“I started Ozempic last night” THREAD FOUR

[HermioneWeasley]

Can’t believe we’re on thread 4

welcome back to previous posters, and welcome to those who are new or interested.

a few of us have been on Ozempic with a range of experiences for a few months now, so if you’re interested in how it goes in the early days, the earlier threads might be a good place to start.

I’ve been on it for about 6 months now and have lost around 20lbs. It has been effortless. I used to be ravenously hungry all the time, and now I’m not. I had very mild side effects at first (just some nausea), but none now.

most of us have referral codes for various providers, so if you are starting, do ask on the thread and someone will PM you.

Day 5 and felt, not exactly hungrier, but like I needed a bit more energy. No surprise as first days I barely had 700 kcal/day.
I read that after gastric sleeve surgery the recommendation is 400-600 kcal a day for the first months and after that never more than 1000.
I'm going to try and have more smaller meals/snacks in the day, ie boiled egg, lean protein or almonds because not having enough kcal can slow metabolism and stunt weight loss.
Even if I don't end up seeing great results from this I'm really happy I'm giving it a go, not least because it's really stopped my wine cravings and that can only be a good thing in my case.

I’m just pleased I walked past the big crème egg display in coop and was completely unbothered, didn’t have to convince myself I didn’t need one

It just seems fairly counter productive to bump up calories with cream while taking a weight loss drug, I can’t see the logic! But there’s probably something I’m missing, you do what’s right for you.

Anyone doing compounded semaglutide? Had my first dose Monday night, some fatigue/headache/heartburn yesterday, feeling much better today. Haven't noticed an immediate effect on my appetite... maybe a small one? Really excited to get started!

What is compounded semaglutide?

Well, I'm basically a week in and took my 2nd 0.25 dose last night.
Compared to same time last week I am 3lb down. I'm very happy with that as it's been an incredibly easy way to lose so far and I haven't managed to lose that much weight in a week on any other diet before except for low carbing, but this has no restrictions at all other that your own body not wanting to eat!

Is this the non-branded one that comes in a vial rather than the pen?

Day after 1st dose.
Feeling queasy 🤢

Ah I’m coming at it from a keto perspective. I’ve previously gone from a size 16 to a size 8/10 in about eight months so I know it works super well for me. Protein is a goal, carbs is a limit, and fat is adjustable for satiety/calorie reasons. I also know if I eat 800 calories a day for six months then I’ll feel rough doing the weights I should be doing to lose the flab. Even at a size eight I wasn’t keen on a bikini since I still had a bit of a tummy and nothing was toned.

previously I’d have a babybel/cheese string as a snack and fried lamb mince in a cream sauce with spinach, mushrooms, green beans and half a side of those oomi noodles for lunch, with grated cheese on top. Then a rump steak with pepper sauce, more mushrooms fried in butter, and probably more spinach. None of that sounds like diet food but I consistently lost just over 2kg a month with no exercise and I think my bmi was 29 when I started so didn’t have hundreds to lose.

Just took first dose about an hour ago! Was fairly simple to do. I did it in my thigh. I take it a bit of tingling in the area after the injection is fairly normal?

It was for me 👍🏻 Went away after a few hours.

So it's been 15h since my dose and I feel nothing. As in I'm not thinking I should have breakfast, not feeling sick.

I feel pretty good ♥️

I have been drinking lots of water, and I've had a big coffee with oat milk.

It's so weird not thinking about food.

Hope you feel a bit better! Try half a ginger biscuit to settle?

Mint tea or ginger tea might help.

Sooooo..... I've done it. Took my first dose about 30 mins ago. At first I thought I felt a bit dizzy but I was probs imagining it. Feel fine now.

I went for a walk early this morning and my back was hurting. Got home and weighed in and I'm 3 lb heavier than I thought I was.
Those 2 together convinced me that enough is enough.
I'm killing myself with crappy food here. Eventually that is going to catch up with me and cause a horrible depressing life of misery - it's already started!
When I weighed that against the possible side effects, I decided the risk is worth it.

