August 2026 starters

[chocolatecoveredpretzels]

Hello everyone, I'm due to start on MJ in the next few days, and I'm feeling nervous!

I've been above size 20 since I was about 14/15 years old. The highest weight I've ever logged was 134kg, about 14 years ago. I'm currently 117kg. I also have issues with my heart caused by Cushing's, type 2 diabetes and PMOS.

In the past few years, I'm yo-yo'd between 125kg and 110kg three times. I know how to lose weight and can do it... but as soon as work gets busy or stressful, I fail and give up. I also have an issue with binge and secret eating.

I went for my annual diabetic review yesterday and the nurse basically used the whole time telling me about going on MJ, because my BMI is over 40 (well, as of yesterday's weigh in, I'm 39. something) and because of my other health conditions. I didn't have to fight for it, or request it.. they're just giving it to me.

Now I'm doing as much reading/ video watching as I can to clue myself up.

On my on-track days, I eat:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with some flavouring- chilli flakes or marmite or 15g cheddar.

Lunch: Chicken thigh fillet in some kind of seasoning mix, salad made of lettuce, pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, sugarsnaps, carrot. Sometimes 3 cream crackers and a laughing cow triangle as well.

Dinner: Varies- roast chicken dinner/ 5% fat mince spaghetti bolognese with wholewheat pasta/ beef burger without the bun with cheese, salad on half the plate, usually without chips, noodles with chicken and stirfry veg.

Snacks: Usually a portion of berries/ a nectarine/ cherries/ 25g peanuts at 4pm.

How does that sound?

I have a treadmill and run/walk at 6.5/6km/hr pace for 30 mins three times a week. The nurse said I should do some weights for my arms too.

Any recommendations for which day I should inject?

Yes soups! Although I like a bit of crusty bread with mine so maybe that will have to go.

Usually in the winter I have leftovers from the night before for lunch and as I'm eating smaller portions I'm seeming to have more leftovers so I'm hoping that'll keep me going!

Soup and bread is fine, I think. Reducing the quantity is perfectly reasonable (and certainly more sustainable for me, at any rate - I love good bread too much to avoid it completely).

Speaking of soup, does anyone know of a good vegetable soup, ideally with some pearl barley in it? I used to love the Yorkshire Provender one, but I haven't seen that in the shops for years.

@Anseranser I feel the same about cream! I'm still getting stomach pains instead of hunger pangs if I don't eat til lunch ( it's my normal intermittent fasting, I thought my body was used to it) but the only time I've got stomach ache after eating was yesterday with mushrooms in a cream sauce and almond cake with chocolate ganache (so also cream based) all homemade and my only food all day other than greek yoghurt and berries at lunch, but ow! Not going there again - wonder what it is about dairy?

It's so weird - I've always been like it though. Yogurt, butter, milk, and cheese are all fine (within reason), but more than a tbsp or so of cream sends everything into revolt. It mystifies me, but at least avoiding cream is not too difficult! DH has a wonderful recipe for pasta pesto, and he can only cook it for himself as there's a creamy sauce and it invariably makes me feel ill.

Sorry you have the same issue!

Hi everyone. I’ve decided to delay my third jab a little. In part it’s because I went to a wine tasting Wednesday evening and I was meant to jab Thursday morning and I was worried I’d give myself side effects! But I’ve woken up this morning and I’ve still got the suppression, in fact stronger than the last couple of days so I’m fairly curious. I’ve got a 10k race on Sunday so I think I may jab after that. Which also takes me to a more sensible weekday for the jabs.

I’ve now lost 2.6kg in total which I’m quite happy with. I’ve been doing some heavy weight sessions too and I’m noticing the muscles are much easier to feel (particularly in my upper legs) than they were before mj which is a nice boost too.

Weigh in day for me and second dose this evening

SW 12st 12
CW 12st 10
GW 11 st

small loss to start but hopefully as the MJ builds up there will be bigger losses or at least steady 2lb a week, fingers crossed. If I can do 2lb a week I’ll reach goal in 3 months so I need to focus on that

I did my weights but shorter then use walk this morning. Between that walk and my walk to work it's still 55 minutes total. I ate too little yesterday due to the bloat and I got up and had small breakfast straight away - very unusual for me but I felt I need the energy.

have a healthy day all.

I got to onederland (under 200lbs) and I am hopeful I get under 90kg as well this week. I find having little goals/milestones helpful

phew...my burps and 'colonic!' appears to have been a 24 hr thing.... thank goodness....there is no way I would just be battling through that for any length of time!

Note to self - be particularly careful about what I eat this time...

When I was on MJ initially for my first 20kg I had about 1/2 day of, what I now know to have been, very innocuous burps....clearly I have to be more aware this time...

Has anyone switched to Medicine Marketplace? There seem to be no video consultations until end of October - is this normal?

