Piling the weight back on when stopping MJ

[Richtea67]

Hi all....I'm so disappointed. I lost 3 and a half stone, have been off injections for a month and regained nearly 7lbs 😩. I was a slow loser (1-2lb per week) and focused on changing habits and reducing portion size rather than diets/calorie counting (this has led to binging previously). I have kept up with a lot of the habits (smoothie for breakfast, cutting out alcohol and healthy high protein snacks). But portion sizes have definitely gone up as I'm hungrier! And I've been more tempted by the biscuits at work and the kids treats! Any advice?? I'm considering re starting if I put too much weight on, but financially this would be a struggle, which is part of the reason I came off them. My starting weight was 14.5 stones, weight when stopping injections 11 stones and at present nearly half a stone back on!! Help!

Apologies if I've missed this, but are you still ordering a pen once a month, (and storing them) or is there a provider who will let you order less often?

I’ve not had any side effects from Mounjaro. It’s been lovely. Much less hunger and hardly ever think about eating. Very relaxing.

I would really like to know this too, please. Are you building up a big stock pile and how will you decide when to stop ordering because you have enough to use before the due date, if you see what I mean? I'm really trying to think how I can make it work for me.

I know they're supposed to be used within 30 days, but if they're kept in the fridge, I imagine they're probably fine?

I am not that poster but I understand Oushk will let you order less often when you reach maintenance. IIRC you pay a small monthly fee on maintenance even if you do not order but then get money off the pens when you do need one. You have to order at least one every 12 months.

I still have at least another stone to lose before I get to maintenance but have moved to Oushk to get ready for that phase.

I’ve used pens that i ordered 6 months ago
even when I start a pen I don’t throw it away at 30 days I just carry on using it so I can make one pen last me 3 months

Ive been doing this for overa year to maintain my weight and had no problems with it

The only way to tackle this is to be brutally honest.

Food noise is torture. And for the ones of us who have yo-yo dieted for most of our lives, food is a delicious reality, while being thin is a beautiful, but often unattainable dream. The thought of not being able to enjoy our tasty chocolate, cakes, snacks, whatever feeds your cravings... for years on end, is miserable. When I was on a diet I cried thinking of how my days were spent sad and miserable, and hungry, and still never managing to be thin. I never got any prizes for my efforts. And even when I managed to lose significant amounts of weight... I was always terrified of putting it back on, and dismayed when it then happened.

The weight loss injections allow us to get rid of that food noise, and take away the misery of dieting. And they give us our dream on a plate (excuse the pun). To the point that even the thought of being on the drug for life, even the thought of future side effects... pales in comparison to what most of us have gone through before the injections existed.

It is a vicious circle. Who on earth wants to spend their life being miserable, hungry and anxious, surrounded by tempting treats and judgmental stares at the same time? If we're fat we get the disgusted comments and stares. If we enjoy a tasty treat people think we're disgusting. If we're losing weight we can't enjoy it, because we can't fucking stop thinking of the food we're missing, and the weight loss is so slow and frustrating that it takes ages for anyone to even see the difference. Our only options are misery, in different packages.

How are we not going to love the injections? They offer us what we never thought we'd have! Rapid weight loss, no food noise, easy dieting. The body we never thought we'd see on the mirror. Of course, deep inside, we know this is too good to be true. But right NOW, it is so good, and so true, that our brain does not even want to consider the future.

I have no solution for this. I don't think there is any right now. If maintaining the weight using diet was possible, then we wouldn't need the injections to start with, right? Everyone would be just dieting. And succeeding. But we're not.

Why do you think GLP-1s are too good to be true’? There are even more effective versions coming on stream soon, which allow even greater weight loss, existing meds will come in pill form and evidence of lifesaving health benefits keeps on coming. The drugs slash the risk of Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart attacks and strokes, fatty liver disease and more. So what if most people need to take them for life in some form to sustain the benefits? The same is true of statins or blood pressure medications. The main downside is the price, but this is likely to fall over time. When the pills cost as little as statins, the NHS wil be able to prescribe more widely and they will be more affordable privately.

My weight issue is nothing to do with UPFs. I'm vegan and have always cooked from scratch and generally avoided UPF. My weight issue is related to plenty. There is no scarcity of the food I enjoy eating and therefore I eat too much of it because of my giant appetite and compulsion to feel full before I am satiated.

This is such a brilliant post, thank you.

Saw this yesterday - more positive than their article last week!

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/may/17/weight-loss-drugs-altering-views-how-body-brain-work?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKWXfRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHtQ0S4bP2d2cjhHwAP6Lpv_goJwCjwVp2ZpS44l85nY4GuSAXTuNiwU3bzEK_aem_I4Uj4Zb4pXab28TCjNXe6Q#Echobox=1747469520

Hi everyone — I’ve been reading along for a while and finally felt brave enough to post.

