You've reached your goal weight - come chat about maintenance, not regaining, going cold turkey or titrating down

[MargoLivebetter]

Would people who've hit their target weight be interested in a general thread on how they are getting on? You might be titrating your WLI down, you might be going cold turkey, you might be on a maintenance programme or you might have gone back on.

I used MJ for 5 months and I've hit my goal and I'm muddling through with my own version of "maintenance". I'm doing a 1.25 dose weekly to use up what I've got left and cut down gradually, so I don't lose all the benefits of MJ immediately. I was a complete lightweight and did the whole 5 months on just 2.5, as I had savage suppression and loss of appetite. So, I'm just halving my dosage.

I'd be interested to hear how others are getting on, given it all feels a bit new and the long-term aspects of weight maintenance are not yet much talked about.

I was wondering if anyone on Oushk maintenance could help me please? I have a call booked this morning but I have not been sent a link or anything. Do they just phone at the booked time?

Check your junk mail - email will probably come from Wisebee.

Thank you so much, I found it.

Look forward to hearing how it goes. I have a maintenance call booked for July. I will still be ‘overweight’, but think I’ll be comfortable with where I’m at - well, am comfortable now, another half stone or so off by then and then see how we can make me actually stay there! 🤞😆

I think I will try and taper down very slowly. Started this thinking I wanted to be on it for as short a time as possible - am now thinking I will give my body plenty of time to hopefully re-set itself, and if I’m on it much longer term (or for life), I can live with that too. Has been miraculous.

I am still overweight too (BMI 25.5) - I did want to get to BMI 23 when I started but I think I am happy where I am, for vanity reasons smaller would be better but I know health wise here is fine, especially as I now do heavy resistance training so I am starting to carry a relatively high amount of muscle.

I want to try to taper down, I can see me staying on 5mg or 2.5mg for the longer term but it seems like we all respond so differently. Budget wise 5mg every other month would be ideal (if I can't manage without any) but I know that doesn't work for everyone.

I've been cold turkey now - over 18 weeks since I stopped taking Mounjaro. Stats:

Starting Weight (August 2024) 11st 7.8lb
Finish Weight (December 2024) 8st 11.6lb
Current Weight (April 2024) 8st 6.8lb

So I've actually lost weight since stopping. I am not counting calories but I am being mindful of moving more, and being conscious of what I eat. I do get hungry of course but I've not had this raging insatiable hunger that everyone said would happen. I'm finding the weight loss that I've achieved has given me great willpower to want to not regain. I weigh myself daily so I don't take my eye off the ball and that helps massively. If I see the scales move up, I'll have a few days of being extra healthy and it goes back down again before it becomes a bigger problem.

More importantly I've not gone back to my pre-Mounjaro eating habits which quite frankly were shocking and I'm surprised I wasn't bigger. There are things I choose not to eat now - like pasta, just makes me feel crap so not worth those carbs and calories, and pizza - which I used to love, could have eaten morning noon and night...I probably eat it once every few months as again it makes me feel bloated.

So far so good!

@SnacklessWonder well done. Really inspiring post. So glad it is all working for you. I haven't had raging insatiable hunger either! God knows where that particular urban myth emerged from. I was crapping my pants about that too.

I've been maintaining for 5 weeks now.

SW 14 stone 3.8 BMI 32.2
CW 10 stone 11.8 BMI 24
24.5% body weight lost
TW 11 stone

I've stayed on 2.5mg for maintenance period and it's felt ok.

I'm actually considering whether I might like to lose a few lb more, but I'll focus on toning first and see how it goes.

I'm a bit nervous about my thyroid behaviours when I come off MJ totally as there was a marked impact on my metabolism when I started on MJ. I've had to reduce my Levothyroxine and that's been fiddly, if I come off MJ and need an increased dose it may take some time and be a bit of a fight.

But all in all the maintenance process seems quite painless

I’ve just ordered another pen. I think I needed to taper down slowly rather than completely stop before a big holiday! I am 4 lbs up from that but fairly stable the last 2 weeks since I’ve been back. I want to try and get a small buffer to allow for life’s events. On the positive, I am eating much the same as when I was on Mounjaro, smaller portions still and quite happy with that. I cant magically drop a few pounds without my pen friend though!

Well done @HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow and @Sadteacher sounds like you are both making good plans for how to carry on the process of being at a good weight for your respective bodies.

The battery in my scale has run out - doh! So, I didn't get a reading yesterday morning. Hopefully nothing drastic has happened over the BH weekend. I have noticed that if I don't eat enough protein I want to snack more, so that has given me more of an incentive to eat more protein - which is an ever present goal anyway.

I'm 5 weeks in to maintenance now, and I'm 2lb lighter. I have been gradually increasing my calories so I expected to still have some loss whilst I got to grips with where my maintenance cals are. I'm up to 1800 now, so shall give that a couple of weeks. My body fat has decreased and my muscle mass increased on the gym scale, so I'm hoping those extra cals and protein are being put to good use in my body! This is such an interesting time for me, working out how my body works and what I need to do to keep things happy! I'm still daily weighing so I know where I'm at as weekly just doesn't work for me.
I had my first wedding dress alteration appt this weekend, so I do need to keep a relatively stable weight now. I have another appt in a month after 1st alterations done, so definitely after that I can not afford to lose any more!
Hope the other maintainers are as happy as I am! This weather certainly helps keep me in check! Lovely day for a walk, so off I go!