Well, as I lay awake in the small hours this morning I thought…. ugh….. I can still feel last night’s tea in my belly. It was sausages with sweet potato chips and fried cabbage and bacon, with berries and Greek yogurt. I struggled to finish the first course (left some of the sweet potato chips but made sure to eat all the sausage cos, you know, protein) and then gave myself a smaller helping of berries and yogurt than I normally would. And didn’t have a handful of nuts after, as I often would. And still, 6 hours later, I could still feel it. And my last jab was Saturday, so if suppression was wearing off it would be doing it by now.

So, maybe my previous assertion of me being immune to high fat meals was premature! Fortunately no sulphur burps, but it did contribute to a very disturbed night’s sleep and I feel like death warmed over this morning. Ah well, onwards and upwards.

It’s now 3 weeks since my first jab, but I am shifting my jabbing day back - Saturday last week, Sunday to come. This is because I am using MJ to support my Cunning Plan of 2x48 hour weekly fasts: Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday. By jabbing on Sunday I will be at maximum suppression at the beginning of the week. And I have the option of splitting the dose and topping up on Wednesday, to help with the Thursday/Friday fast. And will have most appetite over the weekend, when I eat 2 meals for 2 days in succession, so best opportunity to get plenty of nutrition in.

I have confirmed my order for my 2nd pen at 5mg, and was asked to redo the questionnaire - height/weight plus check medical details.

Weekly losses to date: 3.2, 3.3, 3.0. 9.5lb down already! Another 2st 2lb to goal. Maybe by the end of the year? I may possibly be stating to see it in the mirror. My waist still refuses to come under 85cm, though - depending exactly when I measure it is either bang on or just over. I’m going to leave it another couple of weeks till I do the Boditrax scanner at the gym to give my visceral fat a bit more time to come down a notch.

I haven’t done the 2x48 hour fasts yesterday, I’ve done the 48 at the beginning of the week plus just one 24 later. That’s partly because I was waiting for suppression to build up as the levels of MJ in my body build, but also because it hasn’t been that convenient with my schedule yet. I’m flexible to work round life - plus, with averaging over 3lb/week loss so far, there’s really no need to intensify anything yet! I plan to try to get the golden dose from my current pen, so the earliest I would increase dose would be in 2 weeks. But I’ll make the decision whether I’m going up or not nearer the time, depending how I’m feeling.

@HappyNewt Re Medicine Marketplace - do you need a video consult to start with them? They are the ones who have just made a significant price cut, so I imagine they are inundated at the moment,

I’ve decided to stick with my current provider (Curely) for now, I paid £136.80 for my first pen with them, on subscription - although annoyingly it would be £112.50 if I had a second as they have just dropped the price on that one. And my 5mg pen will be £166.50. I will almost certainly get more than 4 weeks out of it, though.

not sure if you have to book one as part of the process, which was partly why I thought I would ask. I might just go through the order process...but I am guessing that there will be some delay to order processing now due to high demand for them. so I will probably have to re-order from current supplier too...

I restarted with my previous supplier - I thought it would be most convenient to do it that way.

But MM was a name I remembered from before and I had seen that their retail price looked good even before they adjusted it...it looks like they will have had a lot of new inquiries since they made their changes - not that it has had a great impact on 5mg...all other doses though are a great price comparatively - the good thing about them in my opinion is that they have a good price without the first time buyer discount, which makes sense to me...I hate that repeat buyers effectively get penalised..

so might make more sense to just order now from my current lot... and do the MM order in a couple of weeks time...miss their rush and not end up with 2 pens at the same time, particularly as they have a 35 day reorder rule....

@HappyNewt Have MM always had a 35 day reorder rule, do you know? It seems the price cuts are instigated by Eli Lily, but only apply where customers are buying multiple pens within a specific time frame. MM may be implementing that as the 35 day rule.

i think so...but not 100%sure

Jab 3 for me today (on 2.5mg). Lost 2 lbs again = 4 in total. I have been sick twice this week, though, once after a lot of milk and today after an ill-advised choc- mint Skinny Whip bar! It seems milk and choc are my triggers, obviously. Did have nausea more-or-less all day on Tuesday too. Other than this, all ok. I have only reduced my cals from 2100 to around 1900 daily but it seems to work.

SW =15.12lbs
CW= 15.8lbs

Sorry, accidentally did a duplicate post and can't delete it!

How are you feeling now @Gonksmum?

I can tell I’m a bit hormonal but weirdly not craving chocolate. It is all very odd to me!

Took jab 4 today 2.5mg but weigh in is Sunday.
I’m still eating really healthily and low carb. But from my early weigh ins I’ve not lost anything this week!
I’ve been so constipated so hopefully this is why otherwise I’ve got no chance. After two really good weeks of loss I’m a bit gutted.
Had spinach and Chia seeds today and have more ready for tomorrow.

any other tips to help?

