Moving on from Wegovy

[Candyfloss99]

I've lost 4 and a half stone on wegovy. I've gone from an obese BMI to BMI of 21. I'm so happy. It took me a year. So now I'm going to taper down and stop. Has anyone else stopped yet? I'm going to keep up the calorie counting and exercise of course to keep the weight off.

Thank you for sharing!!!!! I will get some of these!!!

Hi everyone, just checking in…
I’m struggling to be honest.
Reduced down to 0.75 and the week hasn’t been too bad, but the last couple of days all I want is sugar, sugar and more sugar……
im a couple of days late taking my next dose of 0.75 as was trying to string out time between doses!
I’ve maintained my weight.. but in a really unhealthy way. I’m so annoyed with myself.. why do bad habits creep back in so quickly.
I’m really frustrated to the point of wondering if I should order another pen?!

Hope everybody else is doing well :-)

I've had a bad week for the first time in ages. Couldn't stop eating rubbish. Hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow. This journey isn't linear.

@Lovesthebeach @Candyfloss99

Take a deep breath.

Tomorrow is another day. None of us got here in a day.

I find it helpful to kind of say, hello hunger. Doesn't make it go away, more, here you are, what do we do.

Then decide whatever to have for lunch.

Sorry to hear of the struggles. Maybe do some meal planning for the week and a big healthy shop.

I had a bad weekend too. I knew I was going to, I went to a beer festival and then out for a father's day roast yesterday. I'm keeping perspective. I was still more restrained than the old days and back on it today.

Hi all, just catching up on the thread, thank you for sharing.

I'm still on 1,7 W at 15 months in, lost around 5 stone. Interesting to hear about the trial; about tapering off.

I've not felt ready to stop the jab. At a few lbs from what I thought was my target I was feeling quite scrawny (something I never thought I'd say) so I've eaten at maintenance for two months and it's been nice, great for energy levels, but as PP said the margins are tiny aren't they.

I'm not ready to face this life long struggle without the "crutch" of the jab just yet.

I hope everyone has a lovely summer.

Completely understand where you are coming from. That was me but after 8 months and 5st6lbs down but my body has began to suddenly reject the Wegovy and if I take even small amounts I get really really bad IBS symptoms which is very upsetting after 8 months and hardly any side effects. So it looks like I will have to face the world without it.

I’m trying to be kind to myself this time after years of self criticism. Looking at my friends who are great at maintaining a slim weight they are always on it, watch what they eat consistently and exercise regularly. That isn’t to say they never indulge though. Personally I’ve found viewing foods as bad is really counterproductive for me, it kind of makes me spiral negatively mentally and a lack of self worth eventually builds up over months and I flake out. So I’m trying to have more faith in myself and remember that I’m exercising regularly and generally eating healthily so when I have something more calorific I just have a small bit of it, enjoy it and move on. Still seem to be loosing slowly which is a miracle after losing so much over the last year. I stalled for about a month but the scales started moving again when I upped protein in the form of a whey shake - really don’t like them but it seems to work.

I don’t know if this is helpful but when I am having the sugar cravings I am eating an ice lolly. One of the mini twisters or something 100 calories and under. Tescos do little frozen yoghurt ones and Iceland have a ton of lollies that taste like popular sweets. I find this helps as it feels like a sweet treat (it is) it’s not gone in seconds and it’s not going to cause havoc with my mind. Then I have still had something I like that day I’m not depriving myself. The most disappointing thing about giving into the sweet cravings is usually that the mouthful is gone in literally seconds so this can help you actually enjoy something for longer?

That is such a good idea Menora. I’ve been buying a bag of Montezuma choccy buttons and allow myself three max. I let them melt in my mouth rather than chew them which helps them last longer. I tell myself I’m having a good dose of polyphenols.

I know it's a cliché and generally bollocks to say have fruit instead, BUT I swear by oranges. Not little easy peelers, but proper big oranges. I have one after my lunch every day. It takes ages to peel and to remove the worst of the pith and then to eat. I find them filling and also by the time I've eaten it my stomach has had chance to register the lunch I've eaten. I'm guilty of eating quickly and therefore can miss the full signals.

The fab lollies from Iceland are “fab”. I have one most evenings. 52 calories and take a few mins to eat. And if you’re still feeling peckish can always have a second one without feeling guilty.

I am carful to not deprive myself of treats, or to make certain foods loaded with guilt. I like mini bags of Haribo or cadburys mini fingers.

Agreed my "naturally slim" friends are constantly on it weather conscious or not, whereas through my obese years I had a more mindless; devil-may-care, almost rebellious attitude to my eating habits and body. Fake bravado sort of thing. Almost like it was silly and unfeminist to care about ones shape.

Haribo etc is unsteady ground for me, I find it hard to stop eating them. I spent many years living off them I can’t believe I still have any teeth left. I am even talking to the point of eating them for meals and of raiding all the kids sweets at Christmas and Halloween which used to upset my kids and I would feel terrible. I recall my mum buying us sweets every single day as kids it was such a big focus of my childhood I got hooked on them very young. I have an addictive personality. It’s not the sugar it’s the texture, anything that is mallow like is very appealing. I don’t buy skinny whip bars any more for this reason. I have one particular type of sweet that really appeals that has only been out a few years and I wish they never invented them!

