Mounjaro week 1

Following sharing that I've started taking the weight loss drug Mounjaro for perimenopausal weight gain I thought I'd document my journey on the medication.

At the time of starting my weight was in the high 80s (kg).

Apprehension

Initially I was a bit hesitant to inject myself; How would I know I was doing it right? How big is the needle?
I took things slowly, laid everything I needed out on my bed and read the instructions given. I found this YouTube video on how to be the most simple to follow along:

On the first day I was very cautious about what I ate. We eat healthily in chez spratt, not much processed food and plenty of fruit, veggies and whole-foods and I don't drink alcohol or sugary carbonated sodas. I felt confident that my current eating regime would hold up ok on Mounjaro. From things I'd read and people I'd spoken to side effects can be much worse if you eat fatty processed foods and I for one, did not want to crap myself. 😅

The 'oh' moment

Day two I had my weekly strength training session. I explained to my trainer I'd started the medication and that I wanted to take things a little easier 'just incase' I experienced any side effects. I'm happy to say I didn't.

I went home and cooked 2 scrambled eggs for dinner with some salad leaves – had 2 mouthfuls and felt too full to eat anymore. Hang onnnnnn. This was it, it was taking effect and it was a really odd feeling. I fancied the food, I cooked the food but when I started eating the food something had flipped.

Remembering to eat

The evening meal was always easy, as we eat together, but when I was home alone in the day time I noticed it was very easy to skip breakfast and lunch – and that's not good for me. I found myself having to set a timer on my phone in the day to remind myself to eat.

Side effects

My injection day was Monday, by Thursday and Friday I was experiencing mild nausea. I found mint tea and chewing mint gum the best way to deal with this. By Saturday and Sunday I felt almost back to normal and on Sunday my appetite was coming back.

One day after not pooping I took one senna tablet before bed.

I did drink a lot more water than usual this week, I wouldn't say I was constantly thirsty, it just sort of happened.

HRT

My GP texted me to say we needed to review my HRT. Recent studies have showed that the slowing-absorption of GLP-1s also effect HRT. The oral progesterone that I have been taking one-week-on one-week-off was increased to daily, with no breaks.

Exercise

I do enjoy exercise, but with my weight gain I found I can't do as much as my mind would like. But I did what I could.

Here's what I did in week one:

• 1 hour strength weight training
• 55 miles of mountain bike riding
• 2.75 mile walk
• average 10k steps each day

Weight loss

I lost 3kg on week 1.