Wegovy Pill

Mounjaro Journey (Maintenance) – Week 55 (2.5mg every 5 days)

flidfit Healthy Swaps, Maintenance, Mounjaro, Sweet Treats, Titrating dose, Wegovy Pill

For those of you who didn’t see my blog post yesterday about my decision to try the Wegovy pill, do take a look.

This past week has felt particularly difficult when it comes to staying on track with my calories. It’s not so much about what I’m eating (I’m still making sensible choices) as the fact that I seem to feel hungry all the time. And, if I’m honest, I’m not enjoying it very much at all.

It’s taking a huge amount of willpower to stop myself from diving into the fridge and snuffling everything in sight. The return of hunger and food noise has really reminded me just how much Mounjaro was helping in the background.

What has become increasingly clear to me over the past few weeks is that the hunger isn’t easing as my dose reduces – if anything, it’s becoming more noticeable. Given that I’m continuing to taper down, I can only see this becoming more challenging over the coming months.

After spending a year enjoying the freedom from constant hunger and food noise, I’ve realised just how much mental energy it takes to battle those feelings day after day. While I have every intention of continuing with the healthy habits that have served me well for the past 14 years, I’m also realistic. I’m not prepared to spend the rest of my life feeling hungry all the time and relying solely on willpower to manage it.

That’s a big part of the reason I’ve decided to try the Wegovy pill. If it can provide even some of the appetite suppression and relief from food noise that I’ve experienced with Mounjaro, then it could prove to be a valuable long-term tool in helping me maintain both my weight and my quality of life.

The weather forecast certainly isn’t going to help matters. We’re expecting a very hot week ahead, and by Wednesday temperatures could be nudging 40°C. I don’t plan on moving very much at all. My intention is to stay indoors and keep as cool as possible. Thankfully, our house is quite old with lovely solid brick walls, so it stays surprisingly cool downstairs. We also have built-in air conditioning units in each of the two bedrooms, which is essential as they’re built into the roof space and can become unbearably hot during the summer.

I briefly considered driving down to the coast for the day, but the thought of sitting in a car, even one with air conditioning, just seems a little foolish in those sorts of temperatures. Instead, my sister is coming over to work this week, and I’ve hatched a plan to stay indoors. In exchange for keeping cool, I’m putting her to work painting part of the ceiling! She’s very practical and good at that sort of thing.

We’ll have all the fans running to keep the air circulating, and they actually do a pretty decent job. Another trick is to run both air conditioning units upstairs with the bedroom doors open, allowing the cooler air to drift down through the house. It usually knocks a few degrees off the temperature downstairs.

In food news, I’ve recently rediscovered orzo. I found a packet lurking in the back of the cupboard and have been making a delicious chicken-and-chorizo orzo dish. It includes sun-dried tomatoes, grated Parmesan cheese, plenty of vegetables, and, of course, the chicken and chorizo.  It’s one of those meals that tastes far more indulgent than it actually is. It’s wonderfully filling, so you don’t need a huge portion, and because it’s all cooked in one pot, it’s quick to prepare and creates very little washing up. Definitely a recipe that’s earned a place in my regular rotation and one that I plan to share later this week.

I’ve also been making good use of the fruit from the garden. I made two batches of fruit compote – one gooseberry and one blackcurrant. To keep the sugar content low, I used chia seeds to thicken the compotes rather than relying on lots of sugar. They worked brilliantly and created a lovely, thick texture. I had a little taste of both while washing up the saucepans; they were absolutely delicious.

Inspired by the success of the compotes, I came up with another little experiment. I filled some silicone muffin cases with 50g of Total 5% Greek yoghurt, then swirled a generous teaspoon of either gooseberry or blackcurrant compote through the yoghurt.

They’re currently sitting in the freezer, and I’m hoping the result will be a delicious homemade fruit ice cream. If it works, it could become one of my favourite summer treats. The combination of the creamy yoghurt and sharp fruit flavours sounds very promising indeed.

The best part is that each one works out at only around 70 calories, making them a refreshing and satisfying option for those moments when I fancy something sweet. I’ll report back once I’ve sampled them and let you know whether they’re a triumph or a complete disaster!  Hopefully, they will help cool us down during the coming heatwave.

There’s something especially satisfying about eating fruit that you’ve grown and harvested yourself.

