Weight Loss Jabs

WillPS said:

Presuming you're paying £193.94 for that 5mg, you can definitely save at least £30 by switching to the cheapest provider (currently Get Weightless at £160 or Fylde Clinic for £1 more): https://monj.co.uk/mounjaro-price-list-non-discounted-uk/

These are the 'regular' prices, the 'first order discount' prices go as low as £125 if you want to raid them.

It's not a sum of money I'd be leaving on the table if I was concerned about the overall cost!!

Be open minded about the dosage. I saw decent losses on 2 months at 2.5mg (the second was a mistake, but I still lost so) and then really good losses for 3 months at 5mg before a 2 month almost complete plateau. I'm doing really well again at 7.5mg.

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I’m paying exactly that!

Damn, thanks for the heads up. I’ll definitely explore other options for my next order. I assume it’s ok ordering from another supplier after you’ve given them your details on what level of doses you’ve already had?

Good knowledge on the 5mg - I’m hoping it’ll be enough to get to my target weight but we’ll see. I’ll keep you updated!

s_g_k said:

I’m paying exactly that!

Damn, thanks for the heads up. I’ll definitely explore other options for my next order. I assume it’s ok ordering from another supplier after you’ve given them your details on what level of doses you’ve already had?

Good knowledge on the 5mg - I’m hoping it’ll be enough to get to my target weight but we’ll see. I’ll keep you updated!

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You’ll likely be asked to provide details of the previous prescription, but you’ll have that from your current supplier anyway - so shop around as much as you can!

s_g_k said:

I’m paying exactly that!

Damn, thanks for the heads up. I’ll definitely explore other options for my next order. I assume it’s ok ordering from another supplier after you’ve given them your details on what level of doses you’ve already had?

Good knowledge on the 5mg - I’m hoping it’ll be enough to get to my target weight but we’ll see. I’ll keep you updated!

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Yep, keep the box with your pharmacy label from your most recent. That usually suffices.

Think it has to have been issued within the last 2 months too (which is a bit of a gotcha if you short dose or golden dose).

So I’m 4.5 weeks in and have managed to lose an entire stone. I upped dosage to 5mg last Friday and I really felt it for the first 2 days, but the symptoms have subsided now. I felt uncomfortably full after eating lunch and quite nauseous, so at present I have no intention of upping my dose again, but as others have said, time will tell.

My main focus is still on major lifestyle changes relating to food, to maximise my chances of keeping the weight off when I plan to come off the medication in 3 months. My diet is based on single ingredient food, nothing processed, and protein heavy so eggs and meat, and vegetables for the vitamins.

I travel a fair bit for work, and I’m finding it quite eye opening at how hard it is to stay healthy when away from home. U.K. service stations are a dive for fast food and chain hotel food is ****.

I’m rediscovering my love of proper authentic Indian food though. If you forget the processed creamy slop you get from your typical town Indian, cooking with fresh spices, tomatoes and lean meat is very healthy.

Weighed myself for the first time since the beginning of December last weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to find I had lost another kilo in that time. Was prepared to expect a small gain still from Christmas so nice to see I've actually moved in the right direction overall in that time. Just a few hundred grams short of 20kg lost overall since starting Mounjaro in June.

So long as I keep trending downwards, however slowly, through the rest of the winter I'll be quite happy with that. Bigger losses will follow when it gets hotter.

I've set myself a target of a non-big boy seat ride on Nemesis at some point this season. I might actually already be able to just about manage it; I had my first non-big boy ride on Icon in October.

In other good news my cross trainer is _finally_ repaired again after a frame issue which LifeFitness eventually repaired under warranty. I could really have done with it over the last couple of months really as the weather has been too grim to get steps in most of the time. I did still manage to get a full 160 Vitality points in January though which I'm very happy with.

WillPS said:

Weighed myself for the first time since the beginning of December last weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to find I had lost another kilo in that time. Was prepared to expect a small gain still from Christmas so nice to see I've actually moved in the right direction overall in that time. Just a few hundred grams short of 20kg lost overall since starting Mounjaro in June.

