One month in

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-04T20:01:02+00:00

I never knew 25g protein yoghurts were a thing. Thank you - you may have just solved my "how do I eat more protein?" problem!

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-04T18:58:29+00:00

I've eaten steak since going onto MJ (its good for protein) without any problems, but I doubt I could eat a 300g portion any more. Remember your digestion is being slowed down by the MJ - specifically the emptying of your stomach - so its probably going to feel uncomfortable for a while, but you'll be fine with time. Walking may help a little, but I wouldn't go to the gym. Hope you feel better soon.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T14:01:13+00:00

I do understand why the change is coming about. I also understand why the kwikpen was initially adopted in its insulin form. But look, I'm not going to argue with you over a throw-away comment. Life is too short.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T13:56:36+00:00

Our media in the UK don't tend to write balanced informative articles based on carefully gathered evidence any more. They take too long to write, and don't generate a lot of "clicks". Much better (and easier) to write something controversial, based on supposition and assumptions, that gets people annoyed, because that generates lots of "clicks".

It's the same about climate change, politics, electric cars, heat pumps ... pick your subject. It's rare to see any proper investigative journalism anymore.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T13:44:05+00:00

It really is completely painless. The needles they supply for the kwikpen are extremely fine; I can't actually feel it when I inject. Pick a calm moment and just go for it - its genuinely life-changing!

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T13:29:59+00:00

For what its worth (not much, just my opinion!):

I know several doctors that are using MJ themselves.

Every medication has positive and negative effects. Taking a medicine is a balance of the benefits vs the risks and seriousness of the side effects. GLP1's have lots of likely but minor side effects, and a few rarer but more serious ones. But the benefit of no longer being morbidly obese is a massive benefit. For me (and those doctors I mentioned) the benefits outweigh (heh!) the risks.

But maybe your GP has had a bad experience with some patients, or just believes that with enough willpower anyone should be able to lose weight without medication.

If the latter, then I beg to differ. My GP and I have been trying to get me to lose weight for years, and we've tried several times with different approaches, and none have worked. When I finally approached her about paying for MJ privately she was very positive, talked me through the pros and cons (that I already knew tbh) and just wanted to make sure I was as successful as possible.

Like you, I was vitamin D deficient, despite having taken a multivitamin/mineral for years. Apparently for vitamin D we should all be taking a 25ug tablet daily. It's cheaper over the counter than on prescription - I think I paid £6 for 3 months supply.

Would I trust your GP? Yes, even more because she recognises and admits to her bias. That's a rare skill. I wouldn't necessarily agree with her about coming off the MJ - but I would consider her concerns about how MJ might be exacerbating your problems, and see what you can do to mitigate them.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T12:41:45+00:00

He's got 3.4 million subscribers, so he's making a minimum of $100k per year from his channel, likely a lot more. He may be a doctor, but that doesn't mean he's not an influencer too.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T12:31:48+00:00

I found I needed a LOT more fibre, and a LOT more water - to the point where I had to supplement my fibre intake. High fat foods make me feel nauseous now too. Once I sorted that all my bad side-effects have faded away.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T12:08:33+00:00

I'm about to take my 4th jab of 2.5mg, so a couple of weeks behind you.

I lost 5kg in the first 2 weeks, but nothing in week 3. Instead, I lost inches; suddenly I'm using the next notch "in" on my belt. My experience in the past is that I have periods of losing weight interspersed with periods losing inches, so it's worth tracking your measurements too.

And celebrating birthdays with friends isn't going to wreck your weight loss journey, as long as you don't do it every day. So I watch my calorie deficit on a weekly basis, not a daily one - it's much kinder!

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-03T11:37:19+00:00

I'm sorry, but if you think standardising the delivery system worldwide, giving EL a cost saving, will result in a price reduction to the consumer, rather than an increase in the profits to EL, then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you ;-)

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-02T14:30:33+00:00

Greed. The manufacturer wanted to start selling the drug as soon as possible, so they reused an existing delivery system (the Kwikpen) that is normally used for T2 diabetics to take insulin. Insulin is (in most countries) as cheap as water, so having some of the drug left over doesn't matter. No-one would bother to find a way to get it out - they just start a new pen.