Now, if I can just make it through this week without melting – or eating the contents of the fridge – I shall consider it a success!

Weight this week:  55.7kg (8st 11lbs)
Weight last week: 55.8kg (8st 11.2lbs)

Weekly loss/gain: -0.10kg (0.2lb)
100% – 4 months, 10 days in weight maintenance range (54-56kg or 8st 7lb – 8st 13lbs)

Why I’m Going to Try the New Wegovy Pill

flidfit Disability, Maintenance, Mounjaro, Titrating dose, Wegovy Pill

After a lot of thought, I’ve signed up to try the new Wegovy weight-loss pill.

Many of you who regularly read or subscribe to my posts will know that I’ve been gradually reducing my Mounjaro dose since reaching my goal weight in January. The plan was always to see whether I could successfully maintain my weight on less medication, while continuing to rely on the habits and routines that have served me well for the past 14 years.

However, over the last few weeks I’ve noticed a definite change, and it’s been increasingly difficult to stick to my daily calorie allowance.

My appetite has increased considerably and, perhaps more significantly, the food noise has returned.

For those who have never experienced it, food noise is that constant chatter in your head about food. Thinking about what to eat, when to eat, whether to have a snack, counting down the time to the next meal and battling cravings that seem to appear out of nowhere. Mounjaro quietened all of that for me. As my dose has reduced, in the last 4 weeks, it has gradually started to creep back.

The reality is that my daily calorie allowance is incredibly low. At 4ft 8in, 63 years old and with very limited mobility due to my disability, my maintenance calories are only around 1,100 calories per day.  I don’t have the ability to earn additional calories through doing lots of calorie-burning activities or exercise.

What has surprised me is just how much I have come to appreciate the freedom that Mounjaro gave me. For the past seven or eight months, particularly when I was on the higher doses, sticking to my calorie allowance felt easy. The constant internal negotiation around food largely disappeared. I wasn’t fighting hunger all day, and I wasn’t endlessly thinking about what I could or couldn’t eat. Instead, I was able to eat sensible portions, stay within my calorie target and watch the weight come down gradually, week after week.

Looking back, I realise how much mental energy Mounjaro took out of the process. Weight loss still required planning, calorie awareness and making sensible choices, but it no longer felt like a daily battle against my own appetite. As the dose has reduced, I’ve become increasingly aware of just how much work the medication was doing behind the scenes.

In many ways, the return of hunger and food noise has been a reminder of what life was like before treatment. It has made me appreciate just how transformative Mounjaro has been for me, not simply in helping me lose weight, but in making it feel achievable and sustainable.

                         

What this experience has made me realise is that if I want to maintain my weight loss long-term and avoid regaining the weight, I may need some form of ongoing medical support. There is absolutely no shame in that.

I’ve joined the pre-order list with Pharmacy Online for the newly approved Wegovy pill and have paid £106 for 30 tablets at the 4mg dose. They’ve suggested that this is roughly equivalent to the level of appetite suppression I currently receive from my low-dose Mounjaro maintenance regime.

The tablets are expected to arrive sometime in July.

One of the attractions for me is the convenience. No injections, no sharps bin, no refrigeration and no travelling with injection pens. Instead, it’s simply one tablet first thing in the morning with a small amount of water, followed by a 30-minute wait before eating or drinking anything else. As someone who rarely eats breakfast anyway, that should fit quite easily into my daily routine.

Will it work as well as Mounjaro? I genuinely don’t know.

But I do know that the return of hunger and food noise has reminded me just how difficult life felt before I started treatment. It has also reinforced my belief that obesity and weight regain are not simply about willpower for many individuals.

For me, maintaining my weight isn’t about fitting into a particular dress size or about how I look in a bikini. It’s about preserving my mobility, reducing pain, protecting my independence and giving myself the best chance of remaining active and healthy as I get older.

I’ll continue documenting my experiences honestly and sharing exactly how I get on with the Wegovy pill, including any side effects, changes in appetite, effectiveness and, of course, whether it helps me maintain my weight.

If you’d like to hear more about why I’ve made this decision, I’ve also recorded a YouTube video where I talk through my reasoning in much more detail.

As always, I’d love to hear from anyone else considering the Wegovy pill or already planning to switch from Mounjaro.

Feel free to leave a comment and share your own experiences.