I'm starting saxenda this week.

[Saxendastarter]

I'm 33.

I'm 1m68 (5ft6)

I don't actually know what I weight and I got rid of my scales last year when getting on them just made me cry every time and I was just too depressed to even try and start loosing weight - I have ordered scales and will weight myself tomorrow.

However last time I weighed myself nearly a year ago I was 94kg (14st 11) and I know that I have gained since then.

I started gaining weight the beginning of covid, before 2019 my very highest weight had been 68kg ( 10st10) and my normal weight had been round 62kg for most of my adult life, so I have massively put on weight over these last four years. (Separation, depression, stress at work, and just general giving up).

My body is ruined by stretch-marks and my boobs that used to be great are now just swollen and saggy and stretch marked.

I'm really depressed by my weight and have decided its time to do something about it.

I have an office job and I'm not at all active.

I've tried to start making small changes, walking to the underground instead of getting the bus, getting the stairs up the one flight to my office instead of the lift but everything feels like a struggle and I have such awful thigh chaffing that walking is often excruciatingly painful.

I how I need to make a change because on top of it being so unhealthy being so over weight just makes me so upset. I've stopped going out as much and have just retreated into a shell.

I also have an appointment with a psychologist tomorrow.

I decided last month that enough is enough and I need to do something about it all.

I've started using face cream, and am finally having laser on my very very hairy thighs and - the point of this thread - I'm going to start saxenda tomorrow.

I thought I'd journal here.

Wow @Glorfindels - that's an amazing loss! Well done you. What's your goal weight?
Oh dear @Saxendastarter - hope your day is quiet and peaceful 🤗

Amazing pics @Saxendastarter . Just beautiful. You live in such a fabulous part of the world!

My weekly weigh in is 15st 11. So this week I have lost 5lb 🎉🎉🎉🎉. Total loss is 1st 2.5lb in 4 weeks. Absilutely fecking incredible for me. I've never lost weight like this, and so effortlessly too! I'm just clinging on hoping that it doesn't stop working. I'm still on 1.2 also.

I had my psychology appt today, through the NHS specialist weight management. I've been waiting 9 months for this one. Turns out there is nothing psychologically wrong with me. I just have a very stressful life and react in perfectly normal ways to difficult situational problems. Which is reassuring! They discharged me and wished me best of luck with Saxenda and said for some people it is absolutely amazing and is exactly what they need and it sounds like I fit in to that category, hoorah!

I've just ordered my next pen. I had intended to continue with Boots, but they only offered 5 pens at £250 which I didn't want to shell out in one go. So I found asda were accepting orders and could get 1 pen, which is all I want right now as I'm just over half way through my 2nd pen, but I'm on holiday next week so wanted to have it sorted as I'll run out a few days after I return. Asda only offer home delivery though which is terribly bloody inconvenient as they don't give you an exact delivery date and tell you you need to be home for delivery and they can't guarantee the cold chain won't be broken if you aren't home. I'm in work for the next 3 days, so I'm thinking I'll leave it until tomorrow before sending the pictures requested to complete the order. I'm home all day Friday, and people will be around at the weekend too. I'm also home Monday next week, but fly Tuesday so didn't want to leave it that late. I suppose if I order and the cold chain is broken, I could just start using that pen straight away, as I've still 5/6 days on my current one. I can then leave my remaining on in the fridge and just start that one on return from holiday. Gah!

Hope everyone is enjoying feeling slimmer in the beautiful weather. I'm loving my looser fitting clothes currently 😍.

@Glorfindels what an amazing loss! You must be so pleased! Well bloody done!

Hi everyone . Great weight loss reports coming in, so encouraging to read . I have definitely gone off alcohol since starting saxander @Saxendastarter so hopefully you will get a similar feeling as your dose increases . I thought at first I was imaging it but it’s definitely the case. I have Managed to get 2 pens prescribed from Medical express. They wouldn’t let me buy 5 , it’s a starter pack but hey, I’m getting them and that’s all that matters . The pens were expensive mind you so I’m hoping Loyds are back in stock soon and will treat me as an ongoing patient and let me have 5 as I’m about to go up to the full dose of 3 when the pens only last 6 days.

Best wishes for the week ahead . Hope the side effects remain low for us all or get better for those of us who are struggling with them . X

I am definitely feeling hungry today so I need to consider upping my dose. Today is day 14 (I jab in the evening) and I'm on 0.9. I'm nervous about increasing as I'm already sooo constipated! I might stick to same one more night and see how I feel tomorrow.
I've managed to stay off the scales and will check my weight tomorrow morning as it will be a full 2 weeks on Saxenda.

