u/Boring-Current-1512

Only six weeks on the maintenance gig, but already list of discoveries and surprises:

1. My jeans (and belt) continued getting looser even though I have not lost any more weight. I have had to clear out 4 more pairs that just began to look ridiculous this past couple of weeks and may even need to move a size further down. I have relaxed my gym habit due to a shoulder injury and am just relying on walking for exercise, so very much doubt this is muscle recomp.

2. As I experiment with my maintenance dose,
   I have had to sit in my complex feelings around wanting to graze on crap food for seemingly no reason, I have had to step outside myself and watch as I reach for the sweets and chocolates out of pure habit in front of the TV. Like, yes, I do have this drug, but these age old habits still dogging me? really? Enough already. Now no longer being diverted by chasing losses is making me take a long and hard look at myself. Like maybe now I will finally start to lean into the mental work.

3. I feel a burgeoning void I need to fill now that the project of my life - weight loss - is for all practical purposes tied up. For sure maintenance is a head wobbler - see 2 above - but my hope is for food fixation to fade away. The search begins for more enriching pastimes - especially as I am retired. I feel a bit exposed and also slightly in shock (a bit mad even) that food has had such a viper like hold on me all these years.

4. Now that I have more calories I have had to readdress my meal plans, portions and ingredients. I am relearning how to truly eat enough at each meal, and to eat the way I ate before all the crazy diet sickness took over my psyche. Stepping far away from current influencer trends and embracing 40 plus year old approach to three meals a day, keeping it very simple, unexciting on the whole, but nutritious. I don’t need to be seduced by tantalising flavours and culinary adventures, I need food to become fairly uninteresting to me, more a pragmatic fuelling and far less a passion.

5. My mood is sublime the days I hit the lowest number on my maintenance range and yet I am a moody old bitch when I am at the higher end of that range (only have a 3lb range). I weigh daily … if I don’t weigh each morning I get real twitchy. I probably need to suss another approach to this as it makes me feel bad more than half the week - maybe lowering the whole zone another 3lbs so I feel good anywhere in it?? We shall see.

6. I still cannot eat intuitively - tried this early on in maintenance and my eating got out of whack pretty darn quick - so I count those cals 5 days out of every 7 and that works for me.

**I have not named the pharmacy here as I am not sure if they have interpreted the guidelines in my favour in this instance or if it is completely above board and I am just lacking understanding how this works**

Reading many posts from UK peeps on approach to MJ supported maintenance I realised that rather than waiting a few more months whilst I ran my mini stockpile down, contacting my pharmacy ahead of maintenance to see how the land lay with them and what they could do for me was advisable.

Plus as I have come to the conclusion I am in need of MJ for life I was kicking myself a bit as had I realised sooner that I am a “lifer” i.e. within six weeks of ordering my last pen I would have reordered a couple more 15mg, especially as the GD is soon disappearing. 5mg from a 15mg pen that still has the GD comes in at c. £20 a week.

So I contacted them via their chat / message function expecting as it was 10 weeks since my last order, to be told I had to reorder at 2.5mg but basically they said so long as I confirmed date of my last jab (which was 3 days ago) and stated clearly my current pen had lasted so long due to me micro dosing (they also made clear to me that they would never agree to a micro dosing schedule) they are fine to issue me with another 15mg pen this time and indeed this has just been approved.

I am guessing if I do this again, wait another 10 weeks or so, therefore leaving no doubt what I am up to, it will be a firm start back at 2.5mg … but the way they worded it made it sound like I might be able to keep ordering in this way now that I am already on 15mg??? …. it would be very beneficial for my finances if that were the case and has left me feeling that these wonderful GP led pharmacies do really want to assist and will be as flexible as they possibly can be. If this is something they can do in future - within official guidelines - then I am really counting my blessings.

I have, with much dithering on this matter, come to realise that after 4 + long decades of struggle around food and weight Mounjaro is to be a permanent feature in my life.

My partner (and I) were not delighted at the prospect of needing to find £150 ++ per month forever more (or certainly for the next ? 6 / 7 years ? until hopefully cheaper generic versions become available in the UK. Also my partner is sad that they now get to drink alone as I am pretty much teetotal as alcohol gives me the ick.

But, with coming off completely in mind, I recently titrated down to 3mg and OMG the resulting food obsession and grazing!, it put me mentally right back where I began and the reason why I started this med in 2025 in the first place, 60lbs ago.

We are now both in agreement fortunately - me going back to those dark days is just not worth it. The peace I feel on 5mg makes me so happy, satiated, content and living binge free. A no brainer at the end of the day.

Help / worried! We will have just 1 hour 9 mins between arrival of Eurostar from London at Gare du Nord to departing on TGV to Avignon from Gare de Lyon and it looks like best bet is to take RER D southbound one stop to Gare de Lyon. The one station stop is only 7 minutes but / however, google AI instructions I can find are saying allow 90 mins to 2 hours for this transfer if it is your first time navigating these Paris stations which it is for us. Do not want to rely on getting a taxi as am assuming taxis will have very long queues just after a Eurostar train has arrived, plus the RER transfer will be included in our Eurostar ticket price ….

An advice, reassurance / tips?

Many thanks… 😬.