Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Weight loss injections/treatments

Discuss weight-loss injections and treatments, including personal experiences. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any treatments.

Is there justification for continuing with Mounjaro no for MH reasons even when a healthy BMI?

175 replies

ThisNeedsToWork · 10/11/2025 10:41

So my BMI is now 24, which I’m obviously overjoyed with. My eating habits are better and I’m exercising more. However, I’ve been here before; many times. One of my biggest issues is the food noise. I find it overwhelming to the extent that it actually causes depression. Over the years, I’ve tried anti depressants, none of which addressed the cause for me which was the constant obsession with food and eating. Taking Mounjaro has stopped that, dead. It’s been life changing for me. I had no idea the beneficial effects on my MH would be so profound. As an aside, my joints are so much better too. I’ve been down to this size a few times before in the last 10yrs with no real difference in my aches. So, my question is really whether it would be reasonable to stay on a low dose for the foreseeable not so much for maintenance but rather for the enormous benefits it’s had on my mental health?

OP posts:
SilenceInside · 10/11/2025 11:32

So, these medications are there to make something harder, possible. Which is great for those that want to and can stay on them.

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 11:40

It's possible without them though, if you want it enough. It just depends how much willpower and effort people are prepared to put in, doesn't it.

SilenceInside · 10/11/2025 11:42

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 11:40

It's possible without them though, if you want it enough. It just depends how much willpower and effort people are prepared to put in, doesn't it.

Seriously, this attitude can get in the bin. I am sick to the back teeth of this being smugly told to us fatties, that we just need to want it enough and that it is a personal moral failing that we cannot do what you want us to do in this one area of our lives.

DappledOliveGroves · 10/11/2025 11:44

I’m planning to stay on for life, not just to maintain weight but because I am so much calmer and less angry when on the medication. Not sure if it’s perimenopause or stress but I’ve had so much rage the last few years which has vanished since being on Mounjaro. And I don’t want to deal with battling food noise endlessly, so I’m happy to stay on as long as I can.

Shitzngiggles · 10/11/2025 11:45

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 11:40

It's possible without them though, if you want it enough. It just depends how much willpower and effort people are prepared to put in, doesn't it.

Well I want it enough to justify the money I'm spending on MJ each month. It's literally been life changing for me, I have been yo yo dieting for years. MJ has finally put a stop to that once and for all.

Fatmumslim01 · 10/11/2025 11:46

SilenceInside · 10/11/2025 11:42

Seriously, this attitude can get in the bin. I am sick to the back teeth of this being smugly told to us fatties, that we just need to want it enough and that it is a personal moral failing that we cannot do what you want us to do in this one area of our lives.

Edited

@SilenceInside yes absolutely. I've tried having willpower for 25 years but mj has changed my life 😁

GiveMeWordGames · 10/11/2025 11:52

Isn't it nice that @LizzyEm has bothered to come over to the WLI section and taken the time to give the OP her delightful patronising advice on a topic she demonstrably knows nothing about? Aw, lovely.

HansHolbein · 10/11/2025 11:55

SilenceInside · 10/11/2025 11:42

Seriously, this attitude can get in the bin. I am sick to the back teeth of this being smugly told to us fatties, that we just need to want it enough and that it is a personal moral failing that we cannot do what you want us to do in this one area of our lives.

Edited

It’s like a whack a mole on here sometimes! But yes, it’s getting rather boring.

I think trying hard from the age of 9-34 is more than enough. Eat less, move more? Did it. Worked out TDEE and eaten less? Did it. Calorie counted? Did it. Every single diet under the sun? Did it. Just can’t ever stick it, especially with PCOS always waiting for me in the background.

Maybe I am just an incredibly lazy person, with no will power and for the last 25 years I just haven’t been trying hard enough. I think 25 years is a lot of effort though…

Anyway, I deserve to have it easy for a change. You’re damn right. It’s easy as fuck. I’m not wasting any more of my precious life agonising over it ever again. I don’t have to anymore.

And I deserve every minute of that easiness - as do all of us.

Jezzasballnag · 10/11/2025 11:59

@LizzyEm I wasn't that fat to start with when I started on mj, I just wanted to lose the yo yoing two stone I had hung on to for years.
I admit I wasn't very clued up on how they worked just knew that they were pretty miraculous for most people losing the weight.
As soon as I injected the first time an instant calm came over me and now I have done a lot more research know that it's because mj stops the dopamine seeking, which is why a lot of people with addiction / adhd are finding the surprising effects of mj apart from weight loss.
I think in time it will be found that maybe this drug could be used in that way legit, at the moment obviously it's used for weight loss and prescribed thus, but I think the op is saying that like me it's improved her mental health because she's no longer dopamine seeking.