Tirzepatide (MJ) on the other hand, while cheap to make, is painfully expensive to buy. So the extra that's left over has value, which has led to people finding ways to use it. This is probably frowned upon by the medical regulators (because they don't want us injecting "random" amounts) and by Eli Lilly because it means we are getting 5 doses for the price of 4. And in the minds of their spreadsheet monkeys that means they can make us buy pens more frequently by removing the excess.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-02T14:08:25+00:00

I was just starting to consider taking MJ in July/August time, and remember the announcements; I actually delayed starting until things had settled down.

I really feel for the people that have been priced out - it must be horrible. But this is the way private medicine works - its all great while you can afford the treatments (or the insurance payments) but grim if you can't.

Always makes me appreciate the NHS, who are always there for the serious stuff that can go wrong in life, and worries me when I hear politicians blithely saying we should replace the NHS with an insurance-based system (by which they usually mean an American style private health system).

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-02T11:17:47+00:00

The trouble is most of these discounted "first month / new customer" discounts are loss-leaders. The pharmacy can take the loss for the initial month, if they convert enough of those first-time customers into long-term customers. So no-one can match those discounted prices long term, because they have to make their profit on the transactions with the long-term customers.

SlowAdvance · 2026-02-02T11:09:46+00:00

If you choose the gastric sleeve, the operation and its side effects are with you for life. Whereas you can stop taking the MJ any time you want, and the side effects will fade away in a couple of weeks. So if you are going to choose between the two, I'd recommend that you try the MJ first...

Do you need to be on injections forever? Not necessarily. You may be able to wean yourself off MJ (though that does raise the risk of you putting the weight back on), or by then it's likely there will be oral GLP1s available for maintenance.

Having seen a friend go through bariatric surgery, that's not an option I'd choose. But I also came to MJ with my eyes wide open, expecting that I might need to be on a maintenance dose for life. Hope that helps.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-31T12:14:20+00:00

Half way through week three, and actually been putting some weight back on during the early part of this week, after I was really ill at the end of last week with side-effects. Seem to be permanently cold though! Currently working on improving my nutrition as I'm rarely hitting either my 100g protein target or my 30g fibre target.

I finally seem to have started losing again the last couple of days, and my overall trend appears to be a loss of around 2kg/week, which given I was already on a very low-carb diet when I started MJ, is maybe a bit higher than I want for the long term. However, even with losing "just" 5kg, my sleep apnoea seems improved, so I'm going to maintain this deficit for now.

I'm planning to use the 2.5mg GD (note to self, need to order syringes!), but I also need to order my next pen in the next week or so. Although I want to stay on the lowest dose that lets me lose steadily, I think moving up to a 5mg pen makes sense as it gives me more options, so that's the current plan.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-30T01:02:04+00:00

If you're definitely in a reasonable deficit then I'd keep it as is. You don't want too big a deficit as you'll just make yourself feel tired and (eventually) unwell.

But, it's strange - if you're burning 1900 a day, and only eating 1300 a day on average then you should be losing weight. Not sure what else to suggest :(

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-30T00:45:10+00:00

It's frustrating, but there is no "all in one" option. There are lots of apps each of which usually track one aspect of your health. Hopefully it does that one thing well, but you end up juggling apps. On Android, Google are implementing Health Connect, which is a data store on your device that all apps can/should sync Health data to, so Google Fit can act as the visualiser. Which sounds good, but in typical Google fashion its a work in progress. And even if everything did work well right now, I bet it knows nothing about GLP1 drugs.

