I’ve finished Mounjaro - weekly update to report on what happens when you finish!

[NearingendofMJ]

I started taking MJ at the beginning of April. I’ve been a slow loser, and have lost 2 stone in the time I’ve been on MJ.

My starting weight was 84kg and I am now 71.5, I am 5’7.

I took my last injection last Sunday, so just over a week ago and it was around 6mg (counting clicks on a 12.5mg pen)

I have definitely noticed hunger today. However I am able to deal with that at the moment by reminding myself I had lunch an hour ago etc so I do not need to eat.

I think everyone on these meds worries what may happen when you stop. It’s like any diet, if there isn’t a lifestyle change, you will regain all the weight.

I thought I’d start a thread for some real life experience of what will happen - I’m aware I’ll still have MJ in my system for the next couple of weeks, but will be a good experiment to see if the hunger becomes unbearable or manageable with my new found knowledge of better food groups to eat!

Having been on MJ for 6 months I’m fairly sure I am able to make better choices now - famous last words 😂

I think it is licensed for use long term unlike wegovy which was 2 years? Forgive me if I am wrong.

Also with regards cost these meds should come off patent in a few years which should make them much cheaper.

EJ Lilly has just published the results of a study, where around 600 people took MJ for 36 weeks, then half stayed on it & half came off. All participants got lifestyle support, e.g. food choices, exercise & so forth. The group staying on MJ continued to lose - an average of 5% of starting weight, the non -MJ group regained most of their weight.
My plan(I am around 6lbs from goal) is to stay on it, although drop dose if possible. Once I hit goal, I will have lost 42 lbs, highest dose being 7.5

Trouble is, you try and have a thread for people who have chosen to stop taking the medication to support each other and you just get people coming on to tell you you’ll fail. That doesn’t seem to happen on other support threads. It’s a shame.

If you mean this study, then you are wrong to say that most regained all of the weight. Those who stayed on it continued to lose weight (an additional 5.5% loss), and those on the placebo experienced a 14% weight regain. This was over 52 weeks.

Either you are misunderstanding some very important detail or you are deliberately misquoting

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2812936

Typo

Thanks op, I started at similar weight to you (bit less 80kg) and now at 69kg but I'm 5 ft 6 so similar bmi. Currently at 7.5 and thinking how to titrate down and manage to keep weight off. I have found I have to be on quite low calories (most days under 1000 and no more than 1200) to lose around 1.5 lbs per week so think I'm going to have to still log everything on nutracheck to find calories where I don't put on.

Is that not any diet though, if you don’t make fundamental changes you will regain the weight.

What did people do before MJ, which has only been around about a year? I just personally feel you can’t medicate yourself forever to prevent weight gain, you have to learn to manage it yourself.

But absolutely each to their own - if people want to stay on it then that’s their choice - this thread is to give some real life experience of the journey after MJ for those that wish to stop

I second this.

I thought this thread is for those who are coming off to support each other including through offering practical tips - not some debate about the (subjective) rights and wrongs of coming off.

It’s also important to note that this is an Eli Lily funded study, it is in their interest to try to demonstrate that it is a lifelong drug.

In other studies, the placebo group showed a weight reduction of 9.9% after a year, so it’s all down to what you read.

I was hoping to have finished MJ by now or at least be reducing dose with a view to stopping, but I've barely lost anything in weeks. I just can't shift the last 4 or 5 pounds to get down to bmi 25.

I've lost 5 and a half stone but don't want to lose too much more as I don't think it will be sustainable to be lower than bmi 25 for me.

I seem to have gone back to how I ate before and am having way too many takeaways and am snacking on too many bad things. I need to have an overhaul of how I'm eating and try to get back to how it was a few months ago when the weight was dropping off.

I don't want to be on MJ for life but I don't know how I can control the hunger. When I'm hungry I don't just feel a bit hungry, I feel like my insides are in a vice and get awful chest pains until I eat - it's really difficult to just ignore that.

I absolutely think people experience hunger differently, probably due to blood sugar/hormone issues, and for those people staying on MJ long term is probably the right thing.
For me, I never had the food noise that people talk about, and never had the intense hunger that’s impossible to ignore. I just ate and drank slightly too much over a long period of time, and it doesn’t take many extra calories a day to result in a substantial gain over a long period!

Following this thread as I'm so interested to see how people get on maintaining!
Personally my plan is to stop taking when I get to target, I'm using this to try and re educate my habits and making sure I eat healthier too so I'm hoping it will all be firmly on board at the end!
It will be a while yet though! 2stone 2 down and 3 stone 1 to go!

