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Good luck
If the OP’s about, any update on this? Interested to hear how it’s going
Only just noticed this thread and thought I would throw my hat into the ring.
Started on Mounjaro 2 weeks ago and I have to say for me it proving to be good news so far.
My interest in food has decidedly dropped and my hunger has largely gone away.
Lost a poo load of weight so far but fully appreciate that much of this will be water loss.
Had no side effects so far.
I have struggled over the years to control my weight and started at 20st 8lb. To me this feels like a game changer.
This is the nail on the head for me! I honestly cannot remember a time in all my 54 years when I have not had thoughts of food at the forefront of my mind all the time along with non stop cravings. I’ve hated it and hated myself because of it. Only as an adult on my late 20s did I suddenly realise that when someone puts a plate of biscuits out they’re are just a selection for if you want one, not something that you need to finish off or even eat at all. I’ve hated buffets or if I had to go to an all you can eat place with people for years because I know I just cannot get a sensible plate of food and leave it. I can’t stand wasted and left over food and would be that bin that dealt with it.
Unless this is you, you just simply cannot understand it.
With this injection the cravings have gone, the ‘food noise’ has gone, other than because of me thinking about food to plan ahead so that I can eat sensibly and healthy. This is that window of time where the noise has gone and I can hopefully retrain my mind to lose those life long ingrained habits so that I can lose the weight I need, and then keep it off with a total shift in my relationship to food.
To save me some writing, longdogs post from three months ago pretty much echoes my experience and food relationship.
I've always been overweight. I'm also fit as a fiddle, strong, and motivated enough to make a good living self employed. Eat less, move more is the simplest of concepts but extremely hard to execute for a great many people.
Look around, the majority of people are now overweight to some degree. How many of them would like to be slim? All of them, save for a tiny number of mentally unwell folks perhaps. Being fat sucks in so many ways.
I did my rEsEARch! and decided to start Mounjaro a month ago. Apart from having to pay about £35 a week for it, I have only positive feedback to give. So far, it is truly a game changer.
Any negatives you read about these peptides are almost entirely because people are using them to starve. Extremely rapid weight loss will lead to bad health outcomes, whether it's facilitated with chemical help or not.
I use kettlebells for my resistance training several times a week. I have a benchmark YouTube workout I return to regularly to check my progress, and I've been getting steadily a little stronger over the past four years. In my late forties, I'm happy with maintenance or slight improvement in fitness and strength. I did that workout on Friday and pushed the weight up a little, using a 32kg for part of it where I'd previously used 24. It left me pretty burst but wasn't a problem to complete.
I'll continue to keep an eye on strength while losing weight. I'm down about 2.5 lbs per week over the past month. I'm aiming to get away with the lowest dose I can to maintain that sort of rate.
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Good luck with it @Bedmaker, it's been great for me. I've gained muscle while using it as well as losing fat with increases in all my lifts, so no I'm not a saggy wasted away bag of lose skin and bones despite what some on here think it will do.
I'm just about to finish it after dropping 23kg in body weight. Well, I've got a week left from my current 10mg pen, and then ordered another one to use to titrate down. Though i cant see any thing saying you need titrate down it seems a good idea to hopefully avoid any savage appetite racing back.
I'd get yourself some insulin needles off Amazon or somewhere (super cheap) as you'll find there's an extra dose in each pen that you can't get out otherwise as the plunger isn't long enough, so you can get 5 weeks instead of 4 weeks from each one. Also useful if you decide to titrate up at any point to avoid side effects. IIRC when I went to 7.5mg I had some bad stomach issues, but splitting my dose into half a dose every 3 days for a bit resolved that. To get to no1 on the pen is 60 clicks, so half a dose is 30, quarter 15, etc easy to figure out.
Thanks @longdog I've taken the fifth dose of my first pen. I bought a pack of tips to fit the pen rather than syringes. The last dose comes out fine but the top is harder to turn out, it just needs forced.
I'm intending to split the 5mg dose, as it seems that side effects are most common moving to that dose from 2.5.
Ah, I tried that as I had spare screw on tips, but despite being able to turn the dial right out it wouldn't push in far enough to get to the end of the syringe.
Yeh it might have been the jump to 5mg right enough as you are doubling the dose.
