u/Mobile-Swordfish-354

Well, I have unexpectedly hit my second interim target, which was to be the weight I was when I discovered I was expecting my son in 1998. Then I went a couple of pounds beyond that. Why is this unexpected, I hear you ask? Well, gentle reader, let me tell you.

For pretty much half of July and all of August up to this last couple of weeks, the scales have fluctuated up and down at the 80kg mark to the point that I was thinking nothing was working and I’d have to move up the dosage which was particularly annoying given I have two full pens awaiting their turn patiently.

Then, suddenly… whoosh. I know the ‘whoosh effect’ isn’t an actual scientific thing, but it has been a special couple of weeks where I sailed past that blockage and got moving again. My wallet thanks me profoundly.

Trust the process. Bodies are dumb.

I had a blueberry muffin this morning.

And I didn’t spend the entire time getting anxiety about it.

And you know what? I enjoyed it for the treat it was.

Dropped into the 12 stone zone today. Haven’t seen this side of 13 stone for a long time.

Still a couple of BMI points off making it to being overweight - but I am taking this as a win!

Me: ah, a pot of mango chunks that I can graze on while at work today.

Also me, 10 minutes later and full of mango: oh.

Mmmmmmmmm.

Mango.

What’s your fruit weak spot?

To add to yesterday’s two NSVs…

I was at the cinema yesterday and popped into the ladies where they have a full length mirror. Now, bear in mind that I’ve not been near a full length mirror in quite a while. And I saw the physical reduction in the amount of space my body now takes up.

Also, all that static cycling? My legs look great.

:D

As of this morning, I hit my first goal, which was to be the weight I was after my son was born. I also realised this means I’m more than halfway to my ideal weight range.

My second goal is about a stone away and represents the weight I was when I fell pregnant with him. Anything after that will be a series of ‘lowest weight I’ve been for about 25 years’ moments :D

But I am well-chuffed with myself this morning.

We’re all in this together, right? Just need some space to vent my frustration.

After a brilliant start, my expected slow down appears to have turned into the graph going the wrong way despite me doing everything I should be. I accept its natural fluctuation and that I need to keep on doing what I’m doing (eating in a deficit, daily exercise including some beginner level strength training in the form of some hand weights that our poor postman had to deliver this week).

I know it’ll be OK again, but I’m sure there are plenty of you out there who know this feeling. This sense that nothing works. I know this is categorically untrue. The old sense of self-dislike is threatening to creep in and that’s more of my battle this week than the number on the scale.

There’s no real point to this post, dear readers, other than the need for a little bolstering and for somewhere to air my feelings rather than bottling it up and falling off the wagon.

When I started this, I set myself three specific targets:

To ⁠be the weight I was when I had my son in 1999.

To ⁠be the weight I was right before I had my son in 1998.

Reach a healthy BMI (whatever that looks like in real terms ).

While number 3 is still very much a stretch goal, I am one pound away from goal number one. I honestly didn’t imagine getting here, but here I am nonetheless.

One. Pound.

You guys, I’m so chuffed!

So, I am still a baby in terms of dosage. Went up to 5mg on Wednesday and now I fully understand appetite suppression.

I do *not* want to eat.

This is very strange for me indeed because although I’ve never been the kind of person who eats incessantly, I nonetheless had been eating more than I’ve put in my face the last couple of days.

Last couple of nights, I’ve only managed 3/4 of my dinner.

I didn’t expect to feel this much of a change on the second dose level!

(If you’re of a Certain Age, you’ll now have that as an ear worm for the day. #sorrynotsorry)

When I started taking MJ, I read a lot of people explaining that they knew when moving up a dose was right for them. I realised this was true in week 6, but I wasn’t going to waste what precious liquid remained in my 2.5mg pen.

This morning, I did two things with quiet confidence:

1. I took my first 5mg dose. Now, I know this sounds like peanuts to all you veterans, but I have terrible anxiety about it all. I’m trusting the process and hoping my complete absence of side effects on 2.5mg will translate across. To employ an analogy… I feel like I’ve taken the training wheels off and am now wobbling along the road ahead. (Hopefully not crashing straight into a wall like my son did when he was learning to ride his bike. Nobody told him to steer, but he was always independent).

2. I confidently, fully understanding the 72 hour window rule, brought my injection day forward from Thursday to Wednesday. I figured since I now work from home on Wednesday and Thursday, being at home should I get any immediate post-jab side effects would be big and clever.