Following with interest. I started at 82kg and have lost 11kg so far (22lbs). I have another 11kg to go. Sadly I am a short arse and also only lose 1lb a week on most diets. I lose on 1000 cals, maintain on 1400 gain on more. I'm hoping that the way of eating I am adopting ie 8 hour window and 2 meals will see me right and the sheer effort put in will override my desire to binge eat!

This is really interesting - how tall are you? I’m 5’7 and all the TDEE calculators say my BMR is 1407 daily at 71kg. That sounded pretty low to me but that’s probably why I had to start taking MJ in the first place!

Nearly two weeks post MJ and I’ve lost around another pound. Not going to deny I feel hungry, but I’ve so far been able to recognise the hunger and move on with my day.

I was very hungry when I woke up but recognise this is due to blood sugar fluctuations- and it soon went away after weetabix for breakfast

I do feel so much better in myself with the drug slowly making it’s way out of my system, more alert and awake and without that constant exhausted feeling

I think it would be good to know from the posters who are finished with MJ, how long you were on it too?

My original aim was to take it for 6 months and I’m nearing that now.

I totally get both points of view around wanting to go it alone and wanting to taper down. Personally I was able to maintain being slim my entire life and as recently as 2022, so my dream is being able to get back to my old normal, which means unmedicated. It’s the harder route to take for sure but I’m sure we can support each other through it when the time comes!

However I also might be able to use MJ for an extra month or 2 as a taper down. I haven’t reached my goal weight yet so we’ll see.

@NearingendofMJ interested in how you qualified for MJ initially if your BMI was 29? Or was it because of other health conditions.

Yes it was due to slight HBP

I was taking MJ for 29 weeks and I have been able to maintain my weight for much of my life - covid and getting to 40 really made the weight difficult to shift after I gained it, so I am grateful for the push I needed and now I feel I’ve learnt a lot about food groups/ how many calories you need a day that I think ill be able to take it from here

For what it’s worth…

My partner has been taking Ozempic for four years for diabetes type 2.

He lost about three stone and kept most of it off.
In the beginning he was dreadfully sick every day but now is sick about once a week. He seems to have got used to this.

It reduced his appetite hugely in the beginning but the longer he has been on it the more he eats.

He rarely drinks alcohol but can still pack away a lot of chocolate.

I’m 5’7 and all the TDEE calculators say my BMR is 1407 daily at 71kg.

You probably know this, OP, but your BMR is not how many calories you need a day. It's (theoretically) how many you would need if you were bedbound and never moved your limbs. i.e. the very minimum required to keep your organs etc alive without expending anything via voluntary muscle use.

To get your calorific needs per day you need to factor movement in as well.

Absolutely but even with 13-15k steps a day, my whoop still only says im burning overall 1500!

Either my heart isn’t beating fast enough or there’s something wrong with the whoop (hope the latter 🙂)

I wish I could join in but I haven't taken any injectables. My sister had a really bad reaction so I decided not to but I did have a change of living conditions which meant I lost weight without deliberately dieting. I'm now down around 3 stone.

I'm now back to normal life and having to consciously work at maintaining / further weight loss.so much of what you are all dealing with us there I'm at too.

I plan to lurk and learn.

Following with interest, thanks for the thread OP.

Question - were you not tempted to reduce the dose rather than go cold turkey?

Thank you - I’ve seen advice saying people should eat 500 BELOW their BMR which I think is concerning.

So I guess in a way I did, I went all the way up to 12.5 for one week and then I gradually started reducing until the last injection which was less than 6mg.

At the moment, although I’m feeling hunger, it’s easy to manage and with my new found energy I’m walking between 12-15k steps a day.

When you haven’t felt hunger for so long it obviously going to be noticeable but I don’t feel deprived or anything, as long as I eat the three meals I’m okay. Honestly, I feel so much better in myself now im off it.

And having lost another pound I have gained some self respect that I can do this myself. Im not saying I’m not very grateful for the initial push but it’s up to me to maintain and lose a bit more now - the start of a new healthier lifestyle and not blindly eating for the sake of it.

I think when you’re depressed about your weight you just think what the hell, the hill is too steep to climb so just keep eating and snacking but now I can see my body has changed, I can see eating badly (other than the weekly takeaway or whatever I have at the weekend) will make me gain weight, which I don’t want!