a hellish 5 years and was basically running on stress hormones. MJ seemed to help really quieten things down but the last couple of weeks I’ve felt almost as if I was having breakthrough bursts of anxiety, then it goes calmer again. Day three seems particularly bad. I’m not sure if it’s the medication or just coincidence so far.

@RedApplePie , that's what it is like breakthrough bursts of anxiety. I don't know when it will occur, it catches me unawares.
Similarly, since October 2018, it has been battle after battle.. it's been hell. But since 2024, things are calming down. I do have anxiety because of that and is mostly well managed.
But starting on MJ, it all completely melted away. Now this recent occurrence. It may all be work related.

Yes, people are careful about commenting on people's bodies these days. Though, our parents generation seem to have totally missed that memo😄.

Congratulations!!! On your 18lbs loss.

There is a lovely woman I work with who has clearly lost quite a lot of weight. She looks fab. I keep wanting / meaning to say something to her but I don’t know how to say it, so I haven’t.
So it may be that people have noticed but haven’t said anything.

When I lost the initial 5st I found that men were more likely to comment than women, but only those that hadn't seen me for a while.

I think women are more guarded about all things weight related.