On it for life then.........😐

[Ihavesomeballs]

I've lost 11kg on Mounjaro. I wasn't obese to start with but I'm tiny, 5ft 1 inch. I'm now just in the healthy weight BMI. I stopped my 5mg dose for 3 weeks as I had to wait till payday to order my next pen. In that time I wasn't eating any more than usual but I put on 2kg. So I guess I'm on it for life......which sucks as it's bloody expensive. Anyone else??

Yes. I’m 3 inches shorter than you and will be on it for life. I’m maintaining easily now for over 6 months. I’ve tinkered around with longer between doses occasionally and can usually add a couple of days on at the end fairly frequently. Yes I eat more the last couple of days, only 200 calories makes the difference to me as my maintenance calories is 1000.

It’s insane how few calories we actually need to eat isn’t it?!

It's unlikely that it will all be fat, much more likely the inflammation back, still a reason to take it though imo, it helps massively with my painful joints because of this.

Not necessarily, although you might want to stay on it for the health condition that meant you qualified for Mounjaro whilst not being obese.

You may find that it is easier to maintain if you don't stop abruptly and instead try slowly tapering off it whilst adjusting what you eat. And the PP is right that it is unlikely you have put on 2kg of fat during this time, if you weren't eating more than you had been on Mounjaro.

You could also consider swapping to Wegovy for a period of maintenance instead of Mounjaro, due to the costs.

This isn't a surprise surely? It's well known that it's something you will rely on upon forever unless you put in the work to do what it does for you? It's an aid to help you change your relationship with your eating ,not a one and done cure.

Well done for getting to your target weight!
I'm sorry, I haven't got anything helpful to add, I'm just interested in the replies too. I have read a few people on this board who have managed to maintain without it, so don't be too despondent. You might find a way, and it won't always be this expensive if you need it in the future.

I’ll be on it long term, but it’s treating my PCOS, which can’t be fixed by ‘fixing my relationship with food’ or the usual tropes.

Like most WL methods, once you stop doing the ‘thing’, the weight comes back. Especially for people that are obese.

Thank god there’s a treatment for it now that isn’t going anywhere, and will be become cheaper and more accessible for everyone in the near future.

My blood pressure became normal initially but it's gone back up now to the previous levels despite the weigh loss. I still have 3kg to lose till target then I might go on to Wegovy.

3 weeks is a very short sample to see how your weight would balance out. I think putting on a few pounds is pretty standard tbh and you may not have gained any more, particularly as you were eating no differently.

My TDEE calculates my calories as 1,300 to lose weight but I've previously done this calorie amount and not lost any weight. It's definitely controlling my sugar levels.

I know I'm just worried that without the medication I'll be as heavy as I was without it. I kind of poo pooed the idea that I couldn't maintain my weight loss without the medication but it appears I can't. 😐

In that time I wasn't eating any more than usual but I put on 2kg.

I struggle with my weight so no judgement but i am not buying it.

MJ / wegovy dont increase metabolism

That about 4lbs which is 14k calsy

It improves insulin sensitivity, I'm insulin resistant. I was a keto, fasting person for years. Now I can eat carbs and lose weight on this medication.

My friend lost about 5 stones on it.
She stopped for 3 weeks and the weight is coming back, says already gained a stone.

There would still be medication in your friends system. Is she really hungry?

A stone in 3 weeks?! What is she eating???

I don't intend to be on it for life. I have been on MJ since May, and I'm having a week off this week as I had a month of zero loss. I'm trying to listen to my hunger this week and really sticking to my TDEE, which I haven't quite managed.

What I have found is yes, I'm hungry if I stop and think «do I feel hungry?" Do I need to eat until I'm full? No. Can I avoid food with a cup of tea or s mint? Yes. So, although it's not easy or mindless, I can do this.

I am obese however. I'm not looking to get to my lowest bmi. My intention is to maintain and only go back on for short bursts if my weight goes up by 7lbs.

