Weaning off MJ

[netmum123MJ]

Hi is anyone trying to taper off Mounjaro? I have used for a few months lost 20lbs however everytime I try to stop I am back to square one with food noise and over eating. Will I be on this forever?

In that case, you're lucky in that regard. The pesky food noise and cravings like an addict have been my downfall. I eat 'sensibly' without those so MJ has made it possible for me to do that. Once they come, every good thing I know and did early in the day goes out the window. I can't win the fight everyday and I never have.

And that’s exactly what I meant above when I said all our journeys with our weight are different, and all our journeys with regards to keeping the weight off will be different too. I absolutely hope that the people who want/need it will be able to have access to a maintenance dose for life.

Well, it is unwise not to use the time on MJ to work on nutrition, habits, triggers and a sustainable way to move forward. And yes, I do think if eating sensibly while on it and not just aiming for weekly massive losses it will help life off it.

after you off from MJ your body will fight you to gwt back to the previous weight. Because its what body used to. Its called a set weight. You need to reset your set weight so your body know that is the new weight and its safe. To reset your set weight. You need to maintain same weight more or less around 6 months to 1 year. Than your body will stop fighting it. I’m still have 2 stone to lose and i’m planning to maintaining with MJ for 6 months before i stop it all together. But i also weight traning for 3 times a week and still counting my calories everytime.

It’s really interesting to read everyone’s comments on stopping the injections and maintaining weight.

i was on them for almost a year, I thought that I had a handle on my eating and felt really strong about keeping the weight off. I’ve been at my target weight for 5 months, however now the food noise is back I am finding myself snacking and overeating and constantly thinking about food. In that respect nothing has changed even though I’ve spent the past year in a much better place.

wegovy made it so so so much easier to stick to calories and make healthy choices.

I really wish that I hadn’t weaned myself off so quickly now as I can’t seem to get anymore just to give myself a longer transition. I can totally understand now why some people feel they need to be on it for life (me included).

I exercise almost every day, always do my steps and generally make healthy choices. I feel like I’m clinging on to my weight loss now and don’t have the belief in myself that I can maintain my loss. I need to come to terms with the fact that I still love food, I love sugar and that I have an addiction/issue with binge eating. I worked really hard to get where I am and Wegovy was truly life changing for me, I really hope one day that it becomes easier to access (and cheaper).

I used to always think that I was just greedy, sometimes I am just greedy, but I’ve come to realise hormones/insulin etc are extremely powerful and maybe I’m not as weak as I think I am… time will tell I guess!

I think I’m going to have to hide the weight loss injections/maintenance threads because when you know you absolutely can’t take the medication long term it’s really disheartening to be told you’re going to fail and put the weight back on. Good luck all with your journeys and thank you for the support until now!

These perspectives are interesting, in the USA it's pretty much universally accepted that these are lifelong medications. I don't think it'll be long until we're there in the UK

I think in that case you have every chance of successfully keeping it off post MJ.

I think people generally fall into two camps:

1. Those who have been slim most of their lives and put on weight due to specific circumstances - pregnancy, lockdowns, maybe even menopause
2. Those who have ALWAYS been overweight likely due to a range of genetic/ medical reasons

In my mind, group 1 have a lot more hope of maintaining without MJ than group 2.

It's simply about internal problem vs external problem. If you have the internal problem that most of us on MJ have (the food noise, insulin issue, metabolism issue, etc), then it won't magically go away after MJ (I wish it would).

If your problem is sort of simple or external and about greed as some have said and there's nothing else internally blocking your weightloss, then you're a likely candidate to maintain after mounjaro because all you need to do is 'eat less and move more', and you'll be fine. The ball is then in your court and you can succeed if you choose to with the habit you've developed by being on MJ.

Most of us on MJ with the internal problem just know that we're on it because eating less/eating better and moving more have not been the solution and what MJ is helping us with isn't going to be fixed if we get off it.

I'm like @ItsAlrightDarling I never had food issues, food noise, cravings etc well not outside what is a normal amount. I just let the weight creep on through overeating and being lazy.

The majority of the population are not obese. They're not all lucky genetically. It's hard work keeping on top of it but so be it.

