Page 7 | Mounjaro August thread 2

IrisPallida · 19/08/2024 15:03

Strange that this thread is full of people rushing to increase their dose... Why?

Mounjaro works by suppressing appetite. It does not magically dissolve fat, and taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster.

Many people in the USA who started Mounjaro long before it was available here, have done their entire journey on the lower and lowest doses. For many people it works just fine.

If your appetite is suppressed so that you can stay in a 500 calorie a day deficit below your TDEE, and you can eat three small but adequate meals a day and feel satisfied after eating them, then it is WORKING. This is what you should be aiming for.

If you feel nauseous, have an upset stomach, or cannot eat at all then you need to ALLOW TIME for your body to adjust to the medication. Each week will be different. For me, 2.5 started working fantastically well only in the 3rd & 4th weeks and I had little appetite suppression until then.

I repeat, taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster. The time to move up a dose is when your appetite suppression is no longer working, or if you are one of the very few people who have no response at all on a lower dose.

There is a lot of evidence that starving yourself, and using a weight loss drug to help starve yourself simply means that you will put all the weight back on when you stop taking the drug.

Original poster

DinnaeFashYersel · 19/08/2024 15:28

IrisPallida · 19/08/2024 15:03

Strange that this thread is full of people rushing to increase their dose... Why?

Mounjaro works by suppressing appetite. It does not magically dissolve fat, and taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster.

Many people in the USA who started Mounjaro long before it was available here, have done their entire journey on the lower and lowest doses. For many people it works just fine.

If your appetite is suppressed so that you can stay in a 500 calorie a day deficit below your TDEE, and you can eat three small but adequate meals a day and feel satisfied after eating them, then it is WORKING. This is what you should be aiming for.

If you feel nauseous, have an upset stomach, or cannot eat at all then you need to ALLOW TIME for your body to adjust to the medication. Each week will be different. For me, 2.5 started working fantastically well only in the 3rd & 4th weeks and I had little appetite suppression until then.

I repeat, taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster. The time to move up a dose is when your appetite suppression is no longer working, or if you are one of the very few people who have no response at all on a lower dose.

There is a lot of evidence that starving yourself, and using a weight loss drug to help starve yourself simply means that you will put all the weight back on when you stop taking the drug.

I experienced very little effect on 2.5 so have moved up to 5 one week early

Mild appetite suppression for a few days then completely back to normal.

I'm happy with my decision.

OP posts:

TheShellBeach · 19/08/2024 15:32

DinnaeFashYersel · 19/08/2024 15:28

I experienced very little effect on 2.5 so have moved up to 5 one week early

Mild appetite suppression for a few days then completely back to normal.

I'm happy with my decision.

Show quote history

Same here. 7.5mg is working pretty well now, but I'll have no qualms in increasing to 10mg in a couple of weeks' time.

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 15:34

IrisPallida · 19/08/2024 15:03

Strange that this thread is full of people rushing to increase their dose... Why?

Mounjaro works by suppressing appetite. It does not magically dissolve fat, and taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster.

Many people in the USA who started Mounjaro long before it was available here, have done their entire journey on the lower and lowest doses. For many people it works just fine.

If your appetite is suppressed so that you can stay in a 500 calorie a day deficit below your TDEE, and you can eat three small but adequate meals a day and feel satisfied after eating them, then it is WORKING. This is what you should be aiming for.

If you feel nauseous, have an upset stomach, or cannot eat at all then you need to ALLOW TIME for your body to adjust to the medication. Each week will be different. For me, 2.5 started working fantastically well only in the 3rd & 4th weeks and I had little appetite suppression until then.

I repeat, taking a higher dose will not make you lose weight faster. The time to move up a dose is when your appetite suppression is no longer working, or if you are one of the very few people who have no response at all on a lower dose.

There is a lot of evidence that starving yourself, and using a weight loss drug to help starve yourself simply means that you will put all the weight back on when you stop taking the drug.

I'm really happy to stay on 2.5 for as long as possible but I have noticed (today in particular) my food noise etc has come back big time! I really want to eradicate that without going too far up which is why I'm asking

Addictedtobeauty · 19/08/2024 15:41

Most people seem to want to stay as low as possible, I’d say. I haven’t noticed anyone rushing to increase their dose 🤷‍♀️

Choux · 19/08/2024 15:54

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease are you familiar with the half life of Mounjaro? It takes 5 days for half the drug dose to leave your system and then half the remainder leaves in the next 5 days and so on.

