August 2026 starters (Thread 2!)

[chocolatecoveredpretzels]

Hi everyone and thanks for the bestowed honour of starting the new thread, Puzzled!

It’s so lovely to have all of you along for the ride on here. Thanks for keeping me company! I love reading how things are going for you and being able to ask questions or share things.

Yesterday, I tried on a fleece top I bought last year. It fit me so snugly last year, I looked like a burst sausage in its casing. Now it’s actually loose. My rings are starting to feel a bit loose too- I wear my mum’s engagement and eternity rings and on the cold mornings, they’re starting to slip down my fingers.

I’m down 1.9kg this week and, although I’m still feeling hungry, it’s not an all-consuming hunger that leads to binging. I’ve actually needed to add more food as what I’ve eaten today and yesterday ended up being 1300 calories and 1100 calories. Given that my watch is still estimating approx 3000 calories burned on a typical day at school, I know I need at least 1600 to have enough oomph. Is anyone else finding the same?

I’ll link this thread in the old one so everyone can find their way here.

Weigh-in Tuesday and I'm down 1.4kg this week 🥳 It was fairly stable initially and then plummeted after I felt so ill on Thursday - it hasn't crept back up, which surprised me. I've got an awful cold now though, not sure what difference that's going to make, but it will stop me from getting back into my exercise videos for a while. I'm going to have to be iron-willed with restarting them asap - I've already had a week off from them what with half term and spending days doing decorating.

Start: 97.4kg
Current: 86.0kg

One more kilo off and that'll be 2 stones gone 💪 Half a kilo off will put me 10kg away from the "overweight" threshold, which feels so much more doable now than it did a few months ago. I've already lost 11.8kg, so I'm halfway there 😎

most of the additional calories have been from protein, my fat and carbs remained solid. I am going to give myself little path on the back for staying on course (even if the scale isn't moving) and managing hunger well. And I will stay on 4 for at least another week.

Well last week felt like a bit of a struggle but somehow just managed to squeeze another 2lb off and I’m in the elevens!! I know that sounds low to some of you but I’m only 5ft so still obese at that weight. But BMI is now 31.9 from 35 which very much feels like progress. I’m noticing the difference in that my clothes fit better, my face looks noticeably different and people have started asking “have you lost weight?”

SW 13st 2lb
CW 11st 13lb
TW 9st

I’m going on holiday in eight weeks and I’d love to lose another stone in that time but it feels ambitious at current rate of loss, not to say the pre-Christmas period! The shorter term target is when I lose another 4lb I’ll be halfway to target. 🤞

Ugh this cold is miserable. I'm up 0.4kg since yesterday morning! Let's hope it drops again once I'm well, it can't come soon enough 🤧

That's my 12 week report. The first column is actual, the second is based on calorie deficit. I am moody however as this particular stage feels touchy & sensitive. I have reached this weight 3 times before - I would like to see it going down to 82 and under over the next few week. I would also say I only record my weight on Wednesdays - whatever it is I take it. But I do weigh in daily and I feel i have been at same weight for nearly two weeks, but the scale keeps going up and down one pound. I need a loss this week - all eyes ahead!

The week 12 above is only visible when I click on the photo

I heard comment that I was really surprised by yesterday. The comment was - Those that are taking taking mounjaro instead of eating healthy. What? Most people that go on meds do want to change, they do want to eat healthy, they have tried hundreds of days, tens of diets, read many books and paid for many plans before they get to a stage they have to inject themselves with expensive meds to lose weight. It's not either or - maybe for some but not for me for sure.

I hear your outrage, @MiaN , and share it.

Without seeing the quote in context it’s impossible to say whether the writer says or implies that ALL MJ users are using it as an alternative to eating healthy. Might they just have been referring to a minority of users? While I see plenty of people who are doing the work on their eating habits, we know there are some who don’t.

After a very strange (not using usual scales) weight loss reading last week, I’ve returned to my PT’s good mechanical scales this week and am still 70.4 kg, the same as I was after returning from the US on October 17th. I’m starting to get quite decent body recomposition, though, with more muscle. Mind you, I’ve been eating protein & lifting weights for Britain—and used to be able to bulk quite effectively when I was young—so maybe that explains it.

NSV: my skinniest size 10, non-elastane jeans now fit nicely without a muffin-top.