@ItsAlrightDarling Il'll DM you

I’m BMI 26 now and beginning to taper off wegovy. I’m fairly confident I can maintain. I don’t have huge amounts of food noise and stayed at a low dose. I put the weight on eating 250 calories too many every day for 10 years. I am absolutely committed now to a) tracking my calories every day for the rest of my life and b) never eating any snacks after dinner. That was my downfall - healthy meals then sharing a bar of chocolate with DH. I know i need to keep below 1700 to maintain (I’m 5-7) so will just stick to that. I didn’t manage it before as losing the weight and going to 1200-1400 was so tough but now I’m at a good weight and wearing nice clothes it all seems more manageable

I absolutely do not think that!

I participated in a clinical trial of Ozempic many years ago. It was great. Lost weight ++. No surprises what happened in the 3 years once I stopped taking it. This obviously colours my thinking, no matter how unbiased I want to think I am.

I think, like many medications, it will need to be a long term option. Over time it will get cheaper and more readily available on the prescription. My doctor says the evidence is good and it is here to stay.

I've been reading all the threads about Mounjaro. There is one that's on thread 23 now. I've heard a lot of people talking about Hira from Oushk pharmacy and the fact she is really on it with long term maintenance plans for when you are at goal weight. Maybe have a look on those threads.

The threads I'm referring to are all titled 'continuing Mounjaro ... thread (insert number from 1-23) ' 👌🏽

Have you tried to talk to Oushk about a maintenance plan? Maybe book a consultation to speak to them about going back on Wegovy for maintenance?

I'm so interested in this bit of the journey. I've struggled with keeping a healthy BMI all my life. My eating issues are tied in with an abusive childhood and having used food as some kind of emotional support and comfort. The noise from food pre-MJ was loud and relentless. I have spent 44 years dieting and have been slim and then fat, slim and then fat on rinse and repeat for all of those years.

I'm finding with MJ sticking to a diet is a piece of piss. I already do plenty of exercise. I just want that to be my new normal but reading this thread is making me wonder how achieveable that will be.

On MJ, I don't think about food at all other than when I need to eat it, because it is a meal-time. The vast amount of headspace that has been freed up is both liberating and scary.

I'm wondering if I could look into hypnosis for the post-MJ journey to switch off the food noise, as I have no doubt it will return.

I agree that there are different factors on whether you are going to be successful in maintenance after MJ or not.

If you were able to diet / exercise and lose weight before trying MJ then you may well be ok off of MJ. But I do worry that if you have this background and used MJ as a tool to not think about food, eat less etc, then without MJ you will struggle going from not being hungry to having to get used to being hungry again and manage it again. So MJ might be detrimental to you as you may have lost that self control that you once had.

Alternatively, if you spent your life struggling with your weight and went through many diets with similar lack of results, they you probably have insulin /metabolic issues that MJ is solving, so coming off MJ would obviously bring them all back. I am in this camp. I don't plan to come off MJ. I have an underactive thyroid so I feel the medication is really helping me to lose weight for the first time in a long time. I don't believe I can go it alone even if I was keeping my calories low /exercising etc. I believe the weight will go back on without MJ, even if I used all the will in the world.

Hardly ever hungry pre-MJ @ObsidianTree . Just endless food chatter. That's why I was thinking about hypnosis, as it is a mind problem not a body problem, if that makes sense.

It's slightly depressing reading this thread but thank you for all being so honest!

I have just received my first pack of MJ today. I went with VOY because I'm hoping the 'coaching' aspect will help me reset my habits. Unfortunately I'm already worrying about the longterm but hoping this will really help. I've been overweight or obese for a large part of my adult life. I want to take it very slowly and learn to manage the 'food noise'.

This is an interesting old question that is beginning to worry me, even though I have plenty to lose yet. The biggest 'issue' for me on Mounjaro is actually that it really has been SO easy.

I'm currently with Voy, who obviously offer the coaching, but it's a bit lost on me at the moment because I'm actually just not really thinking about food at all (and very much enjoying that).

Perhaps I do need to work on getting my head back in the game about it though, to fix some new habits.

SnacklessWonder's advice is terrible! Crisps and pepperoni for snacks?!
No wonder you're fat!
Unsalted nuts, apples, bananas, oatcakes, home-made veg soup, high fibre brown bread, low sugar muesli...these are the sort of things you need as snacks.

I have seen that someone is doing maintenance with Cloud pharmacy and they are doing 5mg one month off / one month on, I am interesting in seeing how that goes, as could be a good way of minimising costs.