So when you take your 2 injection you still have a little bit of the first injection in your system. It slowly builds up over time. See the attached graph which assumes the user goes up a dose for each pen.

Some people seem to be super responders and can lose all their weight on 2.5mg. Some people get bad side effects at doses of 5 and stay on 2.5mg for slow and steady losses. I have needed to go up each time I get a new pen as I have moderate weight loss each month but fortunately no adverse side effects. Everyone is different.

You take your dose today don't you? You might want to take it Monday morning next week if the 7th day is difficult with food noise. That way you will be asleep (and not tempted to eat) for the last few hours before your next dose!

MrsHerbs79 · 19/08/2024 16:04

Choux · 19/08/2024 13:30

This link is a set of FAQs compiled over the first 19 threads on Mumsnet by those of us who started on it back in Feb to April. It contains a lot of information and tips for new users of Mounjaro including how to inject, side effects, a link to the official patient information leaflet which you get with your medication etc. it really should be your Bible and first point of reference for any queries.

wattnext.notion.site/e880d9342b7a4bab94c244b34e0e5841?v=cc1edc3f1c2b41dab3011c8d9063df0a

Our goal is not to never feel hungry as losing weight too fast is unhealthy and not eating will teach us nothing about how to eat better going forwards. If we don't reset our eating habits and eat more nutritious foods with less treats and in smaller portions then as soon as we stop the Mounjaro the weight regain will start.

We should be getting hungry at mealtimes but eating smaller more nutrient dense foods. Mounjaro should make it easier to exercise willpower but we still need to make the right choices re food and exercise to lose weight steadily. After the first week or two when you MIGHT see big losses, you should be losing 1-2lbs a week with no unpleasant side effects. If you are losing less you can move up a dose for your next pen. If you have side effects you should stay at the same dose or even decrease it till you find the dose that works for you.

I lose 1-2lbs a week on 12.5mg and still eat and have no side effects. It's the right dose for me now. When I started on 2.5mg it worked really well and in week 1 I thought I would never need to increase the dose but after 4 doses my body got more used to it and I was feeling it wasn't strong enough so I went to 5mg. In 24 weeks I have lost 30lbs. I could have lost more but have been on holiday, still have meals out with friends where I can't eat as healthy (and they don't know about Mounjaro so I don't want to refuse to eat out). I sometimes split my weekly dose in two so am less suppressed when I see friends. Other than that I follow the official guidance.

Sorry if all that sounds preachy but it's a prescription drug and you need to use it responsibly. That way you can change your body and eating for the rest of your life.

Not preachy at all……..think it’s better long term to have realistic goals xxx

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 16:06

Choux · 19/08/2024 15:54

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease are you familiar with the half life of Mounjaro? It takes 5 days for half the drug dose to leave your system and then half the remainder leaves in the next 5 days and so on.

So when you take your 2 injection you still have a little bit of the first injection in your system. It slowly builds up over time. See the attached graph which assumes the user goes up a dose for each pen.

Some people seem to be super responders and can lose all their weight on 2.5mg. Some people get bad side effects at doses of 5 and stay on 2.5mg for slow and steady losses. I have needed to go up each time I get a new pen as I have moderate weight loss each month but fortunately no adverse side effects. Everyone is different.

You take your dose today don't you? You might want to take it Monday morning next week if the 7th day is difficult with food noise. That way you will be asleep (and not tempted to eat) for the last few hours before your next dose!

Yeah I was fully expecting it, and coupled up with the fact I'm due on this week I knew it would be bad, and I've still managed to resist the treats at work, but I'm definitely ending on higher calories, so it's a rough one!

Choux · 19/08/2024 16:14

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease I don't think I eat exactly the same number of calories per day. I find days 5-7 I am a bit hungrier and, if the suppression and healthy eating was good earlier in the week, I let myself eat a little more before I take the next dose and get back into again.

I time my doses so days 5-7 are when I am socialising as my friends don't know I am using Mounjaro so I can eat a bit more than on days 1-4 and they don't ask why I am not eating. I still choose something healthy if we are out, serve myself smaller portions if at their house, limit alcohol etc but it's manageable. As long as on average I eat less calories than I burn each day I will lose weight.

