Ozempic - For those of us a few months in

[Lndnmummy]

Hi all, thought I would create a designated space outside of the newbie zone for those of us who are in it for the long haul and are a few doses, stone, months down the road.

Thanks for your post, it’s really helpful. Can I ask how/where you’re getting 2mg?

I also have achieved my goal weight and have been weaning off.

This last week I have really struggled and have slipped into bad habits.

I went to bed feeling so unwell as I couldn't stop eaten and it was only when I finished that it hit me how full and uncomfortable I was.

I am starting tomorrow as a new day and determined to practise self control.

My BMI is finally under 30!

I have been plateauing for ages due to freezing a batch of Ozempic in my dodgy fridge and not being careful enough with my diet but between a new pen and working harder on avoiding ultra processed food, sugar and mindless snacking the scales have started moving down again.

Officially 1 stone and 5lb down. It hasn’t gone down that fast but nor have I ever gained much back (apart from early on when I dropped back to the 0.25mg dose for four weeks).

@alwayssocomplicated don't beat yourself up, try and start fresh.
What I find is important to work on is the mentality of all or nothing. It is about balance. For instance I don't need to carry on eating bad all day because I had a whole pack of Cookies. And say " oh I might as well carry on now..." or skip the gym because I ate bad that day.
I am realising it is all about balance and long term goals, and being consistent while not being perfect 100% of the time. I am tracking my weight twice a week as well to stay accountable.

Hello everyone - I just wanted to say I abandoned Ozempic in the end for a few reasons.

1. supply issues kind of made it too hard in the end.

2. this is important for everyone - I was not in the right headspace and even with a reduced appetite - I was not making the right choices for food, and as the wise people here know - it's not a magic wand and it can only help so much, the rest is down to mindset. You have to take advantage of the platform it gives you to make better choices whilst the 'food chatter' is gone.

3. the effects were plateauing for me - I was not experiencing the same suppression.

4. exhaustion and vomiting occasionally were a real feature.

All that being said, it is wonderful for those of you that use it properly and I wish you all the best. Because my head is now in a better place I've signed up for a coaching based method of fat loss / body recomposition and actually it's been really transformative already in mindset and thinking about food / behaviors ( mainly down to the knowledge of the coaches and support of a peer group). I'm lucky that this is a viable option for me, and I'm not recommending it for you all - just mentioning it as I continue to try and find a way to 'live healthily' for my lifetime instead of my past of binge and restrict dieting that has done me NO favours.

Good luck all you fab people

@Prettybubblesintheair I've been with My BMI since the start. After 1mg stopped being as effective, they started me on 1.5mg which is their "Surge" stage so sent 2 pens - a 1mg and a 1.5mg. I tolerated that fine so have recently moved to 2mg which is their "Surge Specialist" stage I think.

I believe the therapeutic dose for semaglutide is 2.4mg for obesity treatment so whilst it's great some people have success at lower doses, some won't get consistent results until titrating to the higher doses.

Really interesting update @metamorphosis23. Thanks. How long were you on 1.5? I’ve moved up to that recently.

@missfliss - sorry it didn’t work for you but you seem to be in a really good frame of mind now with your new plan. At the end of the day no one thing will work for us all. We do need a healthy plan going forward so your coaching programme sounds really good.

@missfliss I agree that in the end there is no magic pill, and you need to be in the right frame mind. I wish you good luck with your coaching program.

Hi,

I hope this is okay to post on here as I'm only starting today.

I've just been reading this thread and it's answered most of my questions ☺️ but I wondered if there is anyone that has lost more than 8 stone, I need to loose 8 1/2 to get to a healthy BMI which I'm finding hard to get my head around.

I've been researching this for a few months, I feel like I'm now in a good headspace to commit to something long term but if I'm honest I still feel guilty that I cant just stick to a diet - I've done most of them over the years but I just can't control my eating.

Anyway if anyone has experience of using this long term I'd love to hear about it, sometimes I feel like there's a lot of judgement around using weight loss jabs so hopefully this is a safe space.

Hi @PinkStarFish15. Welcome. It is normally a safe space here. There is a lot of judgement and total lack of understanding in some quarters.

I don’t know of anyone who has lost 8 stone but I know a poster who has lost 6. And I think she wants lose the same again. She is doing really well.

Please don’t feel guilty that you can’t stick to a diet. Very few people can! They don’t work. Well I think they can if you have a small amount to lose but they don’t for obesity. There is a lot more understanding about obesity now from scientists. It just needs to trickle down to the medical profession and some of the general public now!

A really good book to read about obesity is Why We Eat (Too Much) by Andrew Jenkinson. It will get rid of your guilt!

good luck.

And I have no idea why this all suddenly went into italics.

Thanks for the kind wishes folks - hope my experiences helps some others - I wishing you all health and success x

Hi folks. Going well here (part from forgetting to do my jab last night!) I've done 9 solid weeks of 4 times a week weight training at the gym and my shape is changing dramatically. I'm also doing daily yoga and my energy levels, mental calmness and mobility are benefitting hugely.

