No suppression on MJ pen after 30 days?

[BigLooser]

Hi all, would be grateful to hear about experiences of those who finish their MJ pen after 30 days.

I have reached my target weight and now working out the best maintenance schedule. For the past month, I have been on 2.5mg every 10 days (so 30 days) and then got a bonus dose on what would be day 40.

Over the 30 days, I kept losing a bit and the medicine was working as before. Have been on the bonus dose for 6 days and on today's weigh-in (I do it weekly) I had gained a pound! For the past week I have been eating maybe slightly more than before (I do 2 meals a day, just not hungry in the morning, so certainly not as much as to start gaining) and felt the food noise again. Granted, I had a lot of salty food yesterday and on Monday (was craving pickles!).

Could the gain and food noise be due the MJ pen past 30 days? Or just a coincidence?

Bump

I don’t understand your post, are you asking if you’ve gained a pound as you’re on a low dose of mounjaro??

I have always been on 2.5mg, never increased the dose as I was losing well on 2.5mg and no side effects.

Why am I suddenly gaining?

I think what you're asking is whether your medication will have lost it's efficacy to some degree because you've used it 10 days past the manufacturer's usage cut off?

I don't know what doses you've been on to reach your target weight or how long you've been using Mounjaro for, but it's possible that the increase in "food noise" is just to do with the amount in your system reducing in general. Or it could be down to the medication degrading in the pen as it's past its usage date. Or it could be a normal fluctuation, given that it's only one pound difference.

Yes, the question is mostly about the possible loss of efficacy.

Or maybe this low does has finally stopped being effective? I never went up, have been on 2.5mg since July.

Time to move up to 5mg

But I don't need to lose anymore, I am at my target weight, even slightly lower now

It's only one pound. It could easily be normal fluctuations, have you never had a plateau or a small gain at any point since July? I had a 1 pound gain on 7.5mg even though I was feeling rough and not eating much. It was entirely down to being ill and being on my period.

But, yes, the medication is not intended to be kept and used past the 30 days, so there's no guarantee it's still as effective as when in date. It could have started to break down and become less effective, but you won't really be able to ever know if that's what it is.

Its one pound? On one week?

that’s not gaining! Thats a normal fluctation!

Thanks all. I guess I will see how I do once I start a new pen...

I have never gained while on MJ before so was not expecting it to happen

@BigLooser
Do you normally weigh daily or weekly? I've never gained over a week since starting 8months ago but have definitely gained part way through a week - your weight will naturally fluctuate in the short term, sometimes due to one meal, ToTM, exercise, water intake, etc etc.

Hardly anyone will stay at the literal same weight every week when maintaining. In maintenance you need to accept that your weight will fluctuate a couple of pounds up and down but that doesn't mean you're 'gaining'. Going up a pound could be due to water retention, not going to the loo etc...

Gaining is an evidenced by a consistent pattern of weight gained over a period of time. One pound up in a single week does not qualify as a 'gain'. I get the concern that weight can 'creep' back on, but you'd need to be gaining for more than a week before worrying about that.

then you’ve been lucky I guess? But fluctuations like that are completely normally, even more so at maintenance!

And you say you ate a lot of salty food over the 2 days beforehand - that can cause water retention and increased ‘water weight’.

Even if you have gained 1lb, you say you are under your target weight so don't worry about it. Mounjaro fully leaves your system around 20-28 days after injecting. So its likely if you wait until 30 days to inject, you have no mounjaro in your system. Its more likely eating more food, a higher intake of calories/salty food/hormones caused the 1lb increase than it not working. Might be useful for you to track your calories especially at maintenance to have more control over intake and weight changes.

It’s impossible for someone to stay exactly the same weight , we all have a normal fluctuation , the difference between someone of a sustainable weight and someone with a weight problem is that in the former, fluctuation will occur above and below a baseline weight that will stay the same over longer periods of time .Once you have reached maintenance you need to decide for yourself what fluctuation is acceptable to you and what approach you need to take to tour everyday diet and how you handle cravings and special occasions like holidays, Christmas etc.

Thanks everyone for your reassurance.

I guess I got used so much to being able to manage my eating and weight without any conscious effort that it was a back to the reality moment to face the inevitability of weight fluctuations.

Will see how it goes. I hope to be able to stay on 2.5mg for maintenance

How long have you been even on MJ? I read on another thread that it stops working around week 60.

That's not true.

A quick google seems to confirm a plateau at week 60 https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/106464

That article confirms nothing of the sort. It's mostly discussing semaglutide not Tirzepatide. The mentions of tirzepatide indicate that after 60 to 72 weeks in the trials weight loss slowed for those on 5mg, but not any higher doses. Further information on whether weight loss slows or halts is needed in the ongoing trials.

It is not the case that it is proven that Mounjaro stops working after 60 weeks. And, the OP hasn't been using Mounjaro for anywhere near 60 weeks in any case. She started in July.

I don’t think that says what you think it says, it says you hit a plateau, with no indication of when that is, on mounjaro but a year on the others

a plateau doesn’t mean it stops working. It means you hit a plateau, you keep going past that and the weight will keep coming off. Obviously.

you can’t possibly think that we hit a plateau, a certain weight, and no matter how much we diet we can’t get thinner, tell that to anorexics and people who have been starved through history. Logically you know that’s not possible right. And that if we continue to diet, we continue to lose weight. Right? And that the drug doesn’t make you lose weight. What makes you lose weight is you eat less than you need. The drug just reduces appetite.

after 60 weeks, nearly every single person will be at target, except the severely obese, so it won’t apply. As all you want to do is stay at target.

so I need to lose 4.5 stone in total. It will take me. 6 months, then I will stay on it to maintain. It will continue to work to allow me to do that.

if it stopped working it wouldn’t be approved for diabetes. And it doesn’t make yoh lose weight. Eating less does.

Since July so 5.5 months

I’ve noticed I seem to have a pattern of a small gain or plateau every 4 weeks or so, but it’s not linked to when my pen is older (I use the bonus dose or count clicks so sometimes use a pen for up to 6 weeks). I think it’s hormonal in my case. I’ve also stayed on a low dose. I always thought if I didn’t lose two weeks running then I’ll go up a dose but mostly it’s just been once then I lose a lot the following week