Stalled on Mounjaro

[LeanneAnne]

Advice please! I started at the end of April and I'm currently down 2st 10lb. However I've lost nothing for the last couple of months despite upping doses. I'm definitely eating less.. I just don't know where to go from here. I've a lot more to lose and it's getting very expensive. I'm currently on the 12.5mg dose but the weight isn't shifting!

Does anyone have any similar stories..what did you do? Debating to go back down but this seems really counter productive. Seems the side effects when I first started helped more than now when I don't have any!

What’s your height/weight/BMI? How much do you have to lose?

I think in the first instance you should contact your pharmacist and get their advice.

I think it’s unusual for the scales to not move at all for multiple months, it could be a weight loss plateau or it could something else at play. Be very critical of your diet and work out what your current BMR and TDEE is, at your current weight as opposed to your old weight. You could be unknowingly eating at a maintenance level.

Or it might be the case that this medication doesn’t work well for you. However if you are genuinely eating at a deficit for multiple months, it’s unusual that you haven’t lost any more weight. We know the body would continue to lose weight with extreme situations such as malnourishment for example so it seems biologically impossible for you not to lose more weight.

Sorry to hear this. Remember that it isn't the mounjaro that makes you lose weight, it's what you are eating and your activity levels.

Don't have any suppression? That includes lack of appetite, getting fuller more quickly, feeling fuller for longer etc?

In your situation, I would look at my diet first of all of those were happening.

Sorry to hear about this. Have you considered asking your GP to check your thyroid levels. Being hypothyroid makes it very hard to loose weight (speaking from experience!!!).

Are you tracking everything you eat and are you definitely in a calorie deficit?

Can you provide details of how many calories you are eating a day, and how much water you are drinking?

As you lose weight your TDEE reduces so to continue losing weight you need to reduce your calories inline with that.

I'm 5ft 5. Need to lose another 4 stone. My BMI is 35. I feel suppression, have the same food aversions (gone off certain foods). Not changed the way I've eaten or the amount of exercise I'm doing. I know it's science and I'm eating less so the weight should be coming down. It's swinging between 14st 10 and 15st 1 for the last 2 months. I'm in deficit, eating habits completely changed. I stop when I'm full (which I never used to do). I'm debating going back down to a lower dose just to see if anything changes. All I can think of is I had horrendous diarrhea around 3-5 days after injecting on lower doses
Is this the only thing that helped me lose the weight ?!?!

Thanks. May have to. I just don't understand how all of a sudden it can stop. Is this something that can change over time as it's never been a problem in the past - had blood tests for menopause last year so assume it would have showed up then?

Not changed the way I've eaten or the amount of exercise I'm doing.

this is what your problem is.

as you lose weight, you need to eat at a deficit for your new weight. So for example at 15 stone you might be able to eat 1500 calories a day and lose weight. But when you reach 13 stone you might need to eat 1200 calories a day to continue losing weight - if you stick to 1500 you may maintain or gain weight. I just used random numbers there to illustrate. I think you need a full reset of your diet, be extremely critical about what you are consuming including any drinks.

Thanks. An average working week consists of a slice of toast/half a bagel and fruit ... At lunch soup then a less than average sized dinner. I'm drinking water through the day. Rarely snack as I'm just not hungry and if I do I have fruit in my drawer. I wouldn't say I'm calorie counting as such as I'm a working mum and have just completely cut down on my portion. I used to eat and eat and eat and crave all the time. The Mounjaro has stopped all this and I eat like a normal person these days. Id say I very rarely go over 1200 which is deficit. I've eaten less and less as my injections have gone up. But the scales are just stuck. Read up on weight loss plateaus but was just wondering if anyone had lowered their dose and seen things kick start.

Sorry... I wasn't clear. I meant I hadn't stopped doing exercise or started eating more.. or gone back to old habits. I am eating less and less as my suppression is getting less. I'm just not sure if it was the side effects which helped me out!

I think it sounds like you’re guesstimating and you should start counting calories to get a more accurate figure. A less than average sized dinner means different things to different people and this could be where the stall is coming from. I’m eating less than I did before Mounjaro and less than I did after months 1&2 of Mounjaro - because I need to match my diet to my new, lower weight. I’d say I’m eating at least 50% of a portion size, so I can drag out an average ready meal over 2 days for example.