Loads of water/ electrolytes, coffee, prunes, porridge all seem to help if things slow down in that department for me @BraOffPjsOn

@getawayfromme fine now, thanks. I haven't really craved chocolate either and I have a serious dark choc habit! I thought a Skinny Whip bar would be safe, alas not!

I was very drained yesterday and I think this is partly my fault. I ate too little (due to stomach bloat) the day before. I culdnt stay awake at went to bed before 8pm. I am going to set myself minimum calories and will stick with it - the next day I ate more anyway. My energy seems to be much better if my carbs are over 140g, and calories at least 1200.

This was first day I really struggled since starting.

That’s interesting, @MiaN that you started to struggle now - I think you’re a few days ahead of me, so have you had your 4th jab yet? Are you going up to 5mg, or sticking with 2.5?

Yesterday was a weird one for me - we had main meal at lunchtime as we’re going straight from early evening book group to evening concert. I did my home made pizza, with a ready made ordinary base for DH and a low carb base for me. With my usual berries and Greek yogurt to follow, felt completely satisfied and didn’t even have any nuts after - those seem to have dropped away, along with the dark chocolate. Then when we got into town before the concert with the plan to pick something up in Tesco, I realised I was famished, so we went for fish & chips! I couldn’t (didn’t want to) finish the chips, but I ate everything else. I did feel quite full after, but not uncomfortably so. Certainly none of the lying awake with a heavy stomach feeling of the previous night.

Have woken up to a glorious morning and am feeling full of energy. Currently sipping coffee, but will be heading to the gym when it opens at 8.

Hi all - was a late starter in this group so today injection 3 (two weeks in) - appetite suppression high and even more so if I have eaten more at lunch can then barely face evening meal, headaches this week reduced as I have really focused upping my water. I am short 5 foot 2
start: 10 stone 13.9
today: 10 stone 10.9
so averaging 1.5lb a week which I’m delighted with- I know will slow down but I’ll take the win!

@PuzzledObserver 4th jab at 2.5. I’ll be staying on it until I stop losing weight. So if I’m losing 2kg a month, I’ll happily keep going at that dose. So far the suppression is great and plenty – I get hungry, I eat smaller portions, I’m satisfied, and I don’t think about food for hours. I don’t need more suppression than that. I think both you and me are in the same camp that some hunger is actually good news.

I was on Ozempic before and my jab was Friday morning. I couldn’t get out of bed on Sunday. I was in a very stressful and busy job at the time, and Saturday was spent running around doing groceries, shopping and getting ready for the week ahead. When I was so lifeless on Sunday, I remember thinking, “I have no life.” My only chance to have a break and I was completely drained. I didn’t really have the headspace or capacity at the time to help myself either.

I chose Wednesday lunchtime on purpose this time. If I’m drained on Friday, which is the second day after the jab, and even better if it happens Friday afternoon, I can work from home, sleep more and still have a good weekend. The work week is over and I don’t have any other commute days.

So far my energy has been great, but yesterday after lunch – so day 2 after the 4th jab – I was absolutely exhausted. I’m hoping it’s just because I couldn’t eat much the day before, PMS, and the fact that I’ve been hitting around 13,000 steps and doing strength training daily. But even if I do get that afternoon of exhaustion, I can manage it much better this time.

I feel really good today. Strength workout done, my belly feels good, my 50-minute walk with the dog was good. I’m ready for a good day. I really hope it’s not something that happens every week, but I think I’m much better geared to handle it if it does.

Happy to be feeling good again today. 😊

I never felt this good on Ozempic, and the suppression was really only there for the first week. My GP pushed the dose up every month but the proper suppression didn't make appearance. I was away for my first increase to 0.5 without really having any control over my food environment and that was disaster too. I was stressed at work and trying to get by on smaller quantities of not-so-good food, so who knows – was it me and my setup at the time, was it the medication, or did I increase the dose too quickly? Because of that experience, I’m going to be VERY, very slow with increasing Mounjaro and very focused on helping myself (another thing we are aligned as you have solid plan too)

I had so many side effects on Ozempic – constipation, diarrhoea, my period was all over the place (sometimes every two weeks), my heart rate went up by about 10 (only 3 with Mounjaro), and the eggy burps. I was miserable on it and only lasted about 5 months. for the 5 months on it, I lost less weight then for last 3.5 weeks so glad I tried something else.

boy I am chatty! Have a super healthy and happy day all.

I do think that tiredness is sometimes coming up instead of hunger and some good fuel helps the energy. It sounds like the meal yesterday was needed @PuzzledObserver and it is great you too are waking up feeling great.

Don't be gutted - if you have done the work (ate less calories then you burned) the check is probably in the mail. The weight loss postman is all over the place - they pop up at random times but if you do the work, the loss will appear.

Sometimes the work you do in one week shows up few weeks later