Anyway good luck, it sounds like you know what you're doing 🙂
I’m just about to finish it after dropping 23kg in body weight.
That's a tremendous effort in such a short time-frame, well done. You must be chuffed.
This stuff sounds awesome, wish I could afford it.
This stuff sounds awesome, wish I could afford it.
Affordability will depend on how long term you need to be on these drugs, and whether a short term course can re-set metabolic thresholds.
If it's the latter, and you're an actual unit, then you can't not afford to try them imho. You've probably seen stories of glp1 agonists curing all sorts of ills - this is not entirely made up as so many illnesses and problems lie downstream of obesity.
Cheers NickC 🙂
I got mine from Super Drug online GPs, more expensive than most, but a source I felt happy with and the service has been great.
The cost has become unsustainable for us with limited income and other commitments, but it's done it's job re. my BMI for orthopedic referral and also helped with changing life long bad habits that caught up with me. Hopefully I can keep my better relationship with food going.
You're very unlikely to get it through your NHS GP, but itd be great if you did. There isn't even a NHS program to go through where I am before they'd consider you for it, which they won't here.
Anyone buying it cheap from health spas, nail bars and Botox places as I saw on TV are just asking for bother; seems dumb to me.
So I spoke to my GP today. While she agrees that it’s something that I would likely benefit from she is unable to prescribe it. For that I have to go to a weight loss specialist with a 2 year waiting list.
Its crap @Doomanic isn't it :'(
I know someone else (England ) who's got on weight loss program with a view to getting one of the weight loss drugs, but not sure if that will actually materialise. As I said the only one that was running here hasn't for sometime, my GP didn't offer any support at all when I'd been knocked back by orthopedics due to my BMI.
What happens will ultimately be down to me. My belief is that it will help me break habits and stop cravings for sweet and sickly terrible foods.
I think this is the key thing. without lifestyle change when you stop taking the drugs then the weight will go back on
These drugs are interesting and I shall try to find out more
The Docs who lift podcast is a good source of info. They've done a whole series delving into the various iterations of these medications.
I hope in time they will be more easily availble with better control and education in the UK. I'm also on a FB group and the level of ignorance and downright dangerous behaviour is staggering. The drugs will be / are being blamed for lots of ills which are due to starvation.
I know a few people who've used these drugs and the results tend to be pretty spectacular. More so than the normal 'eat less cakes, exercise a bit' people seem to believe is the equivalent.
The lifestyle change is interesting. Many people eat out of habit, ingrained over a lifetime. If you take a drug that removes your desire to eat for 6 months, that will potentially have a long lasting effect by retraining you
Update for anyone interested. I've been steadily losing just over 2lbs per week, now down to 14st 4lbs. Heaviest was 17st 5, and started the jab at 16st 10.
Waist is down 3-4 inches. Negative side effects have continued to be very mild, almost negligible really.
Upper body strength feells same as ever doing my benchmark KB workout. I suspect I've lost a little strength in my legs as squats don''t feel 15KG easier. Unsurprising I suppose, as they aren't getting resistance trained all day every day like before - my job is quite physical.
Biking wise, the difference uphill isn't as amazing as I'd have imagined. Downhill has surprised me with how different it feels, much floatier and easy to stop/ slow down in the winter slop! Need to think about a new coil soon too.
Highly recommended!
I was on it for a few months, lost about 10kg but couldn't afford to keep it up. I kind of got a bit used to it, in the final month it sort of felt it was as much my willpower as the drug, and that has been born out after the fact. I haven't lost any more weight afterwards but my weight has been stable, and I do feel more in control and able to say to myself "you know what, I have had enough now I don't need to eat any more".
I also hurt my back just as I was coming off it, which means my activity levels have been very low, I was barely able to walk for a couple of months or even clean house, I was working from home a lot, and basically my main activity was moving between my bed, settee and desk. So with such a low activity level I was quite happy to keep my weight stable. I am hoping that now my activity levels are increasing again I will start slowly shifting some more weight.
So for me I feel it was very worthwhile in shifting my relationship with food even just using it for a relatively short period, but that was my plan all along in using it, I never went into it expecting to use it until I developed a six pack, it was always intended as an aid to change my own mentality. I hope I can keep the new mentality up long term, I feel quite confident I can at the moment.