I'm 2.5lbs away from my 6 stone loss and being under 200lbs - next couple of weeks hopefully. Nearly 2/3 of the way through my journey .

I met a friend for coffee this afternoon, I wore a sleeveless, tiered maxi dress, bare legs, sandals, little denim jacket - felt sooo good!

Good to hear your story @missfliss where are you getting your coaching from?

Hope you are all good.

That's amazing @Athena51 - congratulations !

Coaching is with a group run by Emma Storey-Gordon ( she is a well known PT and coach, also a business partner to Chloe Madeley of Richard / Judy provenance!).

It's a group programme called Commit to 6 that focuses on behaviour change over weeks with group and 121 coaching, personalised nutrition targets and workouts ( gym or home). It's very good for me - very solid, evidence based approach and genuine support / dialogue from coaches and other cohort members

I follow ESG on IG and listen to her podcasts, she's great. I did a couple of rounds of the EC Method that she does with Chloe Madeley and found that really helpful. Definitely a good choice.

@PinkStarFish15 hi there. I've lost very nearly 6 stone over the last year and a bit. I have 3ish stone left to lose and will have lost 9 stone by the time I get to my goal. I was just over 20 stone, I'm currently 14 st 4.5lbs and my aim is for 11 stone (I'm 5ft 7). I've posted a lot about how life-changing Ozempic has been for me and about how I have drastically changed my lifestyle and eating habits in order to keep the weight off.

For me, it has been amazing. I have no side effects other than feeling full quickly and the total absence of cravings and food chatter. I have never had to up my dose beyond 1mg so I am lucky. Always happy to help if I can.

Well today was an experience: Bare legs + midi dress, walking around in the sun for 3 hours with no thigh chub rub.
My apron belly is definitely deflating too, and I swear my feet have shrunk.

On a more boring note, I saw my reflection in harsh light and OMG my neck has gone crepey. It's no big deal, I'm 50 after all and have lost over 2 stone in 12 weeks, but I was slightly taken aback. Have always been pretty good with skincare and spf, I guess I have to get even better. Oh well. A small price to pay.

My feet definitely shrank! I bought a pair of boots online and despite being the 'right' size, they were way too tight. I kept meaning to sell them on but tried them on a few weeks back and they fit comfortably.

On to my eighth jab friday just gone so seven weeks and am down 20.4lbs.

I have just tipped into the 'obese class 1' from the 'obese class 2' category (can't wait to be 'overweight'!)

Am so happy! Hardly any side affects and I feel able to make good choices when eating. No food chatter.

Manual have said they can only offer a 0.5mg pen next instead of going up to 1mg but to be honest I am happy to stay at 0.5mg for now as it is really working. Maybe next month it will start to reduce affects but as it is working happy to try.

I am hoping I can eventually get a 1mg but my greatest fear is not be able to get any so fingers crossed I can at least stay on 0.5...

I feel this drug is life changing. I have been obese or obese class 2 for so long. I also hope it starts to change the thinking around people who are overweight as being 'lazy' and just need to 'eat less and move more'. The other thread is so nasty.

Anyways off my soap box! Pleased to see others doing so well. Understand it may not be for everyone but I am thrilled.

I've been hovering around 20lbs down for a couple of months now. I'm just not finding the 1mg as efficient? I'm still having smaller portions and eating regularly and trying to make good choices but weekends are definitely my downfall. I need a kick start that's for sure.

I’m hovering too @MiniCooperLover. Have upped my dose to 1.5. But am starting a kick start tomorrow. I haven’t been exercising so I’m going to start a daily walk. Plus I signed up for a strength training programme weeks ago which I haven’t been doing so I’m going to restart that. And knock the wine consumption on the head.

Another one here hovering around the 20lbs loss. I think this is pretty standard for weight loss though, a bit of a plateau is expected. And I’m still so pleased with my results. Going to stay on Ozempic (as long as I can get it!)

I should add that the 20lb loss has taken me from almost obese to just in the ‘healthy weight’ category, which is life changing for me. I gained the weight when I started taking antidepressants so the Ozempic is just counteracting those.

Daily Chemist have finally come back to me to cancel my order. They quote a supply directive: ‘We are having to reserve the existing stock for patients on the NHS who are diabetic or only eligible under a strict criteria due to manufacturing delays’

I wonder if this will affect other suppliers.

Has anyone had the side effects come on randomly after you've been on the same dose for a while?

I've now taken 6 doses of 0.25 (didn't want to go up to 0.5 when away) and yesterday I got the sulphur burps and d&v. It could be I've eaten something dodgy or the side effects? I've otherwise been absolutely fine since starting it 5 weeks ago...

I randomly had the same a couple of months ago. Could have been a bug or my dodgy frozen batch. It lasted about three days. I did have a brief recurrence without the sulphur burps around two weeks later but not had it again. No vomiting though in my case.