So long as I keep trending downwards, however slowly, through the rest of the winter I'll be quite happy with that. Bigger losses will follow when it gets hotter.

I've set myself a target of a non-big boy seat ride on Nemesis at some point this season. I might actually already be able to just about manage it; I had my first non-big boy ride on Icon in October.

In other good news my cross trainer is _finally_ repaired again after a frame issue which LifeFitness eventually repaired under warranty. I could really have done with it over the last couple of months really as the weather has been too grim to get steps in most of the time. I did still manage to get a full 160 Vitality points in January though which I'm very happy with.

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That’s great, well done!

Seems like we have similar goals. My last visit to Towers I was one click away from being turned away from Thirteen and Spinball. That was a fair while ago and I had gained a stone since then by going into survival mode after we had our first child. I had the mindset of thinking there was no time to cook so I just ordered a takeaway probably once every 10 days, and then lived off processed convenience food the rest of the time. I now have a 9 month old daughter and I’d hate not to be able to take her on rides when she’s old enough because of my size. The thought of that is actually quite upsetting to me because some of my best childhood memories are of my dad taking me on rides and I’ll always remember how much fun I had.

The weather has been a disgrace hasn’t it. Hopefully as we transition into spring it’ll mean more opportunities to get outside. For now though, it’s miserable rows on the rowing machine in a damp basement for me.

s_g_k said:

That’s great, well done!

Seems like we have similar goals. My last visit to Towers I was one click away from being turned away from Thirteen and Spinball. That was a fair while ago and I had gained a stone since then by going into survival mode after we had our first child. I had the mindset of thinking there was no time to cook so I just ordered a takeaway probably once every 10 days, and then lived off processed convenience food the rest of the time. I now have a 9 month old daughter and I’d hate not to be able to take her on rides when she’s old enough because of my size. The thought of that is actually quite upsetting to me because some of my best childhood memories are of my dad taking me on rides and I’ll always remember how much fun I had.

The weather has been a disgrace hasn’t it. Hopefully as we transition into spring it’ll mean more opportunities to get outside. For now though, it’s miserable rows on the rowing machine in a damp basement for me.

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Huge respect dude, that's an awesome aspiration.

No way could I do what you're doing, I need stimulation/distractions otherwise I just fear the boredom. Cross trainer has an old Android tablet stuck to it so I can play games. I sometimes catch myself bargaining with myself over how lazy I can be after I get my exercise done for the day/week/month too, terrible really. As long as I do it right...!

WillPS said:

Huge respect dude, that's an awesome aspiration.

No way could I do what you're doing, I need stimulation/distractions otherwise I just fear the boredom. Cross trainer has an old Android tablet stuck to it so I can play games. I sometimes catch myself bargaining with myself over how lazy I can be after I get my exercise done for the day/week/month too, terrible really. As long as I do it right...!

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Cheers mate. I find doing work outs on video call with someone really motivating. Me and a mate doing 30 minutes of rowing on video call is good motivation and is a lot easier than doing it on your own, which is quite grim!

Separately, has anyone suffered criticism after telling relatives you’ve chosen to purchase weight loss jabs? It’s funny how these people have forgotten about people using nicotine patches and nicotine gum for people who want help to stop smoking. These products suppress nicotine addiction, GLP1 suppresses appetite. So why is it classed as cheating amongst so many?

s_g_k said:

Cheers mate. I find doing work outs on video call with someone really motivating. Me and a mate doing 30 minutes of rowing on video call is good motivation and is a lot easier than doing it on your own, which is quite grim!

Separately, has anyone suffered criticism after telling relatives you’ve chosen to purchase weight loss jabs? It’s funny how these people have forgotten about people using nicotine patches and nicotine gum for people who want help to stop smoking. These products suppress nicotine addiction, GLP1 suppresses appetite. So why is it classed as cheating amongst so many?

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I've found people have been very supportive and encouraging. Maybe intrigued is the most common thing.