Nice update. Hopefully the drugs are becoming more accepted to the general populous, or rather the people taking it are.
Since starting on Mounjaro in May I've gone from people turning their noses up at me 'cheating' to mostly genuine interest in how much weight I've lost. For me, it has helped mainly by limiting my desire to crap food stuffs and portion size.
If I do feel the need to eat something bad, I don't fight it and have said food stuffs. This is very rare - perhaps once a fortnight - and when I eat the star bar or whatever I then feel full half way through it. Allowing myself to eat it seems to work as the feeling I then get from being full and slightly sickly means I have very rarely craved the same thing more than twice.
Health wise, I'm down from 127Kg to 105Kg, my lowest for 20 years. Still less than half way there but it feels great so far.
All my blood stats are now normal and I'm no longer pre diabetic.
So for me it is working very well. Not the dramatic 'lose 10 kg in a week' type internet story, but a steady 1Kg average loss, no side effects and better health.
No downsides, apart from £200 a month.
Lilly's "bet the farm" head-to-head study of Semaglutide (GLP1, Novo) vs. Tirzepatide (GLP1/GIP dual, Lilly) published in the New England Journal yesterday (and probably at a conference somewhere in the US). Basically, in non-diabetics (57% had prediabetes), in an open-label study. where subjects knew what they were taking, whatever response one sees with Wegovy, add a half on for Mountjarro. That's an impressive incremental response. A 14% loss in weight for Wegovy and 20% for Montjarro. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2416394
I think it's behind a paywall, but the abstract is all you need to read. Dual pharmacology works better than single pharmacology. I call these studies "bet the farm studies" because it is VERY unusual for two novel medicines to go head-to-head because clinical differences can be modest and you can end up worse numerically (in fact there is a 50% chance if the two are identical). You have to be very sure you are going to win before starting the trial!
From people I know who have taken these, I've seen impressive responses after years of struggle. If there is Type 2 diabetes in the family, these medicines are game changing (and it's what they were developed for). Lilly will move the needle still further with their oral drug that has just completed a positive Phase 3 in T2DM https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lillys-oral-glp-1-orforglipron-demonstrated-statistically.
BTW it's not in the abstract, but one thing I find striking about the trial is that 948 subjects were screened and 751 randomised to treatment. That's an 80% acceptance rate. Anyone who has been involved in a clinical trial will know that this is a very high rate of acceptance. Subjects probably thought they'd won the lottery as they would all get a active weight loss treatment.
@multi21 I'm getting on good thanks. I'm coming back down the dosage now. My weight seems to have more or less settled at 12 st 7 (80kg)
Needless to say, from someone who was always around 17st, it feels pretty good!
Side effects still minimal.
I've had the same work belt for 20+ years and I've punched new holes as I reduced in size. My waist circumference is down by 155mm.
I lost quite a bit of weight, but it left me so lethargic and due to the cost I quit before reaching my goal. I have kept my weight stable since quitting, and am not eating as much as before. I think it is important to realise before starting that using Mounjaro (or the others) is just the starting phase, it isn't a cure it is dealing with the symptoms but there is still work to do after stopping the drug, although I feel it has actually helped bring my hunger down even after stopping, I know that I have to be careful not to return to old habbits and recreate the hormone imbalance I had before.
It might have been been better to suffer the lethargy and meet my goals, but given the costs and how I felt it is debatable.
I started on Mounjaro back in early January (was 110kg, now 90kg), along with making an effort to get back on the bike & eat more healthily (but I knew from past experience I'd probably soon give the latter two up without a noticeable drop in weight to aid motivation).
I didn't really have any side effects, other than my stomach just feeling a bit "meh" at times (no idea if there's any truth in it but for me it seemed more like my brain was just confused why it wasn't getting hunger signals rather than feeling nauseous). It started working very quickly though (like a day after the first injection) and hunger pangs initially were still there occasionally but didn't get worse if I ignored them and soon pretty much stopped altogether. These days I still occasionally feel a bit hungry (if I haven't eaten for 8+ hours) but never to the point where I absolutely have to eat then and there (just a very mild sensation) but also once I do start eating I feel full almost immediately. It took a couple of weeks initially before I realised I really need to reduce my portion size otherwise eating was a chore (and could even feel mildly sick, like you've over-indulged) if I ate too much (but that would be my previous portion size).