Honestly I can't live like this and if it's a case if putting it all back on after this I will be considering surgery. The thought of paying £300 a month for MJ isn't appealing either.

After 3 weeks there will still be a small amount of medication in your system so you may well feel some effects. Weight gain is likely to be from increased inflammation due to reduced levels of medication.

I AM staying on for life. I never want to go back to the exhaustion of having to battle my own brain about eating. Maintenance so far has been about finding a dose on which I can eat enough to maintain my weight, build some muscle and yet still have a quiet brain.

I said early on that even if I never lost another pound (I did, 121 of them in the end!) I wanted to stay on this medication or whatever comes after purely for the mental peace it has given me!

I fluctuate within a 2kg window depending on how many carbs I eat. I think you need to undershoot by 2kg and then see if you can stay in that window. I weigh myself every day.

Once I get to goal I'm going to reduce my dose to 2.5mg and try stretching out my injections to 10 days and see how I get on. That's still going to be £130 every 6 weeks. It's so unfair that we have to fund this medication ourselves.

Wow that’s really unusual, not least as the drug stays in your system for 3o days. I assume she has some form of eating disorder and didn’t resolve it when on the meds?

or did you make it up?

Snap @IReallyNeedThisToWork I feel the same about he exhaustion of battling our own brains. For years I beat myself up thinking I was a failure for not sticking to diets and had no willpower around food but MJ has changed all that and I'm 43 pound down in 7 months! There's been so many other weight loss benefits aswell, mainly my head is quiet and I have more focus, I'm less anxious and worry less, my periods are lighter and this is coming from someone who couldn't leave the house on day 1 of period before MJ even with prescription medication for periods, some minor bowel issues I had have cleared up, my excema has gone that steroid cream couldn't fix, my plantar fascitis is better and it got better too quickly to be down to weight loss entirely, my early gym disease has disappeared. The weight loss is almost a side effect! I e also been able to decrease my thyroid medication and my period meds.

I'm staying on as long as I can, may switch to wegovy for maintenance. If it was just working on weight loss I'd consider stopping when I get to a healthy weight but for all the other benefits I'm staying on. Plus obesity is a chronic condition just like my under active thyroid and I don't stop taking the thyroid tablets just because my thyroid is stable now as it would go dodgy again just like if I stop MJ I believe the weight will go back on and probably all the other things it's cured aswell!

One think to bear in mind is this - if you lose muscle on any diet - MJ or otherwise, after you stop dieting the body really really wants to gain the muscle back hence desire to eat. You can cheat this effect by increasing the muscle lost in a control way (weightlifting, high protein, keeping calories at maintainance)

I’ve been on it for 2.5 years. Lost 5 stone (most of that within the first year). Each time I try to wean myself off I gain weight quite quickly.
However, I have realised that I have no strength at all. I have fitness but no strength.
My plan is to weight train to build the muscle back whilst still on the jabs.
I can’t maintain £300pm. I have a 15/12/10 pens in my fridge and have just ordered a 1.7mg Wegovy pen. I will continue to buy Wegovy pens over the next few months until I have a year or so supply. Buying the 2.4mg pens but taking low as possible doses, using the bonus dose etc.
Fingers crossed it works!! I am desperate not to be big again.

I'm staying on it for as long as possible, life if I can. I switched to Wegovy 2 months ago because it is cheaper, and in that time I have gained 10lb back and my head feels as heavy and horrible as it did before. I have now gone back to mounjaro and will stick with this regardless of cost. I hate the negative press and misunderstanding around weight loss medication, if people truly knew what it was like to be in the head of an obese person then maybe they'd shut up with the judgement. I've had the best year, yes I've lost weight and got down to a healthy BMI for the first time in my life, but more importantly than that, my brain was quiet. I had a life that didnt revolve around food and obsessing about what i'm going to eat or where my next meal is coming from, it was bliss. To be honest, even if there are long term as yet undiscovered side effects that shorten my life, i'll take them over the life I had before, that was no life.