The Saxenda Sisterhood

[Saxendastarter]

Hi all,

As the last thread is filling up I thought I'd start a new one so we don't get lost.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/4788207-im-starting-saxenda-this-week

This is the follow up from "I'm starting Saxenda this week" I'm personally journaling my way to a hopefully healthier and happier life. I'm journaling what I'm eating, the weight I'm losing (and gaining) and trying to see the positives outweigh the negatives on a daily basis. I'm joined on this thread and journey by many amazing women who are all very supportive and who are also sharing as much or as little as they like.

I'm finding I'm opening this thread instead of opening the cupboards, the fridge and the food delivery app on my phone and feeling less in my struggles and frustration and writing about my days makes me realize my life isn't all bad.

I'm thankful for all the voices in this thread and feel supported by the sisterhood of women from all over facing the same body struggles as I am.

I post some pictures and photos and I really like it when others do too.

If you're new please join us if you want to and let us know how you're getting on with your Saxenda journey. Come here for compliments when you deserve them and commiseration when you need some. You're welcome whatever your age, wherever you are and if you have 1kg or 10 stone to loose.

I've been on Saxenda for 10 weeks and lost 9.2kg (1st 6.2lbs) so far. I started at over 96kg and am now 87 and a bit. I have at least another 20kg to go to be happy with how I look - but knowing that the Saxenda sisterhood is here makes the journey seem less intimidating.

This weeks Stats (after my strop last week!)

Start Weight: 285kg
Today's Weight: 240.0kg
Weekly Gain/Loss: -1.54kg (-3.4lbs)
Total Loss: 20.43kg (45lb)

Strangely I ate a few more calories this week, due to meals out and a night away with work- but lost more....one of life's little mysteries. However, I was slightly more active- even went swimming. Saxenda dose 1.8 + 3 clicks.

Small wins this week: When I was away I took a smart work dress, which I haven't worn in months, and it hung off & looked ridiculous. Luckily, I could cobble an outfit together (Engineering/science chaps I work with would never notice anyway.)

To work on: less coffee & more exercise.

Target next week 2lbs off & into the next stone bracket.

@Glorfindels Well done! thats an amazing loss. Over 20kgs - amazing - google tells me thats the average weight of

• a 5 year old
• a baby American Bison
• An adult elephants heart
• 4 bowling balls
• 2 car tires

I reckon I could paint my face blue and go to work stark naked and maybe 3 colleagues would notice - but deffo none of the scientists and engineers ... I used to work in little black dresses, twin sets pearl necklace and stilettos because I was in corporate banking ... when I moved to working with engineers and scientists I was honestly offended when one of them turned up to the first formal meeting I had with him in tracksuit bottoms and a geek t-shirt ... a few years later I'll wear leggings and a hoody to work even if I've got meetings with "big" people - so liberating!

(However I think you're post has a typo - starting weight 285lbs right not 285kg ? 285kg is about 630lbs or 45 stone.

Thanks for your posts - I’ve managed to see the doctor who agreed seems likely to be gallstones. I’m not in loads of pain, just aches and feels like something wedged under my ribs, so manageable but niggly and has been going on few weeks so wanted to check it out. Having blood tests and scan and then that will decide what to do, for now it’s just manage symptoms via diet particularly low fat, which is fine, and then if severe pain go to A&E, that’s the bit that I’m concerned about as will be no warning I think as this is my warning now and I’m off on holiday shortly!

I’ve lost 2 stone in 9 weeks, 1 stone was too quick I would say as that was 2.5/3 weeks, steady 1.5-2.5lb loss a week should be fine. Also turns out intermittent fasting could have made it more likely too which is annoying so I’ve possibly made it worse for myself! Back to breakfasts now!!

@Sotiredmjmmy where are you off to on holiday ? Do you have good insurance and a EU healthcare card thing ?

@Saxendastarter Europe so hopefully ok and my card, I’m going to declare to my insurer too, happier paying to increase policy if needs be than take the risk!

@Sotiredmjmmy well on the bright side from what I hear - if anything does happen - you'll wait less time in A&E over here than you would with the (brilliant yet chronically underfunded ) NHS... Bonnes vacances !

Day 90

Breakfast
Coffee with coconut milk

Lunch
Coke zero
Dried prunes
Dried strawberries
Dried Mango

Snack
Oasis

Supper
Whiskey Sour
Burger and Fries and stuffed halebenos with colleagues

So, after non being able to sleep until 3am and waking up to pack and get to the station 5am I’m now in the train!

