Anyone else found that Mounjaro isn't really working for them?

[ThumbTowers]

After high hopes, I am really disappointed. Have been injecting 2.5mg for 4 weeks and now taken my second dose of 5mg. So on my 6th week altogether and have lost 2lbs. Basically nothing! I am so sad reading all of these stories about people losing a stone a month etc. And I know you need to control what you eat etc at the same time. But surely I can conclude that this just isn't a drug that's going to work for me?? I am not sure whether to bother moving up to 7.5mg to see if that makes a difference or just give up now....

If you’re on any of the Facebook support groups you’ll see there’s a large number of people who think this drug melts the fat off them and that they can still eat they way they have been.
Counting your calories “is” easy, sticking to them is not. I’m a binger and a sugar fiend, I know how difficult it is but all mounjaro does is suppress your appetite or slow your digestion enough that you don’t feel the need to binge or overeat. You still need to put a bit of work in for it to work unless you have high suppression.

I have been in it since Feb. I’m about to start 10mg injection and I felt the same. I’ve started the gym tracking calories, drinking insane amounts of water. I started at 19.8 and I’m now 17.10 I go to the gym 4 times a week and can now run 3k without stopping! I’m disappointed as know I would have lost this with the gym alone anyway. But I no longer constantly think about food (I have ARFID so beige, dry diet) i genuinely have tried new foods I never would have because I know I have to on the jabs etc. I am hoping I will see a bigger drop on 10mg (I’m hoping for another stone at least!) but hve read that some people need higher doses to lose. Keep going xx

My personal experiences - sharing not telling...

Counted the calories (myFitnessPal helped) but made sure to avoid triggering body starvation mode.

Stayed well hydrated - lots more water (fizzy from Aldi was an easier take on)

At some dose the weight loss slowed or even plateaued (a few healthy larger than normal meals actually kicked start the loss again)

Always use a MJ pen that's more than 6 months before expiry (obvs can't prove this, just suspect it)

Grok xAI was able to refine my responses and provide info that was really helpful.

Hope OP achieves a healthly weight loss target. 👍

That’s amazing! Well done on your weight loss 😁 but not everyone is you, some people need more help and weighing and tracking your food is quite literally proven to help, especially if people are not as educated on their food like I was.

With all due respect, this is nonsense. I have lost a stone in 4 weeks on MJ without doing any tracking at all. Previously, I’ve lost up to 3 stone by low-carbing, without counting a single calorie. There are other, and imo, better ways of watching your intake than calorie counting. Not all calories are equal in the way that your body processes them and not all calories are equal in making you feel full or crave more. What is much better is learning to know what is good for your body, how to listen to your body and how to be kind to your body.

Taking it on and off is a sure fire way not to get the benefit of it. And if the suppression is so strong for you at 2.5mg, why on earth did you increase the dose?!

Well I’ve lost 5stone so I clearly am getting the benefit from it?

it was during my first time taking it and increased the dose as recommended. When I stopped and restarted I found I didn’t need to increase so I’ve just been taking a months worth of 2.5 on and off for the last 15 months or so

It’s very very weird to say calorie counting is nonsense? It’s quite literally scientifically accurate that calories out and calories in is how you create a deficit, and thus lose weight? What works for one may not work for another though, in terms of how you achieve that deficit, I can appreciate that. But calories in calories out is quite literally how anybody loses weight. You can’t change my mind on that. It is a fact.

Thanks for your contributions everyone. It is helpful to see some varied responses here and to see I am not completely alone with the slow (no) progress. I will:

• recalculate my TDEE (can't remember what it was the last time I did it)
• track my food so that I am eating under
• up my fluids
• continue upping the doses (although accept if it's not working at the higher levels I'll have to stop, no point paying if it doesn't work! Although will have a blood sugar check before stopping as it may be helping that, even if it's not helping the weightloss)
• join the weightloss injections thread for my month and see how others are finding it

I was the same. Moved up to every single dosage. Lost some weight because I was vomited up a lot of my meals due to side effects.

The people asking about what your eating/calories doesn’t make sense. You could just do that without the injection. You’re obviously using this to feel different about eating and it’s not working

I've been on it 8 months ,now reaching 15 mg
I've lost 6 stone
But ...I calorie count up to 1000 calories a day
I am hungry all day and all night
I have two 500 calorie meals a day .
Currently thinking I can do this alone
I am not convinced it's massively helped me either

I have lost 2.5 stone so far and also not tracked a thing. The last thing I wanted was to replace food noise with diet noise. This works for me. Others will absolutely have to track and may well enjoy it.

Find the way that works for you, OP, and good luck.

I’ve been a slow looser 1lb per week average and to loose have to track calories and drink a lot of water. I’d just work up through the doses and use the time to get used to calorie counting and drinking plenty. 3rd week on 5mg was the most brutal for me and when weight loss really kicked in and actually had to stay on 5 for most of my journey, it sounds like it’s early days for you.

