Mounjaro - anyone not losing?

[poppetandmog]

I started on Mounjaro a few weeks ago and took my 4th dose of 2.5mg on Monday. I don't think it's working for me. I have had some appetite suppression and have been eating well within my calorie deficit (for reference, my maintenance calories are around 2100 and I haven't been eating more than 1500 cals. Some days I've only been having 1000.) Despite this, the scales aren't moving and I've stayed the same weight the last 2 weeks. I was consistently losing weight before I started as I was calorie counting before and had already lost over a stone in 3 months. I started taking Mounjaro in an attempt to speed up the weight loss and it seems to have done the opposite! I'm moving up to 5mg next week and hopefully this will help. Has anyone else had a similar experience and eventually started losing? Thanks.

That's a nice way to think of it and actually really makes sense. The two people I know were big takeaway lovers and big drinkers whereas I'm vegan and don't drink so probably healthier to start with. Thank you x

Not necessarily as someone above said. My weight is over 100kg, so my protein needs to massively increase.
Plus, it takes almost double the energy for the body to digest protein than to digest carbs. So these small ways keep the metabolism working and might be the difference in the extra pounds lost here and there.

Definitely. I have felt some envy to those people as well. But when I see the actual difference in their lifestyle it makes sense.

Me on the other hand, I enjoy my homecooked meals. Not a massive takeaway fan because I always feel I can make better at home. Not a soda fan, so there wasn't that much to go in terms of getting healthy. It's just creeped up over the years.

But in my head, I feel like because it's not a massive overhaul, I'm more likely to maintain when I reach my goal.

So our journeys are truly unique, smile and support and let's focus on ourselves, we've got this!! 👏 👏 👏

@Debbiemcg when we talk about losing weight, I really mean losing fat. Fast levels of loss almost definitely mean muscle loss.
We are already losing muscle mass with age, one of the reason we gain weight with age as muscle is a fat burner. A loss of 1-2 lbs per week, with a healthy diet and exercise is fantastic.

I know a tea-total vegan who was pronounced severely anaemic by her GP. I flat-shared with another vegan who lived on toast and fake bacon; so not so healthy I’d say.

I think it's depends how seriously you take it, a lot do it for a short period and get ill just for the reasons you said. I've been vegan for 44 years so I'm very careful about making sure I'm getting the right amount of protein, vitamins etc. I think it's a reason I put weight on the last few years as it became really popular and suddenly all the food I've never had was available. The novelty is wearing off so it's time to get back on the healthy wagon.

I read in a book once that a sign of the healthiest way to lose weight is NOT to lose dramatically at first.

In fact, he said you know the body is losing weight healthfully when, if anything it slightly picks up pace, slowly over time, and loses weight slowly but surely, as if in cruise-control mode. I associate it with a purring quality, like a well maintained car, purring, motoring along quietly whilst the passengers enjoy the scenery!. No big shocks and jolts, and minimal side effects, though obviously with a medicine there may be some at the beginning. If side effects are bad or continue for too long, most likely your dose is too high or you’re losing weight too fast.

Also, dramatic weight loss in the first couple of weeks is usually mostly water loss, which is a sign of inflammation and the body retaining water. As you say, which can sometimes be put down to the previous diet.

(Having said that, I do think some people are more sensitive to MJ than others, the super responders. But many are not.)

Also, people forget, in the medical trials that the pharmaceutical companies undertook, the average results of their respondents were fairly MODEST. I think for MJ it was 20% weight loss over a year. For Wegovy/ozempic, it was about 15% over a year.

I’m loosing slowly too. From the beginning, I expected it to be this way because I didn’t eat big meals, I’m vegetarian and don’t drink alcohol. My downfall tends to be snacking. Those who ate lots of ultra processed food and are drinkers would be much more dramatically reducing calories than we would.

Lots of vegans and vegetarians eat processed and ultra processed foods (the former almost by definition). But not drinking any alcohol probably gives you a head start.

Plenty of us don’t though. As vegetarians, it’s rare that we eat anything ultra processed.

I’m now on my 5 pen and up to 7.5mg. I’m still fluctuating up and down in weight. A few pounds off, a few pounds on. My overall loss is 1st 4lbs. A loss, but not spectacular for 20 weeks on MJ. I’m vegetarian too and not a big drinker. I had hoped to have lost 2lbs per week, so that would be 40lbs by now. But i’m less than half of that. It’s a very slow process and it’s costing each month. I feel very much like ‘don’t believe the hype’.

What is your TDEE? Is it feasible for you to create a 1000 calorie per day deficit?

I am not losing much weight anymore - 1 to 2lbs a month. That's because to create a deficit of 1000 a day I would have to drop to 1100 calories a day which I have no desire to do. For one thing as a vegan I'd be physically incapable of eating enough protein on such a low allowance. However I'm finding it exceptionally easy to stick to 1600-1800 a day which I certainly couldn't do without Mounjaro. I firmly believe the hype is real but the hype might not be what you think it is.