I bought a load of fruit and salad stuff to snack on but a carrot with hummus doesn't quite hit the spot when you want chocolate...

Not a pressing issue for me just yet, but when do you place your order for new pens? I'm only on Day 3 of my very first pen ( ordered 3 from Boots, so got a while to go yet) but I guess I want continuity, no jab breaks, so how to do you plan it so that a fresh batch of pens are ready for when you run out? Sorry if this question seems silly, but it's just occurred to me!

https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/61080138672336504/
@CiderJabs

Omg @Saxendastarter have you ever tried this? Sounds awfully weird but I'm prepared to try anything to reduce my sugar intake! Bloody menopause. I've never been a sweet tooth person but since starting on HRT I've become a chocolate monster. Oh the joys of being a woman. And old. 😤

Hello,

Has anyone had diarrhoea (and then as a result haemorrhoids), from ozempic?

I'm on week 1 of 0.5, due second injection today.

Thanks

Hi @justasmalltownmum I'm not on ozempic, I'm on saxenda but I'm currently having horrid diarrhoea. Am on day 4. Just had some dinner and can feel my stomach bubbling already. Hope you're okay 🤗

I've had the opposite effect. I'm struggling to go to the toilet 😱

Well. I've had dinner and I now feel mega full and even a bit nauseous. So it's clearly still working as it should - so I'm sticking to 0.9 tonight.

@CiderJabs re the chocolate hummous - never tried it to be honest but it made a storm in the press here when a supermarket version launched. All my middle eastern friends promised to disown us it we ever served it to them ....

Day 47

Breakfast
Milky coffee x 2
Water (Lots)

Snack:
coffee coffee coffee

Lunch :
Shitty overpriced restaurant cesar sald
Glass of rosé
Fizzy water
Café gourmand

Snack:
An old fashioned
A ricard
Water

Supper:
Water
Glass of gazpacho
Quite a lot of picking at the stuffing of the pastilla I've made for tomorrow

Day 48

Breakfast
Milky coffee x 2

Lunch :
Chicken pastilla
Salad with tahini sauce
Croissant
Coffee

Snack:
Alcohol free cocktail ( very sweet)

Supper:
Water
Sugar free squash
Burger and Fries ( hate myself for having this - wasn't even good)

Hi All

I'm still following the thread, still not taken first jab yet. It sounds silly but I'm really worried about supply and wondering whether if I could get it through the weight management service I'd be less likely to struggle to get hold of future doses? (Also am pretty skint and worrying about finding the money in the longer term). My BMI is over 35 and I'm hypertensive so I meet the parameters set by the NHS, but lose a couple of kgs and I'll be under BMI 35 and back to struggling on my own again so am even more hesitant than I was about using them just yet.
I'm focusing on low ultra processed foods and increasing my protein intake (yoghurt, eggs, cheese, nut butter etc) and have lost 5kg since my heaviest weight a few months ago but am now back to my usual pre-perimenopausal plateau.
HRT has helped my energy levels so I'm snacking less, still can't achieve sufficient weightloss without assistance and desperately want saxenda to work.

Thank you for sharing your stories, and OP I love your updates too. You are all giving me hope. I have GP appointment in 2 weeks to ask to be referred (would have mentioned it at last appointment for HRT but the pharmacist indicated she was already referring me so I didnt think to, turns out that was wrong so further delays). No idea what the waiting list is like, obvs if it's a very long wait I'll have to stick with private as I really do need to shift these stones.

Hi @Everdecreasingcircumferences .
I hope you get sorted through the NHS . My pharmacist friends still insist there is no real shortage of saxander despite my own original prescriber running out of stock ( Loyds pharmacy ) . I then struggled to get new pens as my BMI was under 30 already . At 35 you will be fine with private prescribers , I’ve no idea about the NHS but I do know a few people who are taking these types of med orally through the NHS . I did get some new stock from MediExpress . Stock is out there . But yes the cost ! I’m not sure how long I will be prepared to spend the money on myself, as it does feel selfish . I have 3 pens again . I should up my dose this week to 3 but I’m actually thinking of trying to come back down to 1.8 and making them last longer . I’m also wondering if I start taking it at midday then I’m less inclined to have the evening munchies on the lower dose . I can’t inject in the evening when I get home as the time is never consistent and by then I also think I’ll be walking through the door “ hangry” as my DH calls it and go back to eating random stuff before dinner is ready .