I think the calorie tracking idea is interesting but controversial. I know that for me calorie counting is a very bad idea - I know exactly what and how much I should eat. I just didn't. Calorie counting, tracking, weighing etc. would take me right back to obsessing over food in an unhealthy way. A different obsession to before but still an unhealthy amount of time spent thinking about food, just more 'food noise' if you like. The bonus of semaglutide for me is the ability to not have to think about what I eat. My natural choices are reasonably healthy anyway, now I just eat less and don't keep sabotaging myself with unhealthy extras due to the monster in my brain craving sugar. The monster is dead! A further bonus is that the cost of the drugs has been largely offset by my changed eating habits. I spend so much less on junk food!

I think you need to look at what your particular problem with food is. Clearly for some of us calorie counting is not the solution and it's clearly not essential, but if your problem is portion control for example rather than self-sabotaging bingeing then maybe pay more attention to food tracking.

However, either way it's too soon to give up. As many have pointed out the low doses have different effects on different people. Your sensitivity may kick in on a higher dose.

I'm intermittent fasting and just gone up from 2.5 to 5mg.

I lost 8lbs in my first month. But it feels like it's stopped working for me. In two months I have lost 13lbs and I'm intermittent fasting. Trying to have 20g of cereal for lunch and a balanced small dinner.

I'm going to try 7.5mg but I was finding it worked better at 2.5mg when I first started. It doesn't feel like it's working right now

It’s not a loading dose. Loading doses refer to medication started at a higher than usual dosage.

Does it not work because it makes you want to eat less and stops the food noise? I don’t think the act of just taking it and carrying on like you were helps, a bit like saying I’ve got a gym membership but it’s not working , oh what exercise do you do? oh no I’m not exercising I just stand in the gym building for a hour, that should make me gain muscle mass shouldn’t it.

Do you do any excercise at all? Have you made modifications to your diet?

Calories in and calories out, sure. How do count your calories out, then? How do you measure what you lose in excretions? How do you measure what you lose in heat? How do you measure what you lose in the different internal chemical reactions? That is the real problem with simple calorie counting, it only measures one half of the equation.

But also, you can be in calorie deficit without doing the counting, which was really my point. The actual calorie tracking system is not necessary for most people to achieve the results, and can actually lead to all kinds of disordered relationship with food. Your post was insistent that people MUST calorie count, and that is what I think is nonsense. There are better ways to think about food successfully and healthily.

Where are you injecting? I think the stomach is more effective than the thigh.

The clinical dose starts from 7.5, the previous doses are to help your body get accustomed to the MJ.

keep going, be diligent and mindful with your food and make sure you’re drinking 3l of water a day

It certainly doesn’t work for me as well as it does for others.
I don’t really get any side effects aside from feeling the cold a bit more and if I’m not careful being a bit constipated.
I still get food noise it’s just different, it’s pretty much like when I was pregnant and I felt ravenous but nauseous and would haunt the kitchen looking for something to sate my craving for food.
I have lost some weight but even my provider agrees it’s nowhere near as much as they’d expect and have been hovering around the same weight for three months now.
My friend has lost almost 6 stone in as many months without counting anything. She is just not hungry most of the time. Doesn’t think about food and you can see her get full and stop eating during a meal.

@MzHz “The clinical dose starts from 7.5” can I ask where you’ve seen this information, as it’s not something that I’ve ever read about Mounjaro.

I was losing, but very slowly, until I reached 7.5mg, then take off...
Honestly just keep going, don't starve yourself but be mindful of what you're eating, it's not just the weight loss either, I just feel "better" in myself and have much higher energy levels.

For me it’s about adjusting my mindset and not rushing through the doses. I have been on MJ since October 2024 and my weight loss average is half a pound a week. In that time I have lost 1 stone 3.5 pounds. I have no doubt if I wasn’t on MJ I’d be even heavier than I was by now. I say this as if been losing the same half stone and then gaining even more for a number of years. So, I’m very happy that my weight loss graph shows a slow but consistent downward trend.It’s going to take me until November to lose the other 13 pounds to goal. That’s okay too. Bear in mind that you’ll probably have some stalls as your body tries to maintain its set point (lots of podcasts on this).
The main reasons for taking it slowly are that I’m hypothyroid and on levothyroxine and a low dose of Sertraline (both of which inhibit weight loss). Not that I have much choice!
MJ has taken away ‘food noise’ and I’ve drastically reduced my portion sizes. It’s changed what I eat which is mainly fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, EVOO, full fat Greek yogurt, some cheese, pulses, grains, herbs and other proteins (mainly chicken and fish). I’ve practically given up bread and don’t tolerate any fried food at all (brings on nausea). I drink 2 - 3 l of water a day. It hasn’t taken away a liking for nice wine or a G&T, but this is controlled now. I never had a sweet tooth and don’t really snack now. I’ve continued to enjoy life throughout - still eating out regularly and going on holiday.
The Zoe nutrition pages and podcasts are very good for explaining the current science behind weight gain and loss and what are the best foods to eat.
I hope you feel better about learning to trust the process and take things slowly - it really is so much more healthy for us.
Good luck!