And it’s that confidence I have started to gain through taking control of my weight loss woes which is making me feel good today.

This marks the start of week 9. I have had a decent and fairly steady loss with some hiccups in the graph along the way, but whereas once I’d throw my hands up in the air bemoaning that No Matter What I Tried… etc., etc… (c’mon, we’ve ALL said it, right)?… instead, I’ve gone ‘eh, it’s all gravy’. Low-sodium gravy, of course.

Anyway, tl;dr: just taken my first 5mg dose. Wish me luck!

(Note: AutoCorrect wanted that last sentence to read ‘wish me lich’, but I’d be grateful if nobody wished that on me, kthx).

As the title says: weird as these things go, but gloriously, and without any preamble whatsoever, I was just able to use the nail clippers to trim my toenails.

It appears my previous belly (which has been replaced by this entirely preferably, slightly less protruding one) was preventing me from properly crossing my leg across my thigh and then being able to lean over to reach them properly. I was previously having to vaguely jab in the right direction with one foot resting on the loo.

A stupid, probably insignificant victory - but one of those things many people may just take for granted!

I bet that wasn’t in the Mounjaro case studies, but there we go.

BRB: admiring my neatly trimmed toenails.

Lovely MJ friends, being me cheer for I am a little sad.

I have done very well with the weight loss so far so am reminding myself of that all the time.

BUT!

I saw someone today I’ve not seen in almost a year and I think, deep down, I was hoping for a ‘ooh, did you lose weight?’ comment. But alas, not so much as a peep.

That sort of made me sad, because surely at nearly 3st down, SOMETHING must have changed?

It is an absolute nothing-burger of a problem and I feel stupid saying anything now, but again, as part of my efforts to be a better person, I’m venting it out rather than brooding.

…and I’m sitting here crying like a baby because of it. Happy tears, let me reassure you.

The last couple of weeks have been rather static: a fraction of a kilo off here, back up again. Up and down like a slightly sluggish yo-yo. It reached a point where the scales stopped just short of manifesting a hand and mouth just so they could point and laugh at me.

But this morning, I hit my first personal goal. I am in the 13-stone something bracket. I mean, quite literally: I am 88.7kg which is 13st 13lbs, but I’ll bloody well take it. I was nearly three stone more than that in March.

Next personal goal is 13st which is essentially the lightest I will have been in 27 years.

What a ride, friendos.

What a ride.

I’m speaking now to anybody who’s lurking, like I did, because they’re thinking of taking Mounjaro but have doubts it’ll be right for them. I fully convinced myself that I’d be the oddity: the fat girl for whom GLP1 treatment would refuse to work. I have been proved very, very wrong and I am delighted to admit it. I have put in the work as well: eating properly for the first time in years, exercising regularly… I know I could be doing more exercise but I still need to take care. (Friends, never try to go back to resistance training too soon after a torn rotator cuff injury, you’re welcome).

So if you’re still wondering if you should give it a go, I’m joining the voices of the many here urging you to give it a try. Nothing ventured, so they say, nothing gained. The support of this community is a lifeline and has helped me on those ‘why am I bothering?’ days.

Onwards and… well, downwards!

After my startlingly successful first month, things have slowed down - but that’s OK. I am gradually accepting and conditioning myself to the mindset of ‘every 0.05 of a kilogram is less than the previous number’.

This morning I decided to wear a top to work that I’ve not worn since before I started MJ. When I wore it last time, it was tight around the bust and clung to the top roll of fat on my stomach. This morning, it hangs from my shoulders the way it’s meant to.

To me, that’s something to be stupidly delighted about because it’s the first time I’ve really felt like I’ve lost weight and, maybe more importantly, started to change shape.

A happy start to an otherwise dreary Monday.

Tuesday is my nominal ‘official’ weigh-in day because that’s the day of the week when my scales arrived. (Jab day is Thursday).

Anyhoo…

Here I am at the midpoint of week 5 and after last week’s anxiety-inducing uptick, I’m 2kg back down again. This brings me to a total of 13kg lost since I started MJ and 16kg since I started tracking in earnest on April 10.

To paraphrase Gaston, I still feel roughly the size of a barge, but something is changing, certainly! And that something is my own attitude toward the inevitable yo-yo that is weight loss. I remember those heady Slimming World weeks when you’d stick to plan rigidly and still gain. How I’d lose heart. How I would find a million reasons for it. But now I appreciate that the body is a hormonal meat sack and is going to give you the runaround and you know what? That’s OK. It’ll happen.

Feeling good today.