Mounjaro/Wegovy with more than 5 stone/30kg to lose - thread 13!

[MooBaggage]

Thread 13 and we're still going strong! Everyone welcome 😊

We have kiwis, yoga, smart scales and hammocks and there is always room for new advice, top tips and whatever's on our minds!

i don’t take collagen because I am getting enough protein from my diet (prawns, lentils, chicken, tinned mackerel etc) but I know lots do.

For example, at breakfast yesterday I ate half a pouch of Merchant Gourmet tomatoey lentils with a pre cooked salmon fillet. Today I had the rest of the pouch with one of those egg and spinach pots you get in a meal deal. With my breakfast skinny latte, that means I’ve eaten about 35g of protein already today.

Frozen edamame beans are brilliant for cooking like frozen peas ( which are nearly as good) and adding protein and fibre to your lunch and dinner.

Thanks for the podcast link @MoneyJo I will bookmark that!

I'd love to hear what you think. It really pushed me to go for the jabs. Plus it's all the science behind it but in layman's terms so it's useful when you get people saying fat people just need to move more and eat less!

@MiaN I can completely relate to what you've said re: feeling disappointed in yourself - I felt exactly the same way. And also confusion that my whole life I've been able to achieve and do other stuff, but why not conquer being a 'normal' weight. Turns out my body needed this medication in terms of insulin management, reducing inflammation and basically keeping me balanced physically and mentally so that I now feel in control and can make informed decisions about what I eat. The appetite suppression is a brilliant bonus, but only part of the story.

So - you are doing it yourself and for yourself and that is fantastic 😊💪

My tips are similar to others and if I have a stall I always go back to these:

Drink 2 - 3 litres of water a day (I put a drop of lime cordial in mine to make it taste better!)

Up the protein - I eat lots of chicken, salmon, prawns and I've reduced my carbs hugely - I don't need them and would rather feel full having eaten protein and veg. In fact when I eat rice/pasta, I find I feel hungry within an hour or two. I eat Greek Yoghurt with every meal as an extra protein boost and it makes me really full!

Hand weights for strength training - just a few minutes a day of squats/arm stuff

Yoga - also a new discovery for me and helps me feel fit and flexible!

I've also got smart scales - I weigh daily (having sworn at the beginning that I wasn't actually going to weigh myself at all - i'd had such a bad relationship with scales my whole life, I found it terrifying) and I take the lowest number I weigh at as what I weigh, even if I go up 1 - 2lbs, because I've learned that weight increases at that level are just water, but when the scales go below my lowest weight, that gets recorded - keeps me positive and works for me!

Record your measurements too - I wish I'd done this from the beginning, as the reductions have been amazing and I wish I knew what I measured from the start.

Milled flaxseed for constipation if you get it - I put some in smoothies or on granola (or kiwis, as @RobinEllacotStrike would advise!)

If you find yourself feeling nauseous, smoothies are good when you don't feel like eating. I make mine with frozen fruit, milled flaxseed, a couple of dates, some greek yog and milk - stick it all in the blender. The dates give it a bit of sweetness which I like.

Good luck and let us know how you're getting on!

Ive just listened to the podcast (im currently on hols and constantly looking for decent podcasts to listen to while baking in the sun - if anyone has other recommendations)

My view is that its hope, very informative. But, I didn't like the constant insistence that is must be a drug you take forever. I feel this is phara-marketting speaking, given the podcast is by someone sponsored by multiple GLP1 phara companies. Its obviously in the phara company's interest to perpetuate the idea of a forever drug. There's research that could be done on retraining so it isn't needed forever, but who is going to be interested in investing in that research?

Ive just listened to the podcast (im currently on hols and constantly looking for decent podcasts to listen to while baking in the sun - if anyone has other recommendations)

My view is that its hope, very informative. But, I didn't like the constant insistence that is must be a drug you take forever. I feel this is phara-marketting speaking, given the podcast is by someone sponsored by multiple GLP1 phara companies. Its obviously in the phara company's interest to perpetuate the idea of a forever drug. There's research that could be done on retraining so it isn't needed forever, but who is going to be interested in investing in that research?

I haven't heard it, but that's really interesting. I've read lots online and have definitely come to the conclusion that I will need to be on some level of dose for the rest of my life, as if I came off it, all the positive things would stop - but it's interesting that there may be other options in the future.