I think I just go off looking at what other people I eat I eat a lot less. I know my breakfast and dinner calories it's always just the evening meal I struggle with calorie counting as it's usually a one pot tea! I shall start fully calorie counting and see if that changes anything. Thanks :)

Yes, it can change over time. So best to get checked.
I’ve no idea whether your thyroid would have been checked with your tests related to the menopause. Best to ask your GP? Or if your tests are on the Patient Knows Best (not that they actually believe that!) website you could look for yourself. You’re looking for TSH, T3 and T4. Good luck.

I lost 50lb really quickly, in 4 months and then nothing for about six months. I couldn't afford the jab for three months, gained 10lb and started back in march. Lost the ten pound and now same as you am yo-yoing between 199 and 202lb. I have 48lb to lose to get to top of BMI 25. It's frustrating as I was on 800 cals and I cant do that again. The pharmacy says to keep going and it's got to let go eventually. I am eating at about 1200 cals but I have no suppression or aversion anymore.

I will give it till January as it's expensive to be losing no weight.

Gonna try egg fast thus week, that always used to work.

How frustrating... I do feel your pain. I can't last as long as 6 months I'm already struggling with the increased cost of the 12.5mg dose. Did you ever try dropping down the mg? I'm feeling really disheartened. Lost enough weight to start noticing the difference and I feel so sad that I'm stuck here now!

No idea... I just assumed that anything that showed up as abnormal would be flagged. They tested for a few things. I'll look it up . Thanks :)

Ok I'm going to give you a terrible example, today has been one of those kind of days where I just couldn't be arsed at all and other days are not like this, but it's a good way to show how barely eating still racks up the calories and how easy it would be to go over your allowance without realising,

Woke up at the ass crack of dawn for absolutely no good reason and was in a mardy about it.

Iced latte - skimmed and no syrup
Hour or so later another ice latte - skimmed and no syrup
Went to a retail park for boring shopping, it was cold, wet and busy, so treated myself to an iced latte, skimmed, no syrup.

Lunch - snack pack of beef jerky
Iced latte like above
Cheesestring

Dinner - mince and veg
Iced latte like above.

So food wise I've had 1 low carb, low calorie meal and lunch was a couple of small snacks but my total calories for the day is still 1100 so far because of all the coffee. If you don't track with a decent level of accuracy then it's really really easy to go over without realising.

I’m the same, same dose and everything. Scales not moved in two months. So today I’ve had a fishfinger sandwich, a yoghurt and half a bowl of soup. And done a spin class. I’ve ordered a 15mg pen. I can’t see how going back to a lower dose would help? 🤷‍♀️

I get it. I totally do. Coffee wise that would be me pre Mounjaro however I'm totally off hot drinks. I don't eat anything to go over. It's hard to understand but I know I'm not going over... I hardly eat. However I am going to track anyway just to fully rule it out! Hope your day improved :)

I’ve had no suppression since I went up to 5mg and am now nearly at the end of 7.5mg. I haven’t lost any weight since the first month when I lost 3kg. It’s not affecting my appetite at all so it’s no wonder I’m not losing weight. It’s like I’m injecting something with no active ingredients. I don’t even get any side effects.

I’m going to book a call to chat with them. I wonder if some people just don’t respond to it. My BMI is 32, btw.

Soul destroying isn't it. Knowing you are doing all the work and those scales not budging. Can I ask have your side effects wore off (mine was diarrhea.. which has fully gone). Just wondering if that was why I lost weight in the first place.

Yes think I'll chat to them. I had horrible side effects on 2.5... 5mg then on 7.5mg everything stopped. I felt starving on that dose and definitely ate more than the first couple of months but that was the dose the weight just dropped off. Fingers crossed it kicks back in on a higher dose x

Those iced lattes ? Skimmed or semi skimmed milk ?
I was seriously shocked when I ACTUALLY measured the "splash " of milk I put in my coffee.
So I drink coffee like a flat white but less milk...the amount of milk measures 100 MLS...that's 50 calories if semi , or 36 in skimmed.
Now a latte has 200 MLS of milk ...so at best you had 288 calories of milk...which I can't see you counted . If it was semi skimmed you were 400 calories...and 200 MLS is a small latte....
A Starbucks grand latte has 360 MLS of milk...so a skimmed milk one has 128 calories...

The bottom line is you are consuming too many calories...

Never had a single side effect ever.