AuntieDote · 19/08/2024 16:27

2.5 worked great for me the first week. Last week the appetite suppression was definitely less, but still allowed me to maintain quite a big deficit through the week. I did feel really hungry at times, which at first felt scary but I appreciate the reminder that the goal isn’t to eradicate all hunger - it’s to reduce it to the point that I’m able to avoid the temptation to overeat or snack mindlessly. So far 2.5 has achieved that for me.

Injected yesterday; slightly dodgy tummy this morning but nothing too terrible. Don’t feel as shattered as I have done the previous ‘day afters’ but do feel quite low and maybe a bit emotional. That could be any number of things though!

Today though I haven’t really noticed any suppression at all. I’m still eating very small amounts but through will power rather than suppression. I’m going to see how the rest of the week goes before deciding whether to stay on 2.5 for another month.

MrsHerbs79 · 19/08/2024 16:40

AuntieDote · 19/08/2024 16:27

2.5 worked great for me the first week. Last week the appetite suppression was definitely less, but still allowed me to maintain quite a big deficit through the week. I did feel really hungry at times, which at first felt scary but I appreciate the reminder that the goal isn’t to eradicate all hunger - it’s to reduce it to the point that I’m able to avoid the temptation to overeat or snack mindlessly. So far 2.5 has achieved that for me.

Injected yesterday; slightly dodgy tummy this morning but nothing too terrible. Don’t feel as shattered as I have done the previous ‘day afters’ but do feel quite low and maybe a bit emotional. That could be any number of things though!

Today though I haven’t really noticed any suppression at all. I’m still eating very small amounts but through will power rather than suppression. I’m going to see how the rest of the week goes before deciding whether to stay on 2.5 for another month.

Similar……..I’m 3 days post 3rd jag of 2.5mg and suppression is all but gone. I’ve also came on today and am usually ravenous this time of the month so don’t know if that’s playing into it too…….Ive ordered 5mg and am going to move up though as I feel my body is getting used to this dose xxx

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 16:41

Choux · 19/08/2024 16:14

@NeedSomeAnswersPlease I don't think I eat exactly the same number of calories per day. I find days 5-7 I am a bit hungrier and, if the suppression and healthy eating was good earlier in the week, I let myself eat a little more before I take the next dose and get back into again.

I time my doses so days 5-7 are when I am socialising as my friends don't know I am using Mounjaro so I can eat a bit more than on days 1-4 and they don't ask why I am not eating. I still choose something healthy if we are out, serve myself smaller portions if at their house, limit alcohol etc but it's manageable. As long as on average I eat less calories than I burn each day I will lose weight.

Yeah that's sensible!

I think after my holiday I'm going to try and adjust my injection day so that the weekend isn't at the tail end of the effects it has, it has been a lot easier to deal with the hunger today though!

Azuresky68 · 19/08/2024 16:58

Good afternoon! Totally new to Mumsnet and not up to speed on things...not sure how to post on a thread or find the DM's. The information on here is fantastic. I didn't know a thing about injections two weeks ago but a lot better informed now. I ordered my first 2.5 prescription from Chemist4U on Friday andit's not been dispatched yet. Cost me £132.50. I will probably change to another supplier but how do you get the next dose at 5mg? I also read that if you are below 30 BMI some providers won't supply? Currently 30.1 BMI. It's the last bit for me that's the big big struggle. I am 68 years old and battled my weight all my life..not ready to give up either but so glad I found out about Mounjaro and the support on Mumsnet!

Blondeshavemorefun · 19/08/2024 17:25

@Choux Thanks for that. I am hungry so was wondering if working but sounds like need to be hungry

Tho I am not starving but want to eat

I wasn't sure if that was normal from what I'm reading that so Many aren't hungry

I am also so tired , have nausea and headache so seem to have the main 3 symptoms

diian · 19/08/2024 17:57

Hopefully this link works now for 'How to get your extra dose from a Mounjaro pen'.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/9pT_ItzUiKI?si=GAEjf7pALANpphWX

diian · 19/08/2024 18:08

Greaterwaterparsnip · 19/08/2024 10:14

Can you explain the maths on that?

How many ml make a 2.5 dose?