What is everyone else telling people if the get asked about losing weight? I've had a few comments recently and I really don't want to tell anyone. Mainly because I hate being reminded that they all thought I looked huge and unhealthy and terrible before and I've always ended up back there again! But also because it's awkward on the school run and I could do without the judgement TBF!

I am literally bouncing between 85 kg one day, 84 kg the next, and then back up again. It's been going on for two full weeks. It's testing my patience, to say the least. I really need to see a loss this week!

Back to basics - Up in the morning, a pint of water and coffee, followed by another pint of water and coffee. 10 minutes of strength training, a 50-minute walk, and 30 g of protein from whole foods, 3–4 times a day. No UPFs.

If I keep consistently doing the right things, surely the results will follow. I just need to be patient and trust the process!

The check is in the post. No takeaways this week. To be fair my takeaway was kale chicken salad one day and sushi another - I have been doing the work

Well I have failed to post for several weeks because I had no success to report, which I realise is not realistic or sensible or a good example for others who may be reading the thread and wondering if they're the only one who is stuck! I posted how I was weighed at the doctor's and the scale showed more than a stone more than my own scales at home: that absolutely threw me; I felt like a failure, like I had to lose that stone all over again - totally stupid! I had started getting compliments, but someone adding "compared to last term" really upset me as well, like I still wasn't in the acceptable parameters of normal just slightly less unacceptable. Plus, my own previous set point (15 stone) has been reached, plus half term socialising and Halloween 🎃.....

Anyway in the interest of being honest and accountable with you lovely, supportive, interesting lot: I've had a mental reset, 5mg is amazing suppression for me with no side effects and I've finally inched under 15 stone and into a size 14 dress, from size 20 in August! Return to work has brought nice comments from colleagues too, I think people need not to see you every day! I am telling people I'm on mounjaro if they ask, I'm not ashamed of it (any longer) but I always add that you still need to diet/ count calories.

It depends exactly what they say/ask, and how I’m feeling.

If they say you look great, wow you’ve lost so much weight, you’re looking really well etc, I just say thank you.

If they ask do you feel better, I say of course, and might list some of the ways in which my life has improved

If they ask how I’ve done it, I answer honestly - I have completely overhauled the way I eat, those changes are permanent, and recently I have started to use Mounjaro because I was stuck around a BMI of 30 for over a year, and my health will benefit further if I can get get into or closer to the healthy range.

In the right circumstances I will also tell people I am a compulsive overeater, and that Overeaters Anonymous is what has made the difference between this time and every other time in my life when I’ve lost a substantial amount of weight, and the reason I am going to be staying wherever I end up.

If they start with the oh surely you’re about right now, don’t go too far (which started when I was still very much in the obese range) they start getting short shrift. That’s more a depending how I’m feeling, I might make light of it, ha ha, there’s no way I can imagine myself ever being skinny. Or I might reiterate that I am being guided by the health metrics, not weight per se. If I felt supremely confident, I might add “and not your personal uninformed opinion of my appearance, which is completely irrelevant”. But only in my head, I wouldn’t have the guts to say it out loud.

The other question that bugs me is “are you still on your diet?” Because that implies the diet is a temporary thing and one day I will go back to normal eating. Well we all know what will happen if I do that. I haven’t been on a diet, I have changed my diet, permanently. I still make minor tweaks, but I will not be going back to normal, I have CHANGED normal.

@WombatCowgirl its frightening how much the numbers affect us, isn’t it? Logically you know you’ve lost the amount of weight you thought you had (with the scale difference, I mean), but emotionally it’s very different, because you’re heavier than you thought you were.

But, wow, you’re down 3 sizes since August?! That’s amazing! And in a 14 dress at just under 15 stone? All I can say is - you must be 7 feet tall, because I’m still wearing the 16’s I was wearing in August (though looser, and a couple of 14 tops have crept in) and I’m 12-8.

The numbers don’t matter, though, right?

I’ve started working with a book called “More than a Body”, which is about the way society has taught us to value the appearance of our bodies over everything else - over how it feels and functions in the world, over our health, and over every other aspect of ourselves, such as intellect, personality, relationships, career etc. All of those things could be stunningly good - but if the appearance of our body doesn’t fit the ideal, we feel like crap.

That’s no way to live.

I have a long way to go in learning to accept and love my body. I’m trying to focus on what it can now DO rather than how far short it still falls of the ideal.

The subtitle of the book is “Your body is an instrument, not an ornament.”