I said bye to the « dame de fer » for a couple of weeks and am now so impressed with the train wifi portail with free magazines and films and stuff - on arrête pas le progrès !

Also - major victory - I got on the scales with my full backpack to check the weight because even if I have portage on my organised bit I have an extra week afterwards with no plans ( I have so so much leave to use up ) and someone warned me that FPOTM might come collect me to walk an extra couple of days so to not pack too heavy. So me dressed + my full pack with my clothes, wash bag, hiking shoes, MacBook etc on the scales weighed less that I did naked first thing in the morning 3 months ago!

Just got passed Dax in the train. I was filled with a madelaine de Proust moment remembering Joseph Joffo being saved by a priest while trying to cross to free France during WWII in Dax station. I must have read the book at 11ish because it’s on the curriculum here. Strange feeling of being in the same station 80 years later. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bag_of_Marbles

Oh wow. I love it when historical moments such as this happen... it's a real standing on the shoulders of giants moment, isn't it?

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!

I am recovering from a week of music festival. I feel completely broken. It's been a stark reminder that I am no longer 25...

We have decided to eat a fondue tonight and relax, as a treat (tonight it will be cooler). Am looking forward to that.

And yippee!!!! That's a great feeling!

Day 91

Breakfast
Starbucks brown sugar iced expresso
cinnamon bun
dried prunes
dried strawberries
expresso
water

Lunch
Goats cheese salad with dried magret
ice tea
water
fruit salad
expresso

Snack
A basque digestif thingy

Supper
Basque salad
Sangria
whisky entremets
water
coffee

Im so constipated - I hope I can go before I head off for the walk tomorrow.

@justsaxy How was the music festival ?Enjoy la fondue !

Drink as much water as you can, it usually helps me.

The festival was great (Bigflo and Oli last night!) and the fondue was awesome, I ate a lot of cornichons (French, not Swiss. I hate the Swiss ones, too sweet!).

That and a three hour nap was exactly what I needed to set me straight again.

Morning all , reading all updates , just no time to reply . Enjoy your walking holiday @Saxendastarter . I’m looking forward to the photographs.

hope everyone has a lovely end to the weekend .

Since losing a few kilos I've started to enjoy exercise again which in turn is helping me lose weight. I know this is completely obvious but when you are overweight and not feeling like exercising you lose sight of the fact that the two go hand in hand. Also my mental health is better for doing some exercise every day instead of lazing around eating.

@Saxendastarter I can't believe how rude those women at your workplace were. When someone is nasty to me I think of them when I'm exercising and if I feel like slowing down I picture them and it spurs me on to keep going and the anger I feel towards them fuels me.

Going out for lunch today and hoping to be restrained. I'm planning on skipping breakfast to afford me some extra calories but will have a handful of nuts before I go to stop me diving into the bread the minute we arrive.

1lb off this week, but it’s also TOTM. Nearly half a stone off in three weeks so I’m fairly happy with that. I think I’m going to up it from 0.6, as the last few days I haven’t really felt the same effects. But could also be TOTM.

Hi all, just about to head out for supper in San Sebastián ! First day down - I honestly felt like I was going to die … so much up and down and up and down - stunning though … by I am still so unfit - I was so out of breath … will food diary later

Oh that was a blast from the past - I studied Un Sac de Billes for French A level a million years ago!

Hello all, and happy not-so-new thread! I have been MIA, had a few really busy weeks at work and out of work, and the unholy trinity of exhaustion, having no spare time, and feeling like I need a little treat at the end of a rough day have resulted in a half pound gain this week.

I'm now at a 22lb loss over 17 weeks (average 1.3 per week), and have been assessing whether to continue. I've been suffering with what I assumed was hayfever all spring and summer, and it has gone off the chart the last couple of weeks, even though it hasn't stopped raining for a week here. It occurred to me to google it and apparently nasal congestion is a known side effect of Saxenda, especially for women in their 40s (it's me, hi!). It sounds pathetic but it has really started to hamper my quality of life - I can't breathe through my nose at all, making me breathless all the time and waking me up in the night with a mouth like the Sahara from breathing through it for hours. I've been using Sudafed spray which sometimes manages to clear it for a while but I'm sure long-term use of stuff like that can't be good for you(?!).

