Mounjaro, end of the journey

[Justkeeprollingalong]

I've had a very successful weight loss with Mounjaro - in 10 weeks I've lost 22lb. I've 6lb more to go with 2 x 7.5ml doses left in my current pen.
I'm thinking one more pen. I will probably go for the 10ml.
Has anyone come off Mounjaro?
Did you use the last pen to gradually reduce the dose or did you go 'cold turkey'?
If you reduced, how did it actually work with the pen?
Also how quickly did the appetite suppression wear off?
Thanks

@HelloVeritas so, there are only 4 doses that the prescriber expects you to take. Some people extract the remaining medicine (quantity can vary) via the methods described and take that too. Your prescriber will not advise you to do that.

I'm moving into maintenance mode and I'm interested in how other people are getting on.

I started Mounjaro at the start of April and have lost 16kg or so. Prior to that I was already eating well and exercising and had been losing weight, but very slowly and with great dfificulty, to the point where I was about to give up. Mounjaro was a godsend and I've had no side effects at all. I now have a BMI of about 22. Dress size 8/10 and unfortunately, despite relatively slow weight loss, plenty of loose skin.

For now, I've ordered a lower dose (which the prescriber approved without contacting me) which I'll start with next week. I think my end goal will be to go back to 2.5 mg and space doses out to every 10 days. I am hopeful for new meds to come out that have a longer shelf life, to go down to the lowest dose.

I am absolutely terrified of regaining weight.

@NewLifter. I haven't tried them. I'll contact them. Thanks

Hi, before I email them, does anyone know what superdrugs policy is around maintenance doses?

Oushk are actually doing a Facebook live tonight in maintenance! If I manage to listen in I will let you know what's said. I'm not actually with them as yet but may move to them - I've some discounts still with Zava from people using my code so sticking with them for now, but they don't support maintenance so I will need to switch at some stage.

The Oushk live was extremely interesting, I've posted a summary on the 'continuing mounjaro part 19' thread 😀

I've just had a very interesting conversation with a prescriber from Oushk.
They offer three options;

1. stay on your current dose as a maintenance dose
2. gradually decrease, for me they suggested I go from the 10. I'm currently on to 5 mils for a month and then 2.5 mils for a month and see how that suits me.
3. stop completely and join the £20 per month support group for ongoing lifestyle and dietary support. The advantage of this is that if you find that you're gaining weight again, you can go back on Mounjaro even though your BMI is probably too low. I'm thinking of going for option two.

Hi all, thanks for the info, i've just started 2 days ago on 2.5, has anyone just stayed with that does for their whole weight loss journey? There doesn't seem to be an industry standard for life after MJ or the others regarding maintenance doses, interesting that some people are spreading out the jabs to beyond 7 days, how has anyone found that option useful, I'm wondering really what is the longest time you can take between doses?

I think I read of someone who had stayed on 2.5mg for the whole journey on one of the ‘continuing Mounjaro’ threads on here, but most people seem to find that it stops having any effect after a while. I’ve tried to stay on each dose as long as possible, currently on 7.5mg and about 10lbs from goal so hoping not to go any higher.
The only issue I can see with spacing out doses is that the guidance is to only use a pen for 30 days after it has been opened.

Do you mind sharing which company you got MJ through? I am worried I won't be able to stay at a low dose if it provides enough appetite suppression

Hi everyone, I think I really have reached the end of my journey now.
I took my first 2.5 mils of MJ on Wednesday, 24th April. I'm 5 foot 4.5 and I weighed 12 stone 10.
I have gone up through the doses every four weeks until I got to 10 mils. Some weeks I lost 2 or 3lb but most weeks I lost 1lb. I think I had two or three weeks where I lost 3-4lb!

I took my last dose of 10 mils on 7th August and on the 14th August I weighed 10 stone eight.
So that is two weeks ago and I've had no MJ since.
This morning I weighed 10 stone six.
Regarding side effects, the only one I really had was low-level nausea throughout the whole thing, and I have to say I'm really not missing that feeling.

I am a bit more hungry now but I'm not finding it difficult not to snack and my portion sizes are so much smaller.

I have decided to join the Oushk maintenance program, which is £20 a month, you don't take any MJ but they're there to provide lifestyle support if you need it and also for three months you have the option of restarting MJ if you begin to put on weight again.

But I'm really hoping that I can maintain this myself.
Good luck to everyone else.

I'm not at maintenance yet @Justkeeprollingalong but I will be really interested to hear how you get on over the next couple of months.

I'm in a very similar position but a couple of months later than you: I started mid June, am 5' 4" and weighed 12 stone 10lbs. I'm now 11st 2lb and hoping to lose a final 10lb to get to 10st 6. So probably got another month or two to go I think.

That's so good @Justkeeprollingalong - well done for reaching a healthy weight. I was fortunate that I never needed to go up from 5 in dose and my provider (simple online pharmacy) were happy to keep prescribing the 5.

I dropped from 5 to 2.5 four weeks ago as I'd reached healthy weight and have found my appetite returned quite a bit so I've been practicing making healthy choices on a lower dose. Now I was due a dose last weekend but stopped. I lost an average of 1lb per week on the 2.5. During that time I've eaten out when I wanted and not upped my exercise. I've stuck with the healthy habits despite needing more willpower to do so. I'm hoping to stay constant weight now I'm off it, but long term I want to lose another 3lb.