I've watched dozens of youtube vids on the click method so that's what I've done. 18 clicks, marked with a sharpie and hopefully this pen will do me either 8 weeks @0.25 or [email protected] and [email protected] giving me a bit of a saving.

Thanks for this thread - it's good to get it all out.

Also, re the fat.
On Keto I ate so much fat (healthy) and lost so much weight.
At that time I was training lifting heavy weights and didnt lose any muscle mass - in fact I gained muscle.
Protein was upped, fats were upped and carbs were dropped.
Avocado, butter, bacon, meat with all the fat, cream, cheese, peanut butter.....
I couldn't believe how easily it came off no matter how much fat I ate.
Fat doesnt make you fat.

What's your cholesterol like on that diet? It's the total opposite re fats that we advise for heart health.

I find I'm at my hungriest first thing in the morning, but I've always liked breakfast. So if I'm having carbs I have them then. This morning I had two eggs scrambled on a bagel. I know my meals will get smaller through the day and then I have a very small dinner which my digestion seems happy with. I thought I had less appetite suppression on 0.5 but now I'm a couple of weeks in I realise I'm still making OK food choices, smaller portions, etc. and that's what it's supposed to be I think, not a total 'oh I don't want to eat anything' because that's not sustainable at all in life.

I agree - making good food choices & smaller portions is so much more sustainable than barely eating at all just because you don’t have much impulse to eat while the Ozempic side effects work at appetite suppression.

i did a full blood panel since some family members were diagnosed with worrying things and my cholesterol was fine.

My first pen arrives today. Going to take it tonight before bed.

@Sameiam and @Btrsun10 - if Keto worked so well for you both can I ask why you are using Ozempic? No judgement but genuinely interested. I have never done Keto but did do Atkins and the low carb boot camps on here and while I lost weight I didn’t find it sustainable and sometimes felt a bit off on it. A bit queasy sometimes.

I agree with the premise that fat doesn’t make you fat and there is a school of thought now that high cholesterol isn’t not necessarily caused by fat either good fats or the supposed bad fats. It’s the sugars and processed crap in our diets.

@MiniCooperLover - I am hungrier in the mornings too. Although I’m finding if I’d have carbs then I seem to crave them all day. I might try having more protein with them. Yesterday I had a slice of seeded sourdough with a slice of Edam and was still really hungry after and ended up with another slice of toast. And biscuits! This morning I had Greek yoghurt with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, flaked almonds and flaxseeds and that’s filled me up much more. Might try the toast again tomorrow but with scrambled eggs. Like you I definitely eat less in the evening.

It was about 5 years ago, so between Covid and fully working from home I’ve put the majority of the weight back on from just eating junk and a lot of takeaways. Keto is fantastic for weight loss, but it’s so inflexible I know I couldn’t keep it up forever. I just should have been better about eating healthily with more carbs introduced vs it being either keto or massive kebabs and pizzas.

I’m still planning on eating low carb (under 40g carbs a day) with the ozempic. I know it works for me. The ozempic honestly is more of a ‘this’ll make it easier’ cheat, since I’m not obese and would never have got the prescription from my gp. I’m loving it for the way I’m no longer bothered by having a sweet snack, as even on keto I tended to buy sugar free sweets and always had to be strong about saying no to them. I have to buy a wedding dress by the end of the year so I’m feeling a little bit time pressured!

@Sameiam - I get it. Even with the original Atkins diet the whole idea was to cut the carbs out until you got to your desired weight and then gradually reintroduce carbs - good ones not the crappy ones we all love! - in increments until you started gaining again and that was where you were supposed to stay to maintain. Most people just go back to how they ate before through. It’s so ingrained to want carbs. Which is fine but as you say the kebabs and pizzas are not ideal!