It’s time to Spring into the maintainers thread 4, where we don’t eat all the Easter eggs and undo all our good work!

[MargoLivebetter]

Welcome to our 4th thread of continuing all the good work we’ve done, believing in ourselves and recognising all we’ve already achieved.

Some of the patents start to expire this year, which I think means that countries like India will start manufacturing generic GLP drugs. I also read that from 2027 Novo are expected to significantly reduce prices too. The pills are also expected to be available in the UK later this year or early 2027.

@MargoLivebetter I spin once a week, pilates three times per week, strength X1 per week, and walk around 12k steps per day. The running burnt the most calories - I can't get on with swimming. I find it so boring. Knackering, but boring!!

Wow, @Thelittlestranger no shortage of exercise there! Have you got access to a cross trainer? That's a decent way of chomping through some calories without pounding your joints.

How is everyone doing? I crept up a few pounds so have been strict to nip in the bud. Have lost a pound a week and 2 lbs more to get back where I’m happy. A whole year since I stopped MJ properly ( had a pen in June and one in August) I do feel hungry a lot of the time but getting used to it!

@Sadteacher that’s impressive to have maintained for so long off.

I’m maintaining around 8st2. I am trying to build some strength and stamina at the moment with the help of a chatcgpt routine. I’m chronically ill and have a very bad back so it’s all pretty hard but I know if I don’t do some exercise things are worse and it might eventually help.

@FurForksSake Thank you, I would go back on them like a shot if I needed to. I do a bit of exercise ( compared to absolutely nothing before!) and I’m sure it helps with maintenance. It might be different for you with chronic pain to deal with, but I do enjoy the feeling after I’ve been for a run. I’m just over the top of my bmi, as I was when I stopped, but I’m in my 50s and feel a little extra padding for the wrinkles isn’t too bad!

I’ve been doing ok, maintaining my weight and managing to keep a lid on the urge to binge. The bank holiday weekend has thrown me off course a bit, I haven’t binged but have definitely eaten and drank more than usual. Had a sneaky peek at the scales this morning and am 2lbs over the upper end of my target. I’m not too worried, planing to be back on track today and I’m sure I can get rid of those extra pounds by Friday which is my ‘official’ weigh day.

Trying not to feel bad about a small gain, after all, this is part of maintenance isn’t it? I’m sure ‘normal’ people will gain a pound or two on special occasions or after a busy long weekend, and they wouldn’t panic as they know it will come off again. That’s what I like to tell myself anyway 😄.

That's exactly it @MummyInTheNecropolis I'm in the same position. 1/2lb over the top of my buffer. I should be more, given what I've eaten but have balanced with exercise to reduce the damage.

But I'm there a lot at the moment so I'd quite like to use this week to get safely back in the buffer. So - that's my aim for the next few days.

That's fantastic news @Sadteacher . It is so good to hear that you cold turkeyed successfully! It really gives me a lift to hear that.

@FurForksSake sorry to hear about the ongoing pain but again that's great news that you are maintaining as well.

@MummyInTheNecropolis agree that small gains are inevitable. I think the difference for me to where I was before is that now, I put the work in to get back down again, whereas pre-MJ, I would have been self defeatist about it and thrown in the towel and just carried on eating and piling on all the weight again. I'm sure you will have it back on track again this week.

Glad to hear that you are managing ok too @Thelittlestranger . Again, I'm sure getting back to the normal routine after the BH will see you get back on track again.

For me, this time of year is always easier. I think I must have been a bear or squirrel in a former life, because when it gets dark and cold, I just want to eat carbs. In the lighter months, it is easier and I love salad! I'm also doing loads of exercise in the garden at the moment. I've got a couple of projects that I'm working on that involve heaving soil, hardcore and stones around and that is definitely helping keep me comfortably in my buffer zone. I'm still on the half dose of MJ. I was debating coming off again but I'm not up for the monkey brain food noise and the half dose is affordable for me.

I’ve been awol for a while, still somehow managing to lose, I’ve dropped to 7.5mg now and weighed in yesterday at 9st 1.8lbs, was trying to maintain a weight of 9st 10lbs! I’ve booked a maintenance call with Swift Doctor for next week, I’m thinking of asking about a switch to wegovy, 2 reasons really, one the price and the other to see if it reduces my reliance on Mounjaro (if that makes sense). I don’t really want to lose anymore but I’m terrified of gaining even though I’m well under my goal. The psychological problems are real!

How long have you been in maintenance @Iwouldratherbesinging and what's your bmi now? I only ask as I experienced very similar and dropped to under bmi 20 over a year of maintenance while reducing dose from 12.5 to 1.25. It did settle eventually but I was a bit worried for a while. I've now increased dose to 2.5 and slowly edged my bmi back to 21 which feels much better. I did consider switching but in hindsight, glad I didn't as happy with MJ. Maybe try reducing slowly (7.5 is still quite a high dose) - i did about 1mg every month - and see if you can find a balance between dose and calories.

@KrankyKumquat I definitely have a healthy bmi of 21.9, I’m a smidge under 5ft 4. I’ve only been in maintenance for 2 months (after losing over 10 stone), so still early days and have titrated down from 15mg over the last 4 months.

I think a big issue for me is that I don’t count calories, after all these years of ‘dieting’ I have a rough idea and there are some things I’ll weigh if I’m not sure. I also follow the 5:2 fast so the obvious answer is probably to just do one fast day a week instead of two!