It is expensive (about £190 a month inc. delivery) but that's partially offset for me by a reduced Deliveroo bill + I'm only occasionally eating ready meals (vs them being the majority of my meals before) so that's a bit cheaper. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it anyway though, it def should be available more widely on the NHS for others IMO. I only just qualified for the 30 BMI threshold when I signed up (privately online) but even after losing 20kg I'm still over-weight (and want to lose another 10-15kg). I am a bit concerned that when I stop in a couple of months if my weight starts climbing again and I can't get my motivation sorted I might not be able to restart it until I'm obese again (obviously plan A is to have a sustainable diet and exercise level where I don't regain weight...).
Not too sure yet how it impacts my cycling as I'd been off the bike for several years so I need to regain a lot of fitness and my biggest issue at the moment on rides is muscle fatigue rather than running out of energy. That said I'm starting to do 40+ mile road rides now so do need to be more conscious of fueling (both before and during) as I think my natural state on Mounjaro is probably a bit glycogen depleted and eating on rides I never really used to do properly and now without an appetite it's even harder. I do find drinking is fine though so I'm using energy drink to try and make sure I'm getting enough carbs per hour (aiming for 40-50g as just doing Z2 mostly).
How are these drugs working inside you to make you lose weight?
Semaglutide is a mimicking GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide) a hormone your gut produces to tell the brain receptors you're stuffed, and not even room for a "wafer thin mint". Makes you think you're full and switches your appetite off.
Makes you think you're full and switches your appetite off.
I would word it a little different, in that it normalises your appetite.
Normalise? I don't think I'd use that word either.
wifes about to start this (mounjaro, paying herself) and ive pointed her in the direction of this thread for info.
she's asked what sort of foods youre eating or feel like eating. she was on the verge of buying some weigh****chers meals, but then again she may not feel like eating them if no appetite so is holding off.
i believe that what she does need to eat needs to be high protein, is that right? so small meat-based meals, or fish, eggs, beans etc yep?
thanks
EDIT: wow, thats a keen bit of censoring 😀
I decided to try Mounjaro now the prices have dropped and am currently just over 3 weeks in. I'm basically just eating what I was before but less of it as I feel full much quicker. My appetite is still there but noticeably reduced.
Wifes been on the Mounjaro for around 12 months and done really well on it, lost a lot of weight (6st) and is feeling and looking healthier, though needs to actually exercise more now though IMO as the bone density thing worries me. No side effects AFAIK apart from the odd bout of 'eggy burps' as she descibes it.
I hate the eggy burps. Glad it's not only me.
I eat normal stuff on Mounjaro, just less of it and I rarely snack (if I do that usually ends up being a meal). I've been asked if I enjoy food etc. these days, ofc I do - food doesn't taste any different, you just want less of it. OK without cravings either maybe you don't look forward to a meal as much as get a dopamine hit or whatever off that but otherwise it's just the same tasting food.
I'm starting to wean off it now as I'm at a healthy weight and it does actually have a negative effect if you're trying to do even a moderate amount of endurance exercise (I have to remember to eat properly the day before a big ride and fueling on the bike is a bit harder, I rely on energy drink a lot more as solid food feels more of a chore. Don't hate me but sometimes I only have a coffee at a cafe stop mid-ride!).
I've used an online private prescription, it's been fine but I could have used more info up front about how much weight you're allowed to lose whilst staying on it. When I started (January this year) I was 17st 2lb and only just qualified (BMI of 30) so I was worried that after losing say a stone they'd say I didn't qualify for it anymore and cut me off so I started under-reporting my weight loss each month when re-ordering. Last month was the first time since the initial consultation that I'd been asked to send updated pictures (I think possibly as I forgot the weight I reported the previous month and might have been more honest on the next reorder...). Anyway, a bit stupid I know but I'm being sensible otherwise and don't have body dysmorphia or anything but I can see why some people could end up with problems if they under report their weight loss for similar reasons.