@FortyElephants i do between 1000-1200 cals per day. Weirdly on weeks where I’ve been under 1000 cals per day I’ve actually gained weight. That math ain’t mathing but it’s so.

For some it's working brilliantly
Other people not, I'm in 7.5 but unfortunately think enough is enough it's costing a fortune and only lost about 8lbs in 3 months 😫

Hi there, sorry to hear that you're feeling disappointed with your weightloss. Do you have a lot to lose? What was your previous diet compared to now?

A couple of things stick out to me, you're vegan and you're not a big drinker.

From my experience, usually the BIG losses are from those who have completely uphauled their diet from processed food/junk/takeaways/alcohol to clean eating chicken/veg/water/10k steps. This shock in change is why you see some who lose a stone in 2 weeks. There's one guy I follow on IG who has lost 70lbs in 90 days - but he conveniently never mentions what he eats and what he previously ate.

If you're already relatively healthy and the weight has crept on over the few years by eating seconds/extra dessert here and there, there's not much shock you can give your body, so the weight will come off slower. This is where I am too - I love my homecooked food, I just eat too much of it 😁

I take it as a credit to your diet before the jab. It's ok to lose slowly. I know it's costly, but see it as an investment to your health.

This is my view and also my experience too. She said she was vegetarian though, not vegan. That isa big difference in diet, but doesn’t change the validity of your points.

I am in tears. I lost nothing on 2.5 and nothing on the first month of 5mg. I did 2 months of 5 and 2 weeks into the 2nd lot I started losing. I ended up losing 5 kilos from last week in February to 1st week April. THEN I stalled and put on 1.7 kilos and have been juggling that same 1.7 kilos for 4 weeks 😭 I have spent $2,280 on Mounjaro for a 5kg loss. My dr says oh well it’s a loss but he needs to stop and look seriously at it and either swap me or just take me off them altogether

Are you in the US? Costs are much higher there so I can see why you'd be disappointed and worried about spending more. Have you felt many effects at those doses? Have you been counting macros? Do you know the reason why you haven't been losing - are you eating less or the same as before?

I’ve been losing really slowly and feeling really disheartened today after feeling like I was in the swing of it last week , calorie counting , upping the water etc . Then I’ve gained a bit this week. Not even a pound so it’s no big deal but I was actually looking forward to my (SheMed ) weigh in today thinking I wonder what I’ve lost ! I re started in Jan this year after being one of the people on the first thread last year and having reasonably good progress on it but it’s all painfully slow and always on a bit , off a bit and back on etc !
I do have to up my exercise and I do need to keep focusing on the calorie counting and drinking water (tendency to forget as I feel full ) also need to cut out alcohol I guess too but I thought it would all be a bit easier than this .

I feel I need to add here that it’s not as if I didn’t know about calorie counting and exercise etc before - it’s just I was managing it (been stung before on a previous thread when I and others posted then saw on another thread people complaining about the injection users moaning about lack of weight loss but not bothering to do the basics when in fact what was said had been taken out of context !) I know on here we know what the injections do and that the work still has to be done but don’t want my words used as an argument against it again !

following

She med info says there are different therapeutic doses and then ones that are builder ones . So some people will be ok on 2.5 I think and some will not lose till 10 and they keep you on the one you start losing on. I’ve got one more week on 7.5 which they say is a building up one so I’m hoping that 10mg is the magic one for me . I can’t remember which dose worked last time I just know that by 15 I was so uninterested in food I think I was a bit down! I need to find other things to think about .

I've only lost approx 8lbs in 3 month's have calorie deficit, regular walking, cut out soda massively lots water. Gutted so disappointed 😞 😔 not worked for me so once finish 7.5 jab I'm done. Too expensive 😪 advice is keep going but at £150 per month wayyyy to much cash and hair is falling out

i Know how you feel ..I’ve lost about the same in 3 months ..I’ve eaten as healthy as possible, my steps are about 15,000 a day now, and I drink so much water I’m sloshing ..and then to find out the 10 is going to cost £190!!! Enough is enough for me too ..I’ve got 2 more doses of 7.5 left then I’m giving up

I’ve given it 6 weeks and whilst I’ve lost about 9 lbs I can’t hack having indigestion on day 2/3/4 every time and main lining rennies plus waves of nausea

my will power is good and I don’t snack so have gone back to herbal appetite suppressants once a day - still find I get that ‘full’ feeling as they kind of have aGLP1 affect (berberin based) but I don’t get the heartburn - and can take them as hoc, so stay off if on holiday or going out for a meal etc- still lost 1.4lb last week using them and sticking to 1200 cals , plenty of protein and water - and at £39a month for me it’s more sustainable for say 8 months - I’m pleased MJ works for others but to be fair I don’t need continuous suppression to eat 1200 a day and I like being able to eat more than a few mouthfuls - - I needed consistency and am in the right head space to do it.