I read something once between a correlation between drug addictions and marshmallows

That's really interesting (and sad, in a non condescending way) Menora.
For me the equivalent is savory snacks, ie crisps and wotsit type things. They were my to-go comfort binge for many years, daily amounts like you wouldn't believe, and massively calorific of course. Yes it started in childhood ("thanks" mum). It's still the first thing I think about when I get really stressed or sad for a dopamine hit, but the jab has totally turned it off as a trigger for my pleasure center now. Who knows if it will last.

My mum is like this with salt and I am the sweet tooth version. I am not on the jabs anymore for a long time but the appeal has worn off because I now know what it feels like to not have the heavy feeling of a binge, going too far, feeling sick and bloated. It feels nice not to feel that way so I am not really tempted to go back to doing it. It was such a time of self loathing and comfort binging but it never really helped me to feel better? It didn’t fix anything. I think looking back it’s now easier to see the self destruction for what it was and that it was just not a productive coping method at all. Maybe I’ve outgrown it, it’s not that I don’t have an internal desire or that’s vanished but I can see the consequences far more clearly now, it feels like I would be wasting the opportunity I’ve given myself to move on. It doesn’t feel like me it feels like someone I used to know

@Menora exactly.
It's a comfort to hear you are able to do it without the jab.

Great idea actually. Findings things that fill you and feel like a little treat without the calories.

Alot of you are really opening up on here about your childhood and past relationships with food which is great and inspiring. For me, I was brought up on a really healthy diet and I've been quite slim in the past and honestly I'm so glad that 80% of weight loss is what you eat because I'm awful at exercise. So lazy and just don't want to move my body and I'm trying to motivate myself but find it so hard. For me, when I'm hungry I feel absolutely starving and I can't ignore it and I eat loads of the good things but just too much of it and I'm scared I'm going to start eating loads again once I completely stop the jab. I'm down to taking 0.25mg as my body suddenly can't deal with anything higher as I get really bad side effects but it's still helping to take edge off the hunger. I'm hoping to start calorie count or do weight watchers but I need to do something to ensure I eat in my maintenance amount. It was so easy with Wegovy as I just wasn't very hungry but I know when I'm fully off it, I will feel a hunger that's hard to control. I love the size I am and I don't want to increase so I need to find something that works for me to keep the weight off.

You know it makes so much sense for me re: how your childhood affects your eating habits now

I was raised dirt poor by a single mother who always made sure we had food on the table BUT there was never anything extra. I don’t think my children would ever be able to fathom the thought of going to my fridge or presses and them literally being bare. Every single food item was accounted for. My presses are filled to bursting. Once I got a job and started earning I would treat myself with food. All the things I didn’t have growing up. And even now that’s what myself and OH do. We’re comfortably off so we fill the food shop with nice things. We can eat out or order in whenever we fancy and it’s almost like two fingers to the childhood where treats were reserved for things like Christmas and birthdays.

I’ve made a conscious decision over the last two years to redefine treats to myself. Something sweet at the end of the day where I’ve been active and eating conciously isn’t a treat. It’s just a normal food day. Where as a nice takeaway or meal out or opening a delicious box of chocolates is a treat and not something I should be consuming every day (which at my worst i was).

@Aliflowers redefining treats is totally it.

@Stel83 I hear you. Intense exercise is counter productive for me as it makes me so hungry. I just never liked it. So a big relief when my GP said weight loss is 80% diet, if not more. I'm resigned to the fact that calorie counting and portion control will be a fixture in my life going forward. Worth it for me because I never want to go back to that dark place.
I have always been normal weight or even slim until my early 40s (10 years ago) when some health issues + life stress + sadness made me turn to comfort eating/drinking and I became obese.
But I always had the impulse to over eat in the past, and put on 2st during a stressful time at uni, and once after a heartbreak.
I think it all started when my mum, who would blow hot and cold a lot when I was young, felt bad for her behavior and over compensated by doing something "kind" which for her was giving me treats often that should have been occasional treats, instead of talking about it.
So my young brain must have made the connection: Salty crunchy snacks = all is well.

Yes to the associations I agree. Our childhood was terrible so pretty much comfort in sugar was appealing, I didn’t have much else to make me happy.

My partner is completely entrenched with showing love through food and I know it comes from a good place but it’s very challenging as I watch him lavish food onto his DC I really worry about what he is teaching them. There are other ways you can show love

I am absolutely guilty of showing love through food too and I do worry for my DD who at 8 is probably on the slightly heavier side. She has a heart condition which makes it even more important that she stays healthy. When she was nearly 3 she had open heart surgery and I think I still suffer from trauma following that. It was a horrific few days after the surgery. They have to severely limit fluids to keep the blood volume low to reduce stress on the heart. I just remember being in intensive care with her after zero sleep and her crying and begging for some water and having to say no. I'm very overprotective now and find it hard to deny her anything she wants.

@AhBiscuits my mother had open heart surgery a few years ago as a mature adult able to understand what was happening and is was absolutely horrific in the recovery period so I can’t even imagine a little child going through it. and I’m absolutely guilty of the same. Treating my kids with nice things. I do try to be more conscious though and one thing I never ever do (which was something my mam would do) is ever mention my weight in front of them or make references to “good” and “bad” food

@Menora my OH is absolutely the same. His idea of being romantic or looking after me is a meal to a nice restaurant or a big box of chocolates or a break away where we can eat like kings lol. He has a “normal” association to food though so just eats these things in insolation as they should be

Can I just say how grateful I am of these threads, it feels like such a safe and supportive space with people who have had similar experiences.