Glad I found this thread. Read through all of it (ignoring the off topic diet bits) and it has given me a few answers of my own experience. I have been feeling really lethargic of late and had blaming it on the purchase of an ebike and reduction of exercise due to holidays, injury, etc. But I think it is caused by Mounjaro after doing a lot of Googling and reading here. I am on 7.5mg now and have had a few exploding underpant moments along with mild nausea, but the biggest thing for me is the lack of energy and possible dehydration. Echoing a number of others on here, it has been a revelation for me in terms of switching off my food drive. The downside is that my ability or my desire to down a pint of water first thing in the morning and then consume another 2 pints throughout the day, has also gone. Need to watch out for that and get used to sipping.
I have a feeling I have lost some muscle as well due to starting the injections at a time where my weekly exercise dropped off significantly. I am getting that back on track this week but the lethergy is making that more of a chore than it should be. The other side effect that I didn't see mentioned so far is hangovers. My tolerance for alchol has reduced significantly over the past 20yrs (53 now) but this has been enhanced even more with the introduction of Mounjaro. 3 beers now feels absolutley horrid the following day and wine is even worse. So as much as I am making this sound like a bad thing, it is, as we all know, a good thing as it is reducing my booze intake as well as food.
Well this is my journey so far. Not sure how much I have lost as I don't weigh that often (stupid thing with my head is that if I see even a slight increase or plateau I give up) so I have just been going by how my clothes feel. If I took a stab at weight loss I would say 1 stone has gone over 3 months but some of that I would say was muscle and I am a bit pissed at that. My fault, you live and learn. Weights and intervals are back on the cards for this week.
Interested to know how others fair regarding the lethergy. Is it just dehydration and not ensuring the right number of cals go in becasue we just don't feel hungry, or is it something else?
The weight loss jabs certainly have their pros. However I seem to be surrounded by women taking them for cosmetic reasons instead of their intended health reasons.
One particular woman I hadn't seen for a few weeks has been using it. Having not seen her few awhile, and being at the end of a 12hr shift so focus on something else, I asked had she lost weight.
Previously I'd assumed she was maybe 5 or so years younger than me - she looked about 10yrs older than me now with her gaunt face.
For health reasons as OP it's a great tool. But the longevity of weight loss requires a lot more and basically a lifestyle change of more exercise and better diet. Recent study shows within 8 weeks of stopping the injections the weight is going back on - within 20 weeks it's all back on, often with a little extra too.
Interested to know how others fair regarding the lethergy. Is it just dehydration and not ensuring the right number of cals go in because we just don't feel hungry, or is it something else?
I've not really noticed being any more lethargic but then I started exercising again (after 5 years of doing nothing) the same time I started on Mounjaro so maybe that balanced it out. I've always been crap at drinking enough water to so although dehydration is a common issue when taking Mounjaro I don't think mine's any worse than it was. I generally always used to have a can of diet Pepsi with an evening meal but now I drink water instead (as otherwise the bubbles would fill me up before I'd eaten enough) so maybe that's helping my hydration a bit to.
Previously I'd assumed she was maybe 5 or so years younger than me - she looked about 10yrs older than me now with her gaunt face.
A relative who I hadn't seen for a couple of months asked me when I was going to stop taking Mounjaro as I looked old and gaunt... She wasn't wrong (if a little blunt :p ), my cheeks definitely look a bit hollow and overall I look like I've aged a bit but my BMI is 23 now so still towards the upper end of healthy (although granted BMI isn't a great tool), so I think it's more just it looking over-exaggerated as you're used to someone looking fatter.
A relative who I hadn't seen for a couple of months asked me when I was going to stop taking Mounjaro as I looked old and gaunt...
Yup, I am expecting some similar comments when I see the extended family this weekend. Problem is that the weight goes off the easy places first like the face, and leaves the problem areas like the belly until last. Very annoying, especially when people start saying things like "You are taking it too far" "You are starting to look unwell" Why do you need to lose any more" When met with this I think I am going to deploy the belly from under the shirt to shut them up
I've lost about 14kg since Christmas. I'm actually not really taking it for weight loss. My doc told me I was type 2 diabetic all of a sudden, and I have long standing liver issues plus slightly high blood pressure.All of which can be helped by Mounjaro. I don't eat sweets or drink anything other than water (mainly), and the very occasional pint of milk.
I do calorie count as I am hefty and have found I need to be in a calorie deficit of about 400-600 a day compared to what my Garmin says I've burned just to stay level.