Hope you all have a lovely day . X

To @Saxendastarter . I have to admit I have to look up a few of your food choices to know what they are . You eat some lovely things. I’m going to try some new things over the weekend when I have time to cook. Thanks for the inspiration.

Hi @Everdecreasingcircumferences - not silly at all! Deffo a genuine worry if you're going private. I go through Private Doc and they say they only have the most expensive certain packages of treatment available. I'm struggling with the cost too @Footgoose but see it as an investment in myself (🥴).
Am on Day 6 and feeling much much better. Arse has firmed up too <winning> weigh in Friday and excited!
Hope everyone is well

@Footgoose for the last 3 days I've taken my jab after I've had dinner (as I'm an awful evening snacker) and didn't eat a thing from dinner to bedtime (other than a few grapes on the first evening) so may be worth you doing that.
I'm still on 0.9 and that seems to be working so I won't increase. It's both the cost and the side effects I'm worried about!

I've weighed myself and I'm down to 11st 3- so a 6lbs loss in 15 days! I'm super happy about it and know it will slow down, but it's a good boost in motivation.

Anyone else got a dry mouth since starting?

Yeah I do. All the time! And a weird bitter taste in my mouth. Have been chewing gum and having sugar free smints.

@BeagleMum1 yes ! such a dry mouth - reminds me of when I used to smoke weed as a teenager 😳

Hi everyone. Lovely to see you all doing well.

I upped to 1.8 this morning, I must admit I'm feeling incredibly low and demoralised. These are my readings since the start. Still maintaining. Swimming X2 a week, walking 7-10k steps a day and running this week. Eating between 1-1.5k cals a day (I'm tracking everything!)
No movement on the scales at all really since week 1. I just don't get it. I did order another 3 pens so I've got about 30-40 doses left if I stick on 1.8.

I'm baffled and feeling pretty shit. A skirt and some trousers that didn't fit me a few weeks ago, fit my now but I just don't understand how this isn't showing on the scales??? ☹️

@BinnityBoo that's really tough. Have you measured yourself? And do you track your cycles as well? I can easily show 7lbs heavier overnight if I'm due to have a period - and this has become even worse while peri menopausal!
It's easier said than done but try to trust the process. You're eating less than you're burning so you'll eventually lose weight, it's simple maths. It's good that you're active too so you're doing all the right things. But I know it still sucks!

@CiderJabs thank you, I appreciate it. I haven't been measuring, I've recently moved house (well moved temporarily into an air BnB!) and all of my stuff is in storage. I should go and pick up a tape measure.

I do try and track but I have PCOS so periods are all over the place but I think I might be due on looking back over my irregular cycles (I use flo!) My cycles can span anywhere from 36 - 62 days, hence starting saxenda because I find it so difficult to lose weight. In 2021 I even paid a qualified nutritionist to help me and barely scraped a 7kg loss in about 8 months despite him watching my every move and being 110% dedicated to the plan. 😟 It's really tough.

I'm not going to give up, I just get really pissed off with it all. I'm going to a festival in 10 weeks and Australia in 6 months and I'd really like to at least get a little bit closer to 12 stone.

Thank you for your support, it's really appreciated. Sometimes it just feels like nobody understands, but it's nice to have this thread to vent and share experiences!

@BinnityBoo sorry you're having a rough time with the scales. I get you. I've lost under 200 g this last week and am starting to feel demoralized - my graph is just going up and down and up and up before going slightly down ... I'm at 3mg now because was still hungry at 2.4.. I'm moving more and drinking less and trying to make better food choices but the last two weeks have seen my loose just 1kg... and it's not my cycle. I also tried the "fattest" of my fat jeans from a couple of years ago and couldn't get them past my knees. But I'm also determined to stick with it. When FPOTM gets back from Australia we've managed to rebook the glamping spot and its on a river where you can swim and there is a hot tub. I'm determined that whatever I weigh we we get there I will wear a costume, or even a bikini and get in the water.

Day 49

Breakfast
Milky coffee x 2
Sugar free Squash

Snack:
small tub of coleslaw
water

Lunch :
Açai berry bowl with peanut butter
Coffee
Water

Snack:
Sugar free Squash

Supper:
Water
Sugar free squash