There are a subset of people who have no trouble keeping their weight in a reasonable range, and/or have bounced back very quickly from any periods of weight gain. A subset of that subset seemingly find it impossible to empathise with people who struggle with it, often offering glib advice along the lines of 'cut out the pies'. As someone who has been overweight more or less my whole life I have literally heard it all.

A chronic lack of basic human empathy is a reflection of poor character. I've never smoked, or drunk to any problematic extent, but I don't need to do to recognise the difficulty of quitting or sobering up. You're entirely right, this shouldn't be deemed any different.

1 stone 10 pounds down now. I’ve switched to Bolt for better prices - it was quite laborious having to take the photos and upload my life story all over again but for the sake of saving £80, it was worth it. I haven’t dosed up, I’ve stuck with the 5mg because I feel like I’m managing well on this level of dose.

Still sticking to single ingredient foods, absolutely nothing processed, so that I have maximum chances of keeping the weight off when I decide I’m happy with my weight. The lifestyle changes and food choices are key.

s_g_k said:

Separately, has anyone suffered criticism after telling relatives you’ve chosen to purchase weight loss jabs? It’s funny how these people have forgotten about people using nicotine patches and nicotine gum for people who want help to stop smoking. These products suppress nicotine addiction, GLP1 suppresses appetite. So why is it classed as cheating amongst so many?

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They're probably just concerned, to be honest. I can't find the article now, but I was reading in the Metro (physical) about a recent increase in reported adverse effects. There were thousands - some horrendous - and it set alarm bells ringing for me.

Another aspect is that it's a little bit suspicious any time there's a mass roll-out of something. I remember reading an article about a woman with hair on her face, who was refused treatment on the NHS as they said it was "cosmetic". Well, no, it wasn't cosmetic - it would have been devastating for her. Thousands of men and women have first-hand experience of the NHS refusing them something they desperately needed, but now they suddenly have the money for this. For some, that may induce resentment - personally, it just makes me wary.

We have also seen celebrities (no names mentioned) who now appear stick-thin, with very little muscle. Your body is your best friend, and it will do your best to help you as long as you listen to it. If you suppress hunger, you will also miss out on the nutrients you need.

Furthermore, as long as you have a healthy heart, I do believe exercise will be safer than injecting something. Long walks, press-ups, bodyweight squats... if you build muscle, it will take most of the energy you put in your body.

Overall, it is not a moral issue for me, or about "cheating". If there was some miracle way I could be turned back into the best shape of my life, believe me, I would seize the chance. I want everyone to be happy and healthy, and I wish everyone in this thread all the best, but I'm just a little bit dubious about the method.

East Coast Mariner said:

They're probably just concerned, to be honest. I can't find the article now, but I was reading in the Metro (physical) about a recent increase in reported adverse effects. There were thousands - some horrendous - and it set alarm bells ringing for me.

Another aspect is that it's a little bit suspicious any time there's a mass roll-out of something. I remember reading an article about a woman with hair on her face, who was refused treatment on the NHS as they said it was "cosmetic". Well, no, it wasn't cosmetic - it would have been devastating for her. Thousands of men and women have first-hand experience of the NHS refusing them something they desperately needed, but now they suddenly have the money for this. For some, that may induce resentment - personally, it just makes me wary.

We have also seen celebrities (no names mentioned) who now appear stick-thin, with very little muscle. Your body is your best friend, and it will do your best to help you as long as you listen to it. If you suppress hunger, you will also miss out on the nutrients you need.

Furthermore, as long as you have a healthy heart, I do believe exercise will be safer than injecting something. Long walks, press-ups, bodyweight squats... if you build muscle, it will take most of the energy you put in your body.

Overall, it is not a moral issue for me, or about "cheating". If there was some miracle way I could be turned back into the best shape of my life, believe me, I would seize the chance. I want everyone to be happy and healthy, and I wish everyone in this thread all the best, but I'm just a little bit dubious about the method.

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You do make some interesting and valid points. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m certainly not using them as a magic wonder drug. I’ve also majorly changed my lifestyle by completely cutting out processed and ultra processed food. In terms of suddenly having the money available, it’s very easy to save a substantial amount of money each month by not ordering takeaways, cutting down on alcohol and not buying overpriced sugary “food” that was conceived in a boardroom to maximise profits.