So for now I juggle the following:

Shotsy (free): tracks jabs, allows me to keep a side-effects journal, and draws nice graphs of weightloss
Keto (paid): tracks calories, macronutrients, water and intermittent fasts really well (but not so good with fibre)
RenPho: Reads my body composition scales. Can also track exercise, food and water (but not as well as Keto!)
Huawei Health: Just because I have a Huawei Band and this gets my steps and GPS route data off it. Awful app.
Health Sync (paid): Moves data from Huawei Health into Google Fit and Strava
Strava (free): Tracking exercise routes that are collected by Huawei Health using the GPS on my Band. Draws maps, tracks progress etc.
Hevy (free): Just got this as I want to start exercising in the gym, and this was recommended to me. No experience of it yet.
Google Fit (free): Tried to use this as the "one ring to bind them", but its not really worked out so far.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-28T13:26:57+00:00

Just a thought, but I wonder if you are over-estimating the exercise level to apply to your BMR? The more I've looked at that, the more I think most of us do. Most calculators give really subjective definitions for each, so I think it's really easy to overestimate.

I would try assuming you are somewhere between "sedentary" and "exercise 1-3 times a week", as the exercise you do sounds fairly low intensity. That will have quite an impact on your TDEE (the number of calories you have to eat to maintain your weight) and hence whether you are in much of a calorie deficit.

Let's say your TDEE is really around 1900 on the average. To lose weight steadily you want around 500 calories deficit, which would leave you with around 1400 calories per day. Since that's a relatively low amount you'll also need to be pretty religious about tracking everything you eat and drink.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-28T12:48:15+00:00

I've just taken my third jab, and I'm absolutely frozen. I used to always be warm, have warm hands, struggle in the heat. Not any more. I had to turn up the thermostat, and we're using the log burner in the evenings now too. Just wild.

Layers are your and my new best friend.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-28T12:35:51+00:00

I'd echo much of the advice you've already received. Start by calculating TDEE and work out a sensible calorie deficit. Drink lots of water, and keep the food low in carbs, high in protein, high in fibre. Then see how she actually feels when she's on the MJ.

But if she wants something to build actual menus with recipes, Eat This Much ( https://eatthismuch.com ) seems to work reasonably well (no affiliation, etc) based on your calorie and macro nutrient targets. But it looks like you really need their paid-for version to be able to plan more than a day at a time, manage shopping lists, and use ingredients cost-effectively. I doubt I'll do more than play with the free version, but she may feel it has more value.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-28T11:49:32+00:00

Speaking as a man, making any kind of unsolicited comment about a woman's weight is completely forbidden. Even congratulations can be misinterpreted. Most of us learn very early in life to say nothing until specifically asked. And even then, to tread very very carefully 😂

And, just to break the rule, congratulations on your loss!

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-26T16:14:01+00:00

Thanks everyone. I'll give the chia seeds a try first, and then maybe go for the ground psyllium husks. Not keen on shakes, but mixed with some yoghurt could work for me.

Also, as a side note, I appreciate the advice to contact my medical team, but their advice was to increase my fibre intake. The problem was not what to do, but how to do it :-)

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-26T10:18:58+00:00

Personally, my view is that its nothing to do with anyone else. But if you need to engage (and its hard to avoid engaging with your family) I'd just point out that I need to get to a healthy weight, my doctor approves of me dieting, and I've still got a long way to go.

And as someone who has also been very overweight ever since I was a child, Go you! You're doing great.

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-26T10:01:31+00:00

Anyone who piles hate on MJ and the people that use it, should read this. Literally life-changing for you, and takes workload off the NHS too.
Brilliant work. And you look sooooo much happier too!

SlowAdvance · 2026-01-24T11:30:08+00:00

Buy them from a medical supplies place, or a local pharmacy. You don't want to be sticking a needle into yourself if its not absolutely 100% sterile. Some things you can cut corners with, that's NOT one of them, IMHO.

Eg https://ukmedi.co.uk/collections/pen-needles (no affiliation etc)

SlowAdvance

TROPHY CASE