For me, I see it now like my other lifetime medications (except this comes at an extortionate cost..!). I can't wait to start tapering - which actually I'm going to do from next week as 15mg is definitely too much for me. To get to 2.5mg or even 1.25mg if possible, would be great and affordable in the long term, hopefully.

I don't know enough about the pharmacology, but speaking as a layperson... As the drugs were originally developed for diabetes, which is a lifelong condition once you have developed it (I think!) then it doesn't seem surprising that they are intended for lifelong use. Just as insulin monitoring is an ongoing requirement for diabetics in disease management.

For those of you who track calories, how many do you have daily?

@MiaN I set Nutracheck to lose 1lb a week and have given it my statistics, activity level etc. Every couple of weeks I update my weight and it recalculates my calories (slightly fewer as my weight goes down). At the moment it’s on 1750 a day. I’m happy to go slow and steady.

and do you also track macros? I think hearing sensible goals is very helpful to me, vs starting with unrealistic expectations.

I track on My Net Diary - I'm really careful to include everything I eat as accurately as possible, and it has really helped me to understand what is good for me. It does summarise my carbs, protein and fat. It's protein I look at and try to hit goal with.

When I was losing, I aimed to lose 1kg a week, so ate at about minus 1000 calories a day. Because I was heavy and active, that was about 1400. As I got closer to goal, I lost more slowly. Now I maintain on about 2100, though I have only tracked roughly throughout.

I used to take pictures of everything I ate in a day from time to time and asked ai to calculate the nutritional content. When I calibrated against the scales it was pretty good.

I ballpark my calories rather than track. As precise tracking makes me murderous. 😁 Similarly with protein.

It was in the region of 1500 in the early days when I was larger, and then closer to 1200 as my TDEE went down. Now I'm in maintenance it's back to being around 1500-1750 on a normal day. My tdee comes out as 1600 if I put Sedentary which is the safest thing to do even though I'm not - I walk a lot and do weights.

Regarding staying on MJ for life, there's a part of me that really wants to. I'm certainly not rushing the titration down. It's as much about all the other lovely anti-inflammatory things that it's done though. Fewer menopausal aches and pains, IBS gone, mentally more chilled, perfect BP. I don't know about my cholesterol or blood sugars, I've never measured them. But if I had to bet....

at what dose did you notice your menopausal pains reduce. I’m on the first week of 2.5mg and can’t to notice a difference as I feel like an old lady first thing in the morning 😂

Ooh, that's an interesting one. Probably after the first month was when I realised things weren't aching as much. Mostly knees, getting out of bed in the morning, and I've suffered with Achilles tendonitis on and off for years which my weight was obviously exacerbating.

The thing is until I come off it's almost impossible to know for sure how much is down to losing 6.5 stone and how much is down to the MJ itself. But like with feeling cold (which happened for me within a day!) I think things improved too quickly for it just to be the weight. I know a couple of people on my month starter thread found their plantar fascitis improved almost immediately.

I can see why you think that about pharma marketing but I really don't agree. GY works for the university of Cambridge and while some of his funding will come from grants from pharma, the research is rigorous (despite the current press about Arday, which is a whole different thing), and pharma doesn't get to drive the outcome of the studies.

I don't know if I will be on MJ forever but I am expecting to be on it at least a year after reaching goal and then seeing how it goes. It's a hormonal thing and I clearly can't consistently lose weight or maintain a low weight without it at the moment. I cAnt see that my hormones will change too much in a year or two but I'm hoping I'll have learnt to manage them well.

@MiaN , i track my calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates and water. I use myfitnesspal.

I do focus more on protein, calories and water. I find that if I eat more protein rich foods, reduce my carbs and less fatty foods i rarely overdo my carbs & fats. It's protein that i find myself actually putting a lot of effort in to make sure i am eating 80g of protein minimum per day.

My daily calories were 1250/day but i am now eating 1450 - 1550kcal/day to slow down my weight loss/stay about the same weight for a few weeks and then afterwards go back to losing weight but very slowly ~ 150 - 200g/week.

@MiaN I bang the drum for magnesium supplements. I was already doing this for sleep pre-MJ but it's slightly changed since going on.

Due to aforementioned IBS I would always stick to Magnesium Glycinate specifically because it's not an osmotic laxative. Now, since MJ I also always have Magnesium Citrate as an option and when constipation has been an issue, I take that instead. Always before bed, either one. There's also a Nutrition Geeks 3in1 version that quite a few people swear by.