I agree @PuzzledObserver and actually the health benefits have been so striking on mounjaro for me: normal blood pressure and cholesterol, for the first time in 20 years, no ankle swelling,, for the first time since my heart surgery last year. Those are the changes which have blown me away! However, those aren't outwardly visible, and it's much more easy and acceptable to admire the extent to which I'm now closer to the current beauty standards (which I'm also pleased about naturally).

I'm definitely not 7 foot tall, I'm 5ft 3 but a very compact, muscular, hourglass person, kind of stocky with a waist. That's why I recommended that My Body Gallery website, because you can see people the same height and weight and how differently everyone carries their flesh.

I am 84kg again today. 2 full weeks since I went to the doctors and I was this weight for first time, literally going up and down 1kg the whole time it is so frustrating. I did 50 clicks so I am at about 4.14 and last night I had my first eggy burbs too. I guess we are all 3 ish months in and any initial motivation is gone. I started on 12th of August and next Thursday it will be the full 3 months. I want to see the 3 by then, even if it's 83.9 I putting the work the scale has to pay up.

@MiaN this is how it works for me - I seem to stay the same weight give or take a few grams for three ISH weeks and then I'll start peeing loads and have a sudden whoosh of 2kg. The cheque will be in the post! My graph looks like steps down rather than a straight line but if I took the average it's 2lbs a week. Doesn't make sense to me (and not how my body behaved when I lost weight on slimming world or lighter life or anything like that) but seems to be how it responds to mounjaro.

Thank @PuzzledObserver about telling people. I just can't bring myself to say anything and it feels like such an back handed insult to me to say I look great now - I've spent most of my life fat so it just reminds me of how much people judge! I might just smile and nod and change the subject.

@WombatCowgirl those are amazing stats! I can't believe how much things can change in three months. Thank god for mounjaro I say! I really hope it doesn't stop working for me.

I'm fully committed to being on this for 18 months before I review it and hope I can lose the bulk of my bulk in that time. I found a picture of me aged 19 at 11stone (the only time I've ever been that light in my life - and I got there by drinking a glass of milk with a vitamin tablet a day for three months... 🤦‍♀️ On drs orders no less!) and have decided I would be happy to stop a bit before that at around 12 stone which is good confirmation. Obviously I might change my mind if I ever get there!!

I was just trying to compile the list of my go to foods, and groceries shopping list on repeat.

Core Proteins & Prepared Staples

Egg Whites: Hard-boiled eggs - I eat mainly the egg whites with yoghurt dip - see bellow.

Batch-Cooked Poultry: Oven-baked or pressure-cooked chicken breast fillets; or chicken thighs for dinners that I cook on the day most of the time.

Lean Meats & Seafood: Cooked ground mince, fresh steak, fish fillets, and canned tuna. I cook steak and fish on the day, no pre cooking. Sometimes I have lean burger - chicken or beef but not breathed type.

Carbs & Fiber

Pre-Cooked Grains & Starchy Veg: Boiled basmati rice and boiled baby potatoes. Sometimes roast sweet potato.

Satisfying Fruits: Crisp apples or pears (great for crunch and fiber) and frozen grapes for a sweet snack. Any other fruit I feel like but I find mandarins particularly unsatisfying for some reason.

Roasted & Fresh Produce

Air-Fried Vegetables: Air-fried bell peppers and baby tomatoes (rich, caramelized flavor for minimal effort). Courgettes - sometimes.

Fresh Veggie : Fresh cucumbers and raw beef/vine/baby tomatoes.

Freezer Standbys: Sweet corn and green peas.

Dairy, Fats & Flavor Boosters

Dairy: 0% Fat Natural Greek Yoghurt, 2% Milk,

Lightened Pesto Dip: Dip I make with basil pesto, 0% Greek yoghurt, garlic, and sea salt.

Cooking Fats & Sauces: Extra virgin olive oil spray, olive oil, hot buffalo sauce, Sriracha, canned tomatoes, and an assortment of dried herbs. Some favourites are Greek mix, spice bag mix, Cajun, Mexican - I either mix them myself or read the labels that there is no sugar. Soy and fish sauce.

Snacks & Occasional Extras

Quick Snacks: Itsy seaweed crisps and whole olives.

Instead of bread: Savoury baked oats.