I need to work on the fear of regaining…

I was still losing on 7.5 @Iwouldratherbesinging though I’d never gone above 10. It was only when I went down to 5 that I stopped losing and have maintained since then. Unfortunately though my old binge habits started to creep back in. I managed to avoid gaining by eating well for 5 days a week and exercising every day.

After an indulgent bank holiday weekend I had every intention to get straight back on track from Tuesday but it just didn’t happen. I binged Tuesday and Wednesday and just felt hopelessly out of control so I doubled up my jab on Thursday and took 10mg. It’s been such a relief, it kicked in immediately, the food noise stopped and I’ve had no urge to overeat at all. I can’t carry on doing 10 though as I don’t want to lose anymore. I think my ideal maintenance dose must be somewhere between 5 and 7.5 so I’m going to try counting clicks (which I’ve never done before - bit nervous about it)! And will try taking 6 or 6.5 next week.

I usually weigh myself on a Friday but I skipped this week and have avoided the scales. I’m going to weigh myself tomorrow instead now that I’ve had a few days back on track, I need to hold myself accountable, accept the gain if there is one and use this week without the food noise as a chance to reset and get my head back in the game.

Good luck @MummyInTheNecropolis, this part of the journey is so much harder than the beginning where you just want to be at the end! 🤦🏻‍♀️

It really is! Losing was so much easier. I braved the scales this morning, 2lbs on but still (just)! within my target range which I’m really happy with! If I can just get through this week without binging then I’m sure I can get those 2lbs off by Friday (feel like I say the same thing every week though) 🙄

@MummyInTheNecropolis you’ll do it! You lost an unbelievable amount of weight. I remember when I first saw you on mn ages ago thinking god she’s come a long way and still has so far to go. But then I didn’t know how effective these meds are when used by someone informed and determined. And some months later, here you were, at target!

Maybe we have to expect it to take a good couple of years for us to settle into maintaining? I’m very much still trying to figure out what are healthy v unhealthy habits and impulses, and what are reasonable occasional excesses, and how to enjoy food and drink and sociability, and I thought I was almost at target a year ago. Very scared of regaining, though I haven’t had any nightmares about it for a while. It’ll be a long time before I relax into steady habits, if I ever do. I suppose I mean we’re in the long game now, and a different kind of self-care and learning is needed.

Good to hear how you are getting on @Iwouldratherbesinging . Maintaining is tricky, there is no doubt about it. I think I will be "maintaining" one way or another for a very long time - possibly forever. I think we have to take a suck it and see approach sometimes, and give things a go. Keep us posted about what you decide to do and how it pans out.

@MummyInTheNecropolis I'm glad the higher dose helped get the binge activity under control again. Maybe you will need that every now and then, if things spiral.

Thank you @ShrankLastWinter I do sometimes need to remind myself how far I’ve come. I came across an old photo of me today, and I looked even bigger than I remember, it was quite a shock! I think I’ve almost forgotten how big I was when I started (almost 25 stone)! I put it side by side with a current photo and it did give me a boost!

I think you’re right @MargoLivebetter and actually it’s a bit of relief to know that I do have that option available if I need it. Every time I have a binge I panic that I’m gonna immediately gain all the weight back when in reality, it’s only a pound or two and I always take action when it happens. I just would really like to get rid of the binge behaviour but I think that is going to take quite some time and effort, emotionally more than physically. I’m listening to the Losing It podcast at the moment, I think someone on here recommended it? I am finding it helpful and interesting so far, and I love her no nonsense attitude.

How are the rest of you getting on?

@MummyInTheNecropolis for some of us there is all sorts of emotional stuff tied up with food and compulsive eating. I used to binge. I had therapy for abuse and an unexpected side effect was that I stopped bingeing. It didn't solve all the eating problems, but it did solve that one. We are all different, so very different and I think that is what makes obesity so hard to tackle. What drives one person to eat, doesn't another and what hormones might be out of whack in one person might not be the case for someone else. It never ceases to amaze me that the GLP-1s seem so effective regardless of what drives the over-eating.

I'm still bobbling along in my zone of tolerance. For nearly two months now, I've cut breakfast out completely, as my likely times of over-eating is in the evening. By not eating breakfast, I give myself a couple of hundred calories to play with in the evening. It seems to have helped settle things down. I'm still on the half dose of MJ each week and that is keeping the itchy, agitating, monkey brain food chatter to levels that I can manage.

I think @ShrankLastWinter makes some good points on it taking time. Most of us overate and developed very unhealthy & destructive food relationships over very many years. It is going to take some of us longer than others to make new healthy habits and create a normal relationship with food.

How is everyone doing? I'm hoping that the relative quiet on the thread means that everyone is going along ok without anything noteworthy to report.

I feel like I have found a fairly comfortable spot on the half dose of MJ and keeping my calories at around 1500 a day. This seems to keep me in my zone of tolerance without too much bother (hopefully not famous last words).

Ah that’s good to hear ! I was pretty much coming off and then my weight started creeping up and and up (only by 2.5kg) but I felt increasingly like i didn’t have control. Anyway back up to 2mg every week and feeling much better for it - and once stabilised will try to go back to every 10 days. I was speaking to someone today who said they’ve tapered to 2mg every week et 2 months !

That sounds good @Fluffypiece . It is so helpful to be able to adapt the medication to what we need, when we need it.

It’s one of the pluses of paying through the nose for it, that we also get to manage it ourselves, I feel.

I went back on a few weeks ago after 10 months of maintaining. After Easter I had put in half a stone I couldn’t seem to shake off. I’m down that half a stone now and back to maintaining. So far I’ve been on a 2.5 every 10 days dose. I’ve had 3 doses and due to take my 4th tomorrow.