With the health issues, I've had lethargy problems for a long time. Mounjaro doesn't seem to make that particularly worse though. When not crocked, I do about 6 hours of biking a week plus Pilates every day, but still can't keep a sensible weight normally.
My problem has always been spacing food out. I tend to eat very little during the day and have one big meal at night. Not at all ideal, but I find eating more during the day leads me to feeling very lethargic.
I reckon I'll be one of those poor sods on Mounjaro for a long time, but if it helps the other stuff and saves my knees, why the heck not?
Main side effects have generally been nausea for a couple of days after the injection, acid reflux if I eat too much, eggy burps (yuck). Currently on 10mg a week.
thanks all, some interesting experiences. wife starts on friday so ill be sure to report back on how she gets on.
cheers
I've been struggling with my weight for a while now. Have been overweight for most of my adult life to varying degrees. I have successfully lost a lot of weight a couple of times, once when I got married and once when I stopped drinking for 6 months. I've always been pretty active but I do over eat and also most probably drink too much not that I've ever felt it was a problem.
Since an operation a couple of years ago though I piled on the weight as I wasn't able to exercise but kept the eating and drinking at the same levels as when I'd be riding 3-4 times a week. Even when I got back to riding it was incredibly difficult to shift the weight. Managed to lose around 10kgs since but it kind of plateaued for the last 12 months. At the time of the op they noticed my BP was on the high side so ended up getting put on Ramipril which has just about kept it below 140/90 . I also have sleep apnoea so was referred to a weight management service which was good, but the wait is around 12+ months, so after watching some of Mark Lewis's videos and reading this thread, I just thought **** it and ordered Mounjaro from an online pharmacy for £115.
I've been on 2.5mg of Mounjaro for a week now, and the change in mindset is absolutely insane. In that week I've barely given food a thought other than, "oh I don't think I've had anything to eat yet" or "I better have something to eat as I'm out on my bike later" before it would be a case of feeling hungry as soon as I got up and trying to postpone breakfast by drinking loads of tea or coffee, then the same to lunch and so on. Even if I wasn't actually feeling hungry I'd find myself thinking "there's some cake in the cupboard, I think I'll have a slice"
Started at 128.8kg, week 1 weigh in was 122kg so over a stone in a week (sorry for mixing imperial and metric), I know it'll be mostly water weight but it's a great start and obviously way more than I was expecting. The thing I'm really most happy about is that my BP was hovering just below the 140/90 mark and monitoring over the last week has steadily dropped averaging around 120/70 and this morning was 111/59
I've contacted the GP and asked if I should start taking less Ramipril and have to monitor everyday for the next week.
One tip I would have for anyone thinking of doing it. You really have to think about your food intake. I've been out on my real bike a couple of times in the last week and nearly bonked, luckily I had a bar or gels in my bag which has got me home. Even on the ebike you can feel a bit lousy, so I've bought some more gels to stash in the pack for emergencies and now try and have a bit of flapjack or similar before I leave.
Sorry for the essay, but needed the outlet as I don't want to tell family or friends about it just yet and thought some of it might be useful to anyone who was in a similar position to me a couple of weeks ago.
A fellow who works for my team has the wegoovy jab once a week, he is trying to loose weight for a knee op.
He has done very well with and lost about 11stone, he is down to 17st now and waiting on a date for the operation.
One down side when they change the dosage he gets very bad stomach cramps for half a day and the brown river runs bad for a day or so but it settles down
wifes been on 2.5g for a week now and lost 5lb. not earth shattering but softly softly and all that.....
she says she feels more tired, a lack of energy and is forcing herself to eat something when maybe she isnt too hungry as she's read that you need to still eat a bit more than you feel like or it wont work. so no reports of 2 stone in a week here 🙂
still eating less than she did tho, and we're drinking less alcohol per week so im getting a positive knock-on effect too 🙂
I found in the first few days my emotions were all over the place, one minute I felt euphoric and the next I'd find myself choking up to She's leaving home by the beatles 😀
One thing I forgot to mention which has been a big bonus, is that I haven't had the urge to pop to the shop and buy a few beers of an evening. I'm happy enough stopping at the pub after the ride for a few pints but haven't yet felt the need to stop off at the garage on the way home to grab a couple of bottles either.