I often have nutritional yeast,

I can't think of anything else. What's your food scape like?

so basically breakfast is mainly either egg whites with some pre cooked veg and the dip, or fruit and yoghurt
and lunch is a bowl - half of it with veg, quarter with protein and quarter carbs.
afternoon snack tend to be the snacky things as few olives, slice of chicken and few baby tomatoes - still trying to have some protein
and dinner is something I try to cook fresh good few nights a week - steak, fine beans and potatoes tonight.
frozen grapes or seaweed snack, fruit if I need something late in the evening

Hi! Weekly update from the slow losers club! One pound off!

Felt really well this week and realised how much my Mounjaro had been affecting me previously. Hopefully I’m at steady state now and 3.75 mg will continue to allow me to be free of side effects, get on with life, and lose weight steadily.

Been reading through everyone’s updates and thinking how different we all are and how useful it is to share our experiences.

Wishing us all a good week 💐

Looking back at my average weight over the years—especially leading up to and during periods of weight gain I can see a clear pattern: I completely ignored my own feelings and needs. I treated myself as if I didn't matter. To save money for our house purchase, I gave up my gym membership, even though no one asked me to and no one else in the family made similar sacrifices. At work, I skipped lunch breaks, worked weekends, and pushed through long COVID without taking proper sick leave, only resting on days I literally couldn’t get out of bed. It was busy, I though it is going to be until we hire more staff and I need to buckle up and get through it but it went on and on for several years.
This pattern was particularly intense in 2019 and 2020. While my husband was working abroad and remained uninvolved in the home-buying process unless explicitly asked, I took on the entire burden of managing the sale and purchase of our house while taking care of our son and working full time/very high pressure job.
I constantly stayed silent to avoid disappointing others. Even when I was completely fed up with eating out and having too many holidays in a single year, I went along with a three-day gourmet trip for my 40th birthday that my family had organized, rather than speaking up about what I actually wanted. Time in nature, rest, yoga and healthy food.
It makes me deeply sad to see how poorly I treated myself and how unwell I was. It breaks my heart that it took getting so sick and gaining so much weight for me to finally reconsider how I care for myself.
Though lesson to learn, and with son over 18 and since speaking up I am getting a lot of support from my family. I am feeling emotional over it today. I should have taken care of myself better, I should have spoken up. I need to keep this in my memory to avoid history repeating. And I can't blame anyone, as I didn't speak up at all.

The days also matter, you may think you will take care of yourself tomorrow - but you don't know what tomorrow brings. Long covid floored me for at least 3 years.

Unfortunately the 6Ibs i gained on holiday is refusing to go. I am going up next Saturday to 1mg. I've been on 0.5mg for two months now.

I had to send new photos to Voy today, so they can check I'm still fat. Yep, still fat!

I remember how tired and uninterested I was on that 40'th celebration holiday and the venue was so not me - very high end hotel where the main event is you being wined and dined. I really needed rest and I hated every second of it. I didn't say a peep - I faked being delighted and carried on. I got no break after that - work become increasingly unbearable with people going on stress leave, not me I got by! House move took a lot out of me and then covid. I kept thinking on my birthday I will get back to better balance when we come back home. Tomorrow never comes, look after yourself today.

Sorry if this is bit deep, it hit me today. I declined meal out for anniversary this year - I told my husband I am very unhappy with my weight and eating indulgent meals will not feel any good. I want things to do. He cancelled the meal and booked many non food events - live music, theater etc. I am not going to put this on him at all, it is lesson I had to learn.

Just finished my 11th week and taken my 12th jab. Not a bad week - 1.5lbs off. I have definitely been hungrier but also less nauseous, which figures. I've only had 1 piece of bread each day for breakfast toast instead of having extras for lunchtime sandwiches or beans on toast at dinnertime - sticking to Ryvitas at lunch seems to help my weight loss.

Moving up to 7.5mg next Fri and already second- guessing myself wondering whether I should stick at 5mg. It's too late to change it now, though, as I have to ring Well Pharmacy a week in advance so that they can order it in time. Worried about side effects, really. I'm too nervous to do click-counting ( I'm very by-the-book unfortunately and it would make me too anxious to do that. I know it's daft!) so will just try the 7.5 and see how it goes.

SW : 15.12.25
CW : 14.12

@Gonksmum I’m going to be taking my second 7.5mg jab tomorrow. I had increased suppression within a few hours of my first one last Sunday. I’ve been very gassy and bloated but that is settling down now. And I’m 2.6kg down since last Saturday! I hope it goes well for you.

@MiaN i know it sounds a bit silly, but your posts make me feel really proud of you.