Congratulations @ThisMustBeMyDream! I’m into week 2 with no MJ and I haven’t put on any weight (apart from the weird one day kilo drop I posted about which went straight back on), but I am still poorly so not been doing any exercise except for getting out for walks. This is when things have historically gone wrong for me when I have got skinny without MJ so hoping I can back into my exercise regime before it is lost forever. I am hoping that the fact I do lots of classes will mean I get back to it. I am going to try a v short home weights work out after work to gauge when I can back to the more hardcore stuff.

19 weeks off Mounjaro and I hit my lowest weight in probably 25 years this morning!

@SnacklessWonder well done on hitting that lowest weight. It’s always nice to read how well you’re doing.
It’s almost 12 weeks since my last Jab as well and I still weight 5lb less than my last MJ weight. Waking up to exercise has just become routine to me because I get it done before the kids wake up and the whole day gets busy which has made this easy. I’m eating well and just enjoying the whole maintenance and enjoying dressing up for the nice weather.
I was only on MJ for 20 weeks so I’ve been off the jab for almost 60% of the time that I was on jab if that makes sense which makes me happy and hopeful for the months and years to come. Glad to read everyone is doing well too

Great updates @Tohaveandtohold and @SnacklessWonder. This thread is such a tonic compared to Reddit etc where the party line is we will all be slaves to ElyLily or fat for the rest of our lives. It definitely feels like exercise is the key. I never went above 5mg to make sure I was having to use willpower instead of mega suppression and I feel like this should help me.

Great stuff @SnacklessWonder and @Tohaveandtohold . So good to hear continued positive post-MJ reports.

@ShaunaSadeki , I never went above 5mg either. I was on 2.5 mg for 5 weeks and then 5mg for 15 weeks. For the last 10 weeks of MJ, I could feel hunger and had food noise, I just felt fuller quicker. The food noise hasn’t changed since I stopped, I’ve not felt the crazy hunger that I’ve been reading about before I went cold turkey, I’ve felt hunger but it’s normal. DH that has never had an issue with his weight also feels hunger so it’s not wrong to feel that I need to eat, I just make sure I eat the right things when I do, just the same way I did when I was on the jab and so far, I’ve not felt deprived in any way. Everyone will find their best way to maintain at some point.

It is amazing reading so many success stories post-MJ and gives me great hope for the future!!! Well done everyone! Truly inspiring!

I…reached my goal last month, and how I find myself moving the goalpost…again. Just another 2-3 kg and then that’s it. I don’t know why I keep doing this, it was never my original goal but now I’ve reached it I think I want another couple of kgs down. I keep telling myself it’s for some “wiggle room” in case when I get off MJ I gain 2-3 kg, but I know myself and I know this new number , once I hit it will become the new goal weight and if I go up from it post MJ I probably won’t be happy.

Did anyone else find themselves re-setting their goals once they reached them, or just me?

@3wDavid I am always happy to lose a few more lbs, but I am trying to concentrate on body recomposition now as I am bottom heavy.

I planned to lose 3 stone, my BMI was 36.6. In fact, I doubted I'd do that. I'd have still been overweight at that.

In one more pound, I've lost 5 stone. But my BMI is only 23, so I just keep saying one more pound. But I'm also doing a lot more at the gym so I think I'll gain as muscle builds.

I think I'm slipping slowly into maintenance, like don't mind if I lose a bit more but not upping the dose and eating enough to exercise.

I don't even know!

No more so than being slaves to Pantene or L'Oréal. People are happy to spend tons on facecare, I'm happy to spend tons on staying healthy 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh no shade to people wanting to stay on a maintenance dose @daffodilandtulip, honestly! If I can’t maintain without I will be straight back on lovely MJ and if I was loaded I’d probably stay on it anyway. But it is great to read that not everyone has to take it for life.

Edited to add: Amazing loss, you must feel fantastic!

@daffodilandtulip congratulations on your tremendous loss. Sounds like you are getting on so well. How long have you been on MJ?

I think you will know when you have settled at a weight /BMI that you like. I'm a gimmer and a BMI of 22 works for me so I don't look too bony around the upper chest area and have some kind of a bum. My body composition is slowly changing too and although my weight has stayed the same now since January, I am very gradually decreasing fat and increasing muscle. It is very small increments, but it is noticeable. I'm relieved because one of my biggest worries was loss of muscle mass (given the gimmer status and all that).

Just read pretty much the entire thread and it's giving me hope! Tiktok was an absolute horror show in comparison!

I started on MJ in February and my BMI iis now around 22 so reaching the end of my journey. I'd still like to lose another 10lbs ideally but might try and do this on will power alone. I haven't gone above 3.75mg and have totally changed my exercise and food habits so hope this is a good starting point for maintenance. Fingers crossed.

@RowNine glad you have found us and you feel hopeful. Congratulations on all that you have lost so far.

I think there is lots to be hopeful about. I was so anxious about coming off MJ and thought it would be like Sleeping Beauty in reverse and as soon as I came off I'd somehow wake up fat again, but as you can see from those of us posting on here, that mostly seems not to have happened.

Let us know how you get on.