So yeah, the slow losses, the congestion and fatigue, the expense, and the scarcity of pens were all coming together telling me to just stop and try by myself again. But then I caught up on this thread, and everyone is so positive that I'm thinking I'll push through for a bit longer. I have 2.5 pens left, and will leave it to the fates to see if I can order more on payday next week. I pushed through the nausea at the beginning and that went away so maybe this will too. Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced this side effect, whether anything helped alleviate it, and if it ever went away.

So tomorrow is a new day and a new week. Time to get back on the exercise and food tracking horse after not having the headspace for it for three weeks or so.

@Saxendastarter I hope you have a wonderful time, that is one of my bucket list items!

Everyone else, I have read through this whole thread today and can't begin to make individual comments, but I hope everyone is well. Some excellent losses and NSVs being reported!!

Hi @Radish12 welcome back!!! I’ve also had awful hay fever and stuffed nose … my bed is always full of scrunched up tissues when I wake up! Do stay with us even if you decide not to continue Saxenda !

todays walk was hardcore for me … I was really out of breath and feeling pretty shit by the end of it we didn’t walk that far but it was all up and down on pretty rocky and unstable costal paths. But I’m so proud I made it ! When I think back to when I started this thread ( and my fuck I’ve gotta loose weight journey) one of the things that shocked me was that there was a metro strike and so I had to walk like 2.5km home because I couldn’t find an Uber and it just made me miserable … and today I climbed up and down a littéral mountain ( okay the smallest one in the Pyrenees - but still ! )

I’m 30 years younger that everyone in the group … there is a lovely female lawyer from the EU commission from Bruxelles, a very volubile lady who is a technocrate at the UN in Paris who has an opinion on everything, a pretty laid back easy going architect guy who makes quite good jokes and a couple with a lady who is a tax inspector and her husband who is banker. The guide is a Spanish guy in his late 40’s early 50’s I think and has good explanations and is calm and seems kind.

we got to San Sebastián and I showed and changed and went for a little walk on flat ! And then we went for a lovely supper and had ( according to the New York Times ) the best cheese cake in the world. it’s so restful that everything is organised and reserved and paid for. I just need to put one foot in front of the other.

And some more - im on a iPhone and I don’t know how the « floor » counter works - but Etage means floor/level in French and the phone thinks I climbed over 75 flights of stairs today! And me in my little hiking dress!

Day 92

Breakfast
Café crème
orange juice
museli
half a banana

Lunch
cheese
bread
taboulé
4 quarts

Supper
Brick tapas
potato tortilla
fried peppers
mushrooms
bread
cheese cake

Your pictures look great @Saxendastarter . Reminded me of Cornwall a bit ( not the one in the beautiful town ) . Go you in your hiking dress ! You look fabulous . Wasn’t sure what to make of the cheese cake on first view. On closer inspection, it actually looks quite delicious.

welcome back @Radish12 . Good to see your name again . Made me think of a few others whose names I haven’t seen for a while . I hope you are all doing ok @BinnityBoo @Tarragon123 @ThisMustBeMyDream @Everdecreasingcircumferences @WhiteNumen and others who have not posted for a while . If I fancy mentioned you by name apologies , be nice to know how you are doing . I know there a couple of Australians who are also possibly midwives / medics and not sure if you guys have posted for a while .

Love San Sebastián and the cheesecake. If it was more Mediterranean type sunshine there I think I’d go back time and time again although I don’t suppose that would be conducive to walking.

On the saxenda front, I started again on Thursday after a ten day break due to supply issues. Weigh day was today and I was 2lb down this week so that’s good. What’s not so good is that I’m having side effects again, indigestion and feeling really oddly cold. Nothing major tho and I will power thru

@Footgoose sorry, I'm usually quiet and more a reader than a writer, but I've kept up with everyone's journey and really proud of each ones achievements.

half way through week 3 and up to 1.8.. I've been feeling crappy all week.. nausea after eating, constipation... and the weight staying around 297lb fir days.. BUT happy thoughts :

My double chin is getting smaller, didn't even notice it until this morning!

I have lost 7lb since the 1st of July

I am still tracking everything I eat, even bad things.. whenever I started I would give up after 2 days.. so big NSV for me here.

I can get up from a chair without grunting or holding into things to lift me up.. I still wonder how normal people get up because I can't remember!

My feet hurt less ( I must have hurt myself walking few months ago, because now I have this sharp pain (achilles tendons?) Whenever I put weight on it, and hurt like crazy whenever I had to do stairs, had do take one step at a time.. now I can do them like normal people do.

I haven't taken any measurements yet, will wait until the end of July and see how it went.