HansHolbein · 10/11/2025 12:00

GiveMeWordGames · 10/11/2025 11:52

Isn't it nice that @LizzyEm has bothered to come over to the WLI section and taken the time to give the OP her delightful patronising advice on a topic she demonstrably knows nothing about? Aw, lovely.

Yes, these people are odd.

I wonder if they go to the addiction section, or the eating disorder section a tell people to stop drinking or just eat more and move less - because they clearly aren’t trying hard enough. Surely, with anorexia, you just need a bit of will power. They really haven’t tried just eating more. Have they tried working out their TDEE and adding 500 calories a day on to that? Fuck me, I’m sure they haven’t!

I wonder if there was an injection that cured addiction/anorexia, would there be as much faux concern?

Nah, I think it’s just for fat people. There is nothing worse than being fat, according to some.

Instead of losing weight, finally, and reducing so many risks… nope, let’s just stay obese and face the very real risks of that.

Its fucking bizarre, I tell ya!

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 12:02

You dont have to stay obese though. Its not a choice of stay obese or take injections. Its perfectly possible to lose weight without them and keep it off by eating a normal diet. Otherwise no one ever in al lof history would have been a healthy weight or ever lost weight.

Shitzngiggles · 10/11/2025 12:07

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 12:02

You dont have to stay obese though. Its not a choice of stay obese or take injections. Its perfectly possible to lose weight without them and keep it off by eating a normal diet. Otherwise no one ever in al lof history would have been a healthy weight or ever lost weight.

No I now finally after years of yo yo dieting don't have to stay obese, thanks to MJ.

SilenceInside · 10/11/2025 12:08

You're not listening @LizzyEm . It may be possible. It is very very unlikely to happen, by any means. Weight regain, all or a large part, happens for a huge percentage of obese people who lose weight, via any means. So, no, not many obese people manage to lose the weight and keep it off. It is extremely difficult to achieve. Using medication makes it achievable.

I too have been obese since childhood. Yo yoing up and down, as per the others here. I have been briefly a healthy weight at some points, not often and not for very long. The overall long term trend of my weight has been upwards, despite those occasional drops. The last 16 months on Mounjaro have been the longest time I have ever managed to lose weight and keep a steady downwards trend. I would be making poor decisions if I thought I could stop taking it and recreate this on my own.

PearlTeapot · 10/11/2025 12:09

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 12:02

You dont have to stay obese though. Its not a choice of stay obese or take injections. Its perfectly possible to lose weight without them and keep it off by eating a normal diet. Otherwise no one ever in al lof history would have been a healthy weight or ever lost weight.

Just go away, you don't know what you're talking about. Why are you even in the WLI section?

@OP I will take them forever to keep the food noise away, and my inflammation down. They're about so much more than weight loss for me.

TheCowJumped · 10/11/2025 12:11

LizzyEm · 10/11/2025 11:40

It's possible without them though, if you want it enough. It just depends how much willpower and effort people are prepared to put in, doesn't it.

Lizzy, genuine question. Why are you posting about two issues you know nothing about (obesity and WLIs)? Don’t you think your time could be better spent?

WeAllHaveWings · 10/11/2025 12:12

@LizzyEm you’ve wandered into a WLI support thread to stir, not to support.

The idea that people on Mounjaro just need “more willpower” or “less junk” is out of date.

These meds don’t work because they “replicate low carb.” They act on GLP-1 and GIP hormone pathways in the brain and gut, changing the way hunger and reward signals are processed. That’s why people describe the food noise disappearing and why diet alone, however “clean,” never achieved the same effect.

Obesity isn’t just “eating too much”; it’s a chronic, relapsing metabolic condition and recognised as such by the WHO.

Once someone has been obese, their body actively fights to regain weight through changes in appetite hormones, metabolism and brain chemistry. That’s not a willpower issue, it’s physiology.

For many of us staying on a low maintenance dose is reasonable. It’s treating an ongoing condition and improving mental health, not some moral failing needing a lecture.

Maybe read up on it a bit more, without the bias, before parachuting into support threads to educate people, many of whom already know a lot more about this than you do, and understand it through personal experience. No links, because we all know how to google.........

Goldfsh · 10/11/2025 12:19

I'm struggling to come off it. I'm happy with my weight but after two weeks off the drug, my joints are in agony again, my mood is erratic, migraines return and I'm exhausted. I suspect it's keeping my menopause symptoms at bay (I can't have HRT due to fibroids).

I've titrated down to the minimum number of clicks that keeps my joint pain at bay (currently FIVE). It shouldn't really be having much effect, but if I stop completely all the above returns. It's madness!

So in short, YANBU.

BelleEpoque27 · 10/11/2025 12:28

HansHolbein · 10/11/2025 11:55

It’s like a whack a mole on here sometimes! But yes, it’s getting rather boring.

I think trying hard from the age of 9-34 is more than enough. Eat less, move more? Did it. Worked out TDEE and eaten less? Did it. Calorie counted? Did it. Every single diet under the sun? Did it. Just can’t ever stick it, especially with PCOS always waiting for me in the background.