Show quote history

@Greaterwaterparsnip

Each 2.5mg dose is 0.6ml. So when you twist your 2.5mg pen to 1 and then plunge, you get 0.6ml of medicine or a 2.5mg dose. I had to extract the dose using an insulin syringe. I got approx 0.78ml (you can read this on the side of the syringe).

If you divide 2.5 by 6 you find out how much is in 0.1ml = 0.41666
Multiply this by 7.8 = 3.25mg

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 18:36

Now it's coming up to injection time I'm getting very nervy again 😅

WitchDancer · 19/08/2024 18:56

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 14:29

Right, voy have now refunded me without asking me to send the pen back.

I am thinking I will carry on using the voy pen and save the bolt pen, and then use that after the end of the voy pen to try out 3.75? How does it work? Didn't really expect them to refund without asking for a return so now I'm lost!

That's absolutely crazy! In what world do they think someone isn't going to use the pen if it isn't returned. Good for you, but still completely irresponsible of the company.

If I was in your shoes I would do 4 doses of 2.5ml, then up it slightly to between 2.5 and 5ml, then up to the 5ml for your new prescription. I'm too tired and brain fried to do the maths but I think that would work wouldn't it?

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 18:57

@WitchDancer yeah I decided to use my voy pen as it seems like such a waste!!! I'm gonna get to the end of 2.5 and see, to be honest it's been so good for me I think I'll do another month on it

WitchDancer · 19/08/2024 19:01

NeedSomeAnswersPlease · 19/08/2024 18:57

@WitchDancer yeah I decided to use my voy pen as it seems like such a waste!!! I'm gonna get to the end of 2.5 and see, to be honest it's been so good for me I think I'll do another month on it

I'm so pleased it's working for you. That definitely sounds like a plan, but you can always change your mind later if necessary.

owlyboo · 19/08/2024 19:43

My pen arrived today. It's my childs birthday tomorrow so I've decided to not inject straight away as don't want to feel rubbish tomorrow. We're going for a pub tea after our day out. Would I be okay to inject after that or would that be more likely to cause side affects? Should I wait until the day after do you think?

I'm so ready to start this. I have about 4 stone to lose and feeling really hopeful and determined that this is my time to do it!

MargoLivebetter · 19/08/2024 21:15

@owlyboo personally I'd go for a low stress day where you have control over where you are and what you eat.

So, my first 24 hours has been ok. Side effects so far have been a disturbed night, feeling very cold, bit of a headache.

I've had ferocious appetite suppressant. Food has been super unappealing all day. I've had to force it down just to make sure I got enough calories. It has tasted unappetising too. Have felt full after much less food and zero food noise. No inclination to eat. Was WFH, so out of habit wandered into the kitchen every now and then and then wandered away not having even wanted to eat.

Have managed to force down 900 calories, which would previously left me raging with hunger and the food noise would have been relentless. I feel satiated! Can't believe it to be honest.

owlyboo · 19/08/2024 21:17

MargoLivebetter · 19/08/2024 21:15

@owlyboo personally I'd go for a low stress day where you have control over where you are and what you eat.

So, my first 24 hours has been ok. Side effects so far have been a disturbed night, feeling very cold, bit of a headache.

I've had ferocious appetite suppressant. Food has been super unappealing all day. I've had to force it down just to make sure I got enough calories. It has tasted unappetising too. Have felt full after much less food and zero food noise. No inclination to eat. Was WFH, so out of habit wandered into the kitchen every now and then and then wandered away not having even wanted to eat.

Have managed to force down 900 calories, which would previously left me raging with hunger and the food noise would have been relentless. I feel satiated! Can't believe it to be honest.

Thanks. I'm thinking tomorrow evening as then it'll kick in on Wednesday when I'm ready to go!

Glad it's working for you!

Belle96 · 19/08/2024 21:26

I'm ready for injection no 2 tomorrow. Does anyone know if I have to do it at the same sort of time or it just has to be the same day?
The video instructions I watched just said the same day the paper ones that came with the pen say it must be the same sort of time?

owlyboo · 19/08/2024 21:27

Belle96 · 19/08/2024 21:26

I'm ready for injection no 2 tomorrow. Does anyone know if I have to do it at the same sort of time or it just has to be the same day?
The video instructions I watched just said the same day the paper ones that came with the pen say it must be the same sort of time?

From what I have read it said same day but can be anytime of the day.