Funnily enough, I actually don't want takeaways or very high fat food at all. I do think that processed food is addictive and I've been on MJ long enough to break the addiction. I now recognise (and still feel full after) a normal size meal so I'm preparing myself sensible portions. I also don't feel guilty leaving food on the plate in a restaurant. There's some food I just know if they're in the house I will eat them, but it's not that hard to just not buy them, especially when you're out of the habit. My freezer is currently full of batch cooked healthy meals I can microwave when I'm feeling too lazy to cook.

One thing that made a big difference was going clothes shopping. For the first time in years I feel that I look good in my clothes so when I'm tempted by cheese I look in the mirror and think "no, it doesn't taste nice enough to stop looking so great". (I know that sounds arrogant so I'd never tell anyone irl!) I've donated all my fat clothes to the charity shop.

I reached my goal weight mid August having started MJ back in April. I've lost 4st. So technically I'm now in maintenance but I'm still trying to figure out what this is for me. I'm taking 2.5mg (which I never moved up from) and plan to continue taking it for some time yet. I've maintained my goal weight. I'm still weighing, calorie counting, etc but the mindset of weight loss doesn't change easily. I'm feeling disappointed not to lose when in fact I'm not supposed to lose! I'm also making more effort to eat more calories but I'm still in a deficit against what I should be consuming. I think I need to give it time.

I've not taken it this week and put on 2pounds. I've not been eating huge amounts at all. Quite worried tbh.

I'm now on my second week of titrating down, and I have the food noise and hunger kicking in again. I can still say 'no' to food, skip a meal etc, but I am more inclined to snack. As I'm no longer trying to lose weight, I feel a bit lost, and I've not been motivated to go to the gym (but I'm working on that one). I've not gained weight (staying around the same weight).

@ThirdStorm well done on your loss! I totally agree that it is hard to change mentality so that staying the same is positive. I think for me it helps that I know my weight fluctuates massively with hormones so throughout my journey I've had weeks where staying the same is a victory.

@notnorman I think it is really normal to put weight on the first week after finishing any weight loss programme. What matters is what you do now. Were you tracking your food while you were on MJ?

@NoMoreCoffeePlease I know what you mean about feeling lost. Personally, I'm setting myself mini goals. Like "can I go a fortnight and stay the same" so that when I've had a wobbly day (eg last Friday when I went out for dinner and drinks) I spend the next day eating loads of good food and drinking water.

Hi all, just a quick update: you will see above that I took my last dose of 10ml on 7th Aug and on the 14th August I reached my target of 10st 8lb. A total loss of 2st 2 lbs.

I didn't join the Oushk support programme in the end as although it was only £20 a month they wanted a £150 consultation fee.
So I've now done 8 weeks 'on my own' and I'm very happy to report that I'm doing great!!

I shift between 10st 8 and 10st 10 depending mostly on what kind of weekend I've had!
I'm still making very healthy choices and eating much less than my previous normal, although the alcohol has crept up a bit!
I'm doing more exercise including walking 1.5 miles to work every day (and of course 1.5 miles back).
I've taken up running again and I'm doing the couch to 5k again. I used to run half marathons, the last one 16 years ago when I was last this weight.
The main thing keeping me on the straight and narrow is I feel so good and things like being able to tuck my shirt into my jeans and look great is amazing!

I hope you are all doing well xxx

Thanks so much for updating, so pleased you are maintaining well. I've still got a long way until I'm at goal, but maintenance is what concerns me the most. Nice to hear a positive story. All the best.

Excellent news! I just posted on another thread looking for an update from someone who was off it. I’m titrating down with a few more weeks to go but basically at goal weight - slightly nervous about habits post MJ!

Great to hear you’ve done really well but the consultation fee for Oushk is £5 not £150.

To be fair, they said 'up to' £150 and I didn't want to take the risk!

Hi all, thought I’d post on here since I have finished my journey….or so I thought! I started back in April and worked my way through to 10mg losing 2.5 stone. I went on a 14 day all inclusive in August where I ate and drank pretty much whatever I wanted and stopped the jab for those two weeks so I could enjoy my holiday! I came back and had put 4 pounds on so wasn’t that upset over that to be honest. I then re started on 2.5mg due to having a 2 week gap. I found this dose did nothing for suppression so after two weeks I went up to 5mg but again no suppression! I decided after what i felt was a wasted pen I was going to come off and try and go it alone, big mistake. My appetite is worse than it ever was before I started mounjaro. I never had “food noise” but boy do I now. I literally can’t stop thinking about food and snacks and craving things I never ate much before like chocolate! I’m literally never feeling full. So because I’m still within the 2 months period of coming off I’ve had to ask for another pen and I think maintenance doses are going to be the best way forward for me until I get back down to my target weight (I have another stone to go now) I’m hoping if I do come off it again i will taper off, not going cold turkey! That my body won’t get as much of a shock and I won’t go back into this eating everything in sight thing that’s going on right now! Here’s hoping I can get back on the wagon and it starts to have an effect on me again but I’m worried I’ve ruined it by stopping and starting it. We shall see 🫣

I've been off 3 months and have held my weight, despite being on a 10 day all inclusive.
I'm being very careful with portion control and have started running again.

I took my last dose at the end of July after spending that month titrating down. I lots 3 stone and never went beyond 5mg. I have maintained between 10.3 and 10.6 ever since. I no longer eat UPF and go to the gym 3 x week. Slowly over time my appetite has increased and I now eat normal portions but make more of an effort which what I'm eating.