Maintenance - whats your regime / which provider are you with?

[strongermummy]

Morning WL warriors!
looking for advice on maintenance providers.

since Christmas I’ve brought my BMI down from 30 to 23.5, losing a whopping 25% of my bodyweight! I started on MJ in February and got up to the heady heights of 8.3 dose. I purchased both a 10 and a 12.5 pen but in the end found 10 far too strong. I am currently planning to reduce to 7.5 and see how I get on.

I’ve been getting pens from Pharmacy2U and the occasional one from Zava.
I’m now considering what I should do going forward as I don’t want to put back on the weight I have lost.

What do you do and, if you are still using WLI, which provider are you with?

Would you recommend your approach to maintenance? why?
would you recommend your provider? Why?
what are you paying for this?

TIA

I’ve slowly come down from 10, got down to 2.5, but after a recent holiday gain and drinking more alcohol, went back to 3.75 and have actually taken 5 today as I know I’ve been eating/drinking too much and seem to currently have lots of events to attend.
I always struggle with the winter transition, short days, lack of light, makes me want to eat carbs and drink.
I generally have a very healthy diet, (I’m a Zoe member so use a lot of their recipes) but feel like winter is much harder, so that’s why I’ve upped my dose, I need to get on top of it before it becomes a problem.
I didn’t think I’d take it forever, but I’m now wondering when ill be able to come off, maybe I could do it in springtime.
I’m with Oushk and order every 6 weeks, I like all the extra support they give and I joined them almost a year ago as they were one of the earliest maintenance providers.

I'm 9st 3lbs bmi 22.9, dropped from 15mg to 7.5mg, which is ok for now, still lost 7lbs after dropping down.
I'm on Oushk conti plan, want to get to 9st, slowly increasing cals then hopefully drop down to 5mg in future possibly after Xmas. I bought 1.7mg wegovy pen a month ago when I was on 10mg, hoping to try that to see if it reduces hair loss and helps with the low energy and motivation. I'll stay on WLI until spring and hope to carry on with tracking food and good lifestyle changes including finally starting exercise this week. 13 months on WLI lost 29.5% body weight but not exercised at all as exhausted daily with full time working and a 2-3hr daily commute on top! Swift and pharmulous, as well as oushk, also offer maintenance plans including being able to come off but restart within 12 months anytime, which would be great when coming off completely.

I was on ten, did an extra month on that, whilst reverse dieting, ie increasing cals by 100 odd a week, then moved to 7,5 doing the same fill I hit maintenance cals , now on 5mg for the last six months or so, am over six stone down and weight v stable. I usually go out for dinner every two weeks and socialise with friends most weeks, and weight is completely stable as I’m in control the rest of thr time.

However i was out for dinner 4 times last week due to work, and the same for lunches and ir was 5 restaurant lunches out, and I had wine, each night, so this morning I went up to 5.6mg , as will now get myself back on goal, I was up 2 lbs this morning, which is mainly fluid, but I just need a little extra to get my appetite back in check this week.

this is how I will manage it, I will maintain steadily but holidays etc weeks away I will eat and drink as I please and then pull it back after, with a little nudge up in the meds, if I feel I need it.

look a monj.co.uk for maintenance pharmacies.

edit to add, bmi is 20.

I reached goal 6 months ago having lost 8 1/5 stone and just over half my body weight.

For the first 6 weeks, I stayed on 10mg but continued to lose so dropped to 7.5 for 4 weeks. Again, I continued to lose so dropped down to 5.

After 8 weeks of feeling quite comfortable, I decided to push things a bit and dropped to 3.75. 3 weeks later, I gave up and added the extra 1.25 back in as I was gaining weight and starting to snack a lot. I can eat pretty much what I like, am hungry for meals but easily satiated and generally feel rather fabulous!

So 5mg it is for now.

I am open to fluctuations and changes and aware that nothing is set in stone.

I lost initially on MJ, then switched to Weg for maintenance (I'm with Voy). I though Weg was a complete waste of money - virtually no food noise reduction, which is the main factor for me. A little appetite suppression, but nothing compared with MJ.

I've switched back to MJ, and intend to do 2.5/5 mg every third month until - hopefully - I can stop and just manage healthy eating without WLI.

I reached a weight I’m happy with 3 months ago having lost 6+ stone. I am reducing the dose, hoping to come off MJ completely if possible but will stay on a maintenance dose if I find I need it.

I’m currently on 6mg. I have a little stash of pens to work through as I continue to reduce, and have bought the last two from Swift and Pharmulous, both of which allow you to restart Mounjaro within a year of your last prescription as long as BMI is over 21. So I will see how I feel as I continue to reduce the dose, maybe try coming off altogether in the spring, with the safety net of being able to restart any time before Oct/Nov next year if I need to.

Does,your provided approve your little nudges up or are you doing that independent of them? I wish providers were more flexible in relation to off licence dosing/schedules etc. Thanks

@gallivantsaregood I personally don’t find it necessary to inform my provider of every single ‘nudge’ I make to my medication. They are constrained by official prescribing guidelines and risk losing their licences if they publicly condone off label prescribing. Their hands are basically tied in this respect.

In conversation with them, I may mention some tweaks but never expect them to officially approve it.

@IReallyNeedThisToWorkthanks. I was just curious. I don't mention my tweaks but wondered if perhaps some flexibility was starting to come through,more like mainland Europe.

I recently moved to MMP from SOP as I was very close to being in maintenance. I’m now in maintenance but between my last order and now, I’ve had a bit of a whoosh of weight come off and my BMI has suddenly gone from 22.3 to 20.8 😱so I’m not even sure I can continue on maintenance now because I’m sure that both pharmacies I have been using stop it at a BMI of 21/22.

I’m gonna check online and have a word with them and see what I can do. Ideally I didn’t want to go back to SOP after their price rise again.

I can do that easily on a 5mg pen, due to the extra dose, but yes I think all maintenance pharmacies let you move up or down a dose if you require. However I am self sufficient enough that I do not ask my prescriber if I can take 0.6mg extra one week after about 18 months on it.

There’s a really good maintenance thread for support running :)

im pretty much at goal, have been very slowly losing over the last three months. I’m on 12.5 with oushk and will start my taper after Christmas.

I’ve seen the thread but it’s hard to read & get what I want from it. As it is a well established thread with regulars on it!!!

Do come and throw yourself in if you fancy it, people do join at different points and it’s really supportive.