Maybe I am just an incredibly lazy person, with no will power and for the last 25 years I just haven’t been trying hard enough. I think 25 years is a lot of effort though…

Anyway, I deserve to have it easy for a change. You’re damn right. It’s easy as fuck. I’m not wasting any more of my precious life agonising over it ever again. I don’t have to anymore.

And I deserve every minute of that easiness - as do all of us.

Same! Except I'm 44. Have lost weight goodness knows how many times in my life, only to put it back on again when I stop constantly obsessing over it every day. It seems very obvious now that some people are genetically or chemically prone to gain weight due to different levels of leptin. This is why you see some families who are all slim well into old age (my dad's side of the family), while others all struggle with weight gain (my mum's side of the family).

NikkiPotnick · 10/11/2025 12:31

Obviously it's completely reasonable to continue taking beneficial medication to manage your historic obesity rather than regaining the weight, yes.

Periperi2025 · 10/11/2025 12:34

ThisNeedsToWork · 10/11/2025 10:41

So my BMI is now 24, which I’m obviously overjoyed with. My eating habits are better and I’m exercising more. However, I’ve been here before; many times. One of my biggest issues is the food noise. I find it overwhelming to the extent that it actually causes depression. Over the years, I’ve tried anti depressants, none of which addressed the cause for me which was the constant obsession with food and eating. Taking Mounjaro has stopped that, dead. It’s been life changing for me. I had no idea the beneficial effects on my MH would be so profound. As an aside, my joints are so much better too. I’ve been down to this size a few times before in the last 10yrs with no real difference in my aches. So, my question is really whether it would be reasonable to stay on a low dose for the foreseeable not so much for maintenance but rather for the enormous benefits it’s had on my mental health?

I think it is reasonable to stay on Mounjaro for maintenance because peer reviewed studies support this decision, and all health care practioners should be striving to follow evidenced based best practice.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2812936

Littlebitpsycho · 10/11/2025 12:35

LizzyEm can get in the bin with their uneducated comments. I lost nearly 5 stone on mounjaro, switched to wegovy for maintenance and if I need to be on it for life I will be. If that makes me lazy and lacking in 'wanting it enough' then so be it.

Clearly have something going on in their life meaning tearing others down gives them a boost 🤷‍♀️

roshi42 · 10/11/2025 12:38

Do it if you can afford it! The smallest dose instantly removed the inflammation in my body and cured my plantar fasciitis overnight. It does so much more than weightloss.

ThisNeedsToWork · 10/11/2025 12:50

Thank you, (almost) Everyone, for your support.

I think what I’m trying to convey is that even if you could reassure me that I wouldn’t put the weight back on, the absence of such constant horrendous food noise, plus the unexpected improvement in my joints, has such a massive benefit for my mental health that I’d want to stay on it just for those two reasons.

It’s so difficult to explain to people who haven’t experienced the same thing what a huge problem the food noise is. I have a friend who put on 3 stone after having her twins. When they were 3yrs, she successfully lost it again. She had been overweight and now isn’t but because it’s not her natural state; because she hasn’t spent years as an obese adult, she has no concept of what I mean by food noise. She says she was exhausted and lazy and ate junk and put on weight and when she switched back, she lost it again. To her, the trope of ‘eat less and move more’ seems entirely reasonable and logical. It’s difficult to explain to her that the body and brain of an obese person doesn’t work this way. I’m guessing that’s why some posters are baffled by our inability to just use willpower to eat less and exercise more.

OP posts:
ThisNeedsToWork · 10/11/2025 12:56

Jezzasballnag · 10/11/2025 11:59

@LizzyEm I wasn't that fat to start with when I started on mj, I just wanted to lose the yo yoing two stone I had hung on to for years.
I admit I wasn't very clued up on how they worked just knew that they were pretty miraculous for most people losing the weight.
As soon as I injected the first time an instant calm came over me and now I have done a lot more research know that it's because mj stops the dopamine seeking, which is why a lot of people with addiction / adhd are finding the surprising effects of mj apart from weight loss.
I think in time it will be found that maybe this drug could be used in that way legit, at the moment obviously it's used for weight loss and prescribed thus, but I think the op is saying that like me it's improved her mental health because she's no longer dopamine seeking.

Yes, I think you’re spot on about the dopamine seeking behaviour. That ‘calm’ you refer to has literally been life changing for me.

OP posts:
Pumpernickelbrakes · 10/11/2025 12:57

GLP-1s should be viewed IMO as metabolism management medications not “weight loss jabs”. Entirely reasonable to stay on them long term to manage the chronic condition of obesity, diabetes, PCOS, and other related conditions and that is, in fact,what they were designed for. Obesity is a symptom of metabolic dysfunction.