I lost just over 4 stone on Mounjaro and have been off it for about three months now. So far, I’ve managed to maintain, but this “after” phase definitely comes with its own set of challenges. The appetite is starting to creep back in, and I’ve found it’s just as much about headspace as it is about food.

When I was on the jabs, I really saw it as an opportunity to reset — not just how I eat, but how I think. I worked hard on changing my habits around food: better portions, more protein, fewer UPFs, slowing everything down. But the mindset shift was huge too — letting go of the guilt, the all-or-nothing thinking, and the panic after every small slip.

I’ll be honest, the cost of Mounjaro played a big part. Knowing I was making that kind of financial investment really sharpened my focus (and my husband’s — he was on it too). I didn’t want to waste it, and that pushed me to make changes that would actually stick. Let’s see what I’m posting this time next year…

Now that I’m off it, I’m trying to hold onto those habits and that way of thinking. Some days I get it right, others not so much — but overall, I feel more grounded than I used to. I don’t believe diet alone is enough. For me, it’s equal parts mindset — and honestly, that’s the tough bit.

This is what makes me so dubious… what doesn’t this wonder drug do? It seems like every day there’s some new headline on how amazing these drugs are - what illness doesn’t it supposedly reduce your risk of and cure? It all seems just too good to be true to me.

Do you think the research is made up?

I do wonder if the funding is quite as transparent as it seems.

It makes you dubious? With your medical biochemistry and research degrees i assume??

Come on – as a GP you will be more aware than most how drug manufacturers regularly fund scientific studies that will put their products in a good light. The makers of Mounjaro are no different! This article confirms it – they funded this study.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/11/people-using-drug-mounjaro-sustain-weight-loss-over-three-years-trial-finds

People were probably dubious at the invention of synthetic insulin to treat diabetes, at antibiotics to kill infections, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, at vaccines to stop the spread of disease, hand washing with soap was a radical idea at some point, clean water even! Never mind medical proceedures such as transplants, and scanners that can show whats happening inside a body etc. This is one of the biggest medical break throughs, if we can stop obesity, the knock on effect is massive. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, non-healing leg ulcers, etc etc will all decrease which will save the NHS billions. Non-healing leg ulcers cost the NHS £8.3 BILLION in 2020, that number increases year on year, and that is one small area of health care impacted by obesity. The potential reach of weight controlling medications is massive. Its OK to be dubious about a relatively new medication, especially with how media is and is portraying it. But it is potentially absolutely game changing within society and the possibilities are amazing.

I think we have to be mindful and have a leeway of 4/7lbs and if gain that you know need to stop and take action asap

far easier to lose 4/7lbs then 3/6stone

and yes if weight creeps on. You cut down - looks at what eating - add extra exercise etx

Silly me. I wish I'd known that every time I gained an extra half stone. I would never have got to 18st if I had just realised it was so simple. Thank you

You’re extraordinarily negative, @BurnoutGP ! As someone who is maintaining off the jabs, and as someone who does have a PhD in biochemistry, I feel justified in saying that. You seem to think our weight is something entirely independent and we cannot change it at all.

I think you said earlier your BMI was 46. In that case you are quite different to those of us who used the jabs to lose 2-3 stone and can maintain. For us, weighing daily and taking action when we put in 4lb is possible

That's entirely and exactly my point in fact. Which would see obvious.
Those with significant amounts to lose I would suggest a BMI over 35 or 40, most likely have some underlying issue whatever it may be affecting their ability to lose weight.
So those who are naturally slim or indeed those with lesser amounts to lose because they have just let their diet slip/been stressed/menopausal etc really just don't seem to be able to fathom what the morbidly obese are saying. It really is just not as simple as the trite nonsense repeatedly and annoyingly muttered. As if it never occurred to us to "eat less/move more/eat healthily/learn new habits" blah blah blah. We know all this. Obviously.
I have lost and gained the same 5 stone since I was 15 probably. And an extra half stone each time.
I ** know what i need to do. But have never been able to do it or sustain it.
Mounjaro is the only time I have ever had the slightest bit of control over my eating and weight.
I am actually incredibly positive and thankful and sing it's praises to everyone.
But am sick to the back teeth of being told I can and should just learn to eat better. As if it has never occurred to me that was how I could lose weight.
Can you not see how painful and patronising that can be.

I'm in the same boat as BurnoutGP, starting BMI well into the 40s, obese all my life (since early childhood). I cannot see that I would ever be able to maintain off the meds. My body's default has always been obesity. I suspect that is quite different to someone who had a normal weight for much of their life but put on weight following a stressful event, pregnancy or menopause etc.

Different solutions are going to be needed for different people.

There is no suggestion that that poster was talking to you, and not to people like me on the thread.

It's a little ironic for you to expect me to understand how you can maintain your weight without you understanding how I cannot