I do read of some people who go a day without eating sometimes because they’re on such a high dose, and I completely agree with you that this approach is not safe. I still have three meals a day, but they are high protein and low carb. As previously mentioned, my relationship and mindset with food has completely changed for the better and I now love to cook with single ingredient food grown locally. I must be the world’s best egg poacher by now!

East Coast Mariner said:

I remember reading an article about a woman with hair on her face, who was refused treatment on the NHS as they said it was "cosmetic". Well, no, it wasn't cosmetic - it would have been devastating for her.

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Sorry to be really picky, and I agreed with the rest of your post, but the above affliction absolutely is cosmetic. It may be devastating for her, but it absolutely is cosmetic. It may lead to a mental health issue, but that doesn't mean it's not a cosmetic issue to start with. The initial issue on its own would not lead to a poor health outcome in years to come, the way that she deals with that mentally COULD lead to that. At the point that we're offering hair removal treatments to any woman who has more hair on her face than she thinks is acceptable to society, we may as well be putting hair transplants on the NHS for men who go bald and don't like it.

In an ideal world we could offer all of these things but we have not got the money as a country to pay for absolutely everything. With weight loss treatments the NHS is almost certainly saving itself money further down the line with almost every patient when it doesn't have to treat future complications due to overweight patients, because it is a physiological issue, not a cosmetic one.

BarryZola said:

Sorry to be really picky, and I agreed with the rest of your post, but the above affliction absolutely is cosmetic. It may be devastating for her, but it absolutely is cosmetic. It may lead to a mental health issue, but that doesn't mean it's not a cosmetic issue to start with. The initial issue on its own would not lead to a poor health outcome in years to come, the way that she deals with that mentally COULD lead to that. At the point that we're offering hair removal treatments to any woman who has more hair on her face than she thinks is acceptable to society, we may as well be putting hair transplants on the NHS for men who go bald and don't like it.

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Fair points, but let me offer a counter argument. There are two different things that get called "cosmetic". Purely cosmetic things - wanting the "Love Island" look, I suppose - are often based on societal trends and should not be offered on the NHS just because someone doesn't want to pay for it.

On the other hand, there are too many instances where something has gone wrong in the body, and the resulting changes wrongly get called "cosmetic", in my opinion. This is usually the result of some sort of imbalance that the patient cannot fix on their own. It is physiological, but for too long the NHS has used poorly set parameters to deny these problems, and send away very desperate people. The despair is not caused by vanity, nor any kind of societal expectations; just the deep understanding that something has gone wrong. Rather than simply wanting others to pay for it, these people want someone they can trust to lift them out of a dark place.

We say we care about mental health, but if we only offer talking therapy, rather than fixing actual problems, we won't get very far. The NHS seems to have certain things it's allowed to give out en masse - anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication and now these weight loss injections, rather than solving issues the patient actually has.

None of this is the fault of those on weight loss jabs, of course, but I offer it as a contrast. The weight loss jabs do not actually fix anything in the body - they only suppress appetite, resulting in less food consumed. Unlike the problems mentioned above, this is something that could be achieved with discipline. Again, I'm not criticising anyone for using them or think they shouldn't be available, I'm just putting across an alternative perspective. Like anyone else, I hope for a future where people are free of their problems, and can rise to their full potential.

Who here is getting these things on the NHS, @East Coast Mariner ? Feels like you're arguing a case a completely different point to the one @s_g_k raised, and even adding a little of your own judgment in for good measure.

To answer my own question, the only person who mentioned the NHS was me, and they won't give it to me - but they will do stomach surgery at far higher cost and risk (but for the same mutual net gain). Like everyone else in this thread I've invested in the drug myself - I'm something like £1500 in now and will likely be looking at 3-4x that by the time I get to a reasonable weight. It's worth every penny to me but it'd be a drop in the ocean to the NHS compared to what the cost of the operation I'm currently lined up for would be alone.