I also set my activity level as light/sedentary and then record my gym sessions in
nutracheck. It estimates me additional calories on a separate line for this but I try not to eat them, I just see it as handy extra burn!

The summary looks like this for me today after gym and breakfast (I choose to display calories, protein and fibre)

ETA you can set it not to tell you exercise calories burned

@MiaN I used Carb Manager to track macros - Fat, Protein and Carbs. It also tells you calories and works out everything from your weight, etc. I only use it to track my weight and measurements, etc these days, but I would recommend it.

I have only just started using the Meal function in my Oura app which I find insightful. While it does not track your macros, etc it does tell you how nutritionally dense meals are which I am finding quite the novelty😀It tells you how processed a meal is alongside everything else.

My Oura obviously tracks steps and calories burned every day, sleep, etc. Sleep is up there with activity - so restorative and really affects everything.

I also recommend magnesium as @GiveMeWordGames says. I cannot function without magnesium. I also swear by Collagen (from Nutritional Geeks). It has changed my face and neck so much, and again, I cannot be without it.

I’m not tracking calories or macros or anything. Very un-sciencey I know. At the moment I am steadily losing weight. Trying to make good choices (which is a lot easier on mj). I’ve also dramatically upped my exercise game which I am loving. I expect at some point I will need to get more forensic on the diet, but it’s a long game and I’m just going to enjoy drifting downwards for as long as possible. I eat two good meals a day and an occasional banana before a run if I feel a bit peckish. When the current plan stops working, I will do all that tdee and weighing food, but the thought of doing it for three whole years is depressing. I’m about 5 months in and over 20kg down so far.

I just had a small NSV. Had some time to kill in town before my MJ appointment so I tried on some size 12 carrot leg jeans in M&S. I know I'm slightly smaller than a 14 on the bottom in a few brands but when I've tried buying a couple of size 12 things on Vinted it hasn't ended well. Mind you one was a weird pair of Next jeans with NO stretch and a tiny waist which felt like they'd come straight out of the 70s!

ANYWAY. They fitted perfectly. Can't say I actually liked them - carrot leg is not for me 😂- but they sat perfectly on my waist. I think 14s will always be the safer bet in a lot of shops but it felt good anyway. 😁

Got my next pen and I'm moving down from a 7.5 to a 5. I've been taking 5 from my 7.5 and I'm going to stick at 5 for a couple of weeks then start taking 2.5 from it, so it'll last me six jabs.

Carrot leg jeans, @GiveMeWordGames? I love the names new styles have. Such a good feeling when something fits in a shop!

I’m wedded to my M&S boyfriend jeans and have been buying new sizes from Vinted. I should list the bigger ones for resale, but I quite like seeing them as a progress chart.

I know there’s no promo code thread anymore, but if anyone would like an IQ Doctor code I can PM it over. Gives the user £40 off a first £99+ treatment, and also gives me £40 credit when it’s used.

Hello all!

Congratulations @MooBaggage, @MoneyJo and @GiveMeWordGames on your scale victories and NSVs! Welcome @MiaN! I take collagen, biotin and a decent broad spectrum multivitamin, and I track my food and exercise with MFP - now that I am in maintenance I am trying to work out what my intake should be to stay on that tightrope, but I haven't quite cracked it yet...

SW: 15st 5.5lb
CW: 8st 6.5lb
Loss: 97lb
Current BMI: 21
Target Weight 1: 12st 1lb (overweight BMI) - Achieved!
Target Weight 2: 10st 1lb (healthy BMI) - Achieved!
Target Weight 3: 9st 5.5lb (6st loss) - Achieved!
Final Target: 8st 8lb - 9st 1lb - Achieved!

Another 1lb loss this week, so I still need to up my food. It's odd because I feel like my food intake is in a good place - I eat enough so I don't feel hungry and I snack when I feel like I need to, but my weight is still dropping. I am wondering whether I should stop weighing 1-2 times a week and go to maybe fortnightly or monthly and let my weight slide up or down in that time just to see where it settles. For now, I like the security of weighing once or twice a week, but I really don't want to get to the point where I am obsessing over the numbers.

Truthfully, I am finding maintenance harder than the weight loss phase, but I will get there.