Obesity costs the NHS a tonne of money. Diabetes treatment alone is almost 10% of the health budget. That is a ginormous sum.

Once a patient becomes pre-diabetic they are highly likely to become diabetic, and once a patient becomes diabetic they are far more likely than not to be diabetic for the rest of their life. Of course prevention is worth it.

Every penny saved on future diabetes and other related treatment is money which can potentially be redistributed in to other treatments.

And this is to say nothing of cancer and just about every other disease which is more likely to occur in obese patients.

As somebody who has struggled with health issues (mental and physical) which have all played a part in weight gain, and have tried with varying levels of success over a period spanning 2 decades to lose weight - I find your comment implying that weight loss is a matter of discipline alone to be insulting and deeply ignorant. You cannot both argue the case that things should be done for the benefit of people's mental health but essentially accuse people of lacking discipline for being fat. It's hypocrisy, quite plainly.

This thread up to now has been a nice group of people supporting each other doing something hard. Perhaps you don't think it's hard to lose weight, in which case bully for you, but that viewpoint is not useful here. I hope the mods will step in and ensure that supportive environment is restored.

WillPS said:

Who here is getting these things on the NHS, @East Coast Mariner ? Feels like you're arguing a case a completely different point to the one @s_g_k raised, and even adding a little of your own judgment in for good measure.

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Yep, sorry if I offended. I was just trying to offer some polite discussion, but I'll leave it at that.

As someone who has never been overweight or had a need to lose weight, I haven’t felt a need to enter this discussion. However, I’d like to offer my perspective because I feel I can empathise with people who struggle with weight and I do strongly feel that there is a lot more to weight and appetite than “discipline” or “just eating more/less”.

This isn’t something I talk about very often, as it’s something I find quite difficult to talk about, but I struggled with my weight and appetite for many years on the other end of the spectrum. I’m better now, but I’m still not a huge eater, am still quite possibly underweight for my height in BMI terms (5’10” tall and around 9st or slightly under), and still find food, weight and eating habits quite an uncomfortable subject to discuss. While I’m a lot better than I was, I think I will likely always have a complicated psychological relationship with food etched into my mind from when I was worse.

What I would say is that it is very easy to say to someone to alter their habits, but it is an awful lot harder for them to actually do it, and there are often great emotional feelings associated with doing it. People used to say to me to “go and eat a good meal”, try to feed me, say I needed “fattening up”, say I should eat more, tell me I’d blow over in a strong wind and the like.

But there were times where the very thought of eating even just a little bit more made me deeply anxious, the thought of gaining weight made me incredibly anxious, and I had quite deep-seated mental blockers around food, weight and eating. I’ve never said this out loud before, but I used to mentally tot up calories in my head every day, I frequently used to leave large amounts of cooked lunch when I was at school, I used to try and take any opportunity I could to eat less, I used to feel incredibly guilty when I ate something “bad” or something extra, and the topic just used to dominate the back of my mind constantly. There were times where my parents would gently discuss the topic of eating even just one extra snack a day and trying to gain a small amount of weight, and it made me burst into tears from anxiety and made me almost feel sick. It felt like the worst thing in the world. I never had a full-blown severe eating disorder and never required medical treatment, but I got very underweight at my worst, I definitely had some of the tendencies associated with an eating disorder and definitely did not have a healthy perception of weight and a healthy relationship with food.

In many ways, I found it very difficult to gain weight and try to eat better. Getting to where I am now has taken some work and a number of years, and there were many mental blockers in my mind. I am a lot better now than I was, but some of the associated mental demons never entirely leave you even if they get considerably less overpowering and you can shut them out more easily. While my difficulties with food were the polar opposite as those of many overweight and obese people, I feel there are parallels, and based on my experience, I can definitely understand why someone who is obese might find it a damn sight more complicated than many imply to “just put less in your mouth”. Food is a psychologically complicated thing for many, many people (myself included), and from that standpoint, I can fully empathise with those who might want to use an aid such as a weight loss injection to make those internal demons less overpowering.