What happens when people stop the injections?

[IndigoBluey]

Just this really, when you reach your desired weight following the course of weight loss injections, do you stop taking the injections whilst sticking to a much healthier way of eating? I’m genuinely curious as to how it works in the long term. A friend of mine had stomach surgery a few years ago to shrink her stomach and very rapidly went from 18 to 9 stone, but then put a lot of weight back on gradually, to then start on WL injections. I suppose my question is when you know you are finished with needed the injections?

She might not ever stop. Many people won’t.

@Back21970 the more spikey responses are due to the sheer number of times questions like this are asked on this forum, by people who are some combination of ignorant, rude, judgemental, or just plain unpleasant. They use an apparently innocent opening post to then post according to their particular agenda.

As others have said, a simple bit of basic investigation on the internet would reveal the answers to these questions, as would following through with a little bit of critical thinking.

"I have a friend that wants to go on the jabs thinking it’s a quick easy fix and that you don’t need to bother about portion control or exercise.

I reckon that if you believe that then every pound lost will go back on the minute you stop as you’ve made no efforts to change what made you overweight in the first place."

I think your friend would have to be wilfully ignorant to ignore all the information provided by prescribers before, during and after getting a prescription. They would also find that portion control can happen without intending to do so on WLI, as that's part of the effect. If your portions aren't reducing then you are unlikely to lose weight after all! Of course, if you stop a diet and don't continue any changes, then you may regain weight. Exercise isn't vital, there are several posters here who have physical challenges and cannot do much at all in the way of exercise, who have still lost significant amounts of weight. Of course it's beneficial, as with any other diet plan. I wonder if people who start WW/SW or other organised diet groups get told that they need to exercise otherwise it's pointless?

None of that is a reason for your obese friend not to try WLI. Maybe you could show her some information about how WLI work and that portion control is indeed part of the process, as it doesn't remove the body fat on its own.

I’m not sure that I ever had ‘food noise’. I was obese because of a life changing injury that meant I was bed bound for a long time, combined with a depression that resulted from the events surrounding it. Basically for a period of time I ate too much and moved too little, so put on weight. I then maintained that weight for a few years. When I tried to lose weight by eating fewer calories than I burned I just felt ravenous and weak.
Now I’m no longer on MJ I’m burning the same amount of calories as I consume, so that feeling has gone. Basically I find it easy to maintain a weight (whatever it is), but really hard to lose it.

I have tried to ‘educate’ them. They are not interested - they think it’s easy for me as Ive never been obese.

I’ve actually been on a diet more or less all my adult life just trying to keep my weight stable.

If I didn’t lose every half stone I’ve put on at holidays and Christmas I’d be very big indeed now.

Truth is some folk are looking for a quick fix and for it to be easy and truth is it’s anything but, unfortunately.

I think if your friend is obese, @Back21970 , and has likely been for a while then she will be aware that it is not easy or quick to lose weight and keep it off. She might be mistaken that WLI are quick and easy. They don't make anything quicker, you lose weight by being in a consistent calorie deficit. It's the consistency that can make it seem like it's "quick", as most people fall off conventional weight loss programmes and can then yo-yo back up again.

But what's great is that your friend now has an option to try to see if she can lose the weight and move out of obesity into a healthy weight range. I think that's fortunate rather than unfortunate for her. Even if she finds she regains when she stops, she can continue to take the medication and eventually figure out how to manage her weight in a sustainable way.

You probably find them bizarre because, as someone who's never been obese, you are missing the necessary context and understanding. Currently/formerly obese people on WLIs are the ones best placed to speak on this issue.

It's good that you want to help your friend. There are lots of different ways to be obese and I think the best advice varies according to circumstances. Some of us do actually have a pretty good time of it using them as an appetite suppressant, but that's when it was the portion control that was the problem in the first place. Sometimes simply switching the urge to eat down solves the problem, other times there's something else. Perhaps you could encourage her to come on here? We get a lot of people on this board wondering if WLIs are right for them and there's generally posters willing to answer questions.

It’s odd isn’t it, no one goes on the slimming world or low carb sub forums asking what happens when you stop or will your face look old, but simply due to the success of these drugs, it’s like posters often salivate asking it.

it’s like please please tell me you will get fat again and look decades older as I can’t cope otherwise,

PP who have said that if they find themself gaining after stopping they will just go back on to maintenance doses, be careful. As things are at the moment you may not be able to. You can get maintenance doses prescribed if you stay on it (I do, have been at stable goal weight, BMI 21, for six months now and am still getting 2.5mg MJ with no problem). But if you come off and then try to go back on after some time, with a BMI too low to qualify to start, you won't get it. It is illogical but that this the state of affairs at the moment.

Of course it is.

My first response was deleted and I’m genuinely not sure why. It’s obvious a large and vocal group of posters bloody love it when a ‘friend’ of theirs (and that is in inverted commas yes) loses weight then gains it again. It’s like losing £5 and finding £50!

I think a lot of them give you up to a year now.

I personally did actually find it incredibly "easy" to lose weight on MJ, I won't lie. I did not suffer in any way, so have not said to anyone things like "you still have to put in the work" etc. That wasn't true for me, I put in precisely no work apart from the physical act of giving myself the injection. The weight fell off without me even thinking much about it. After the first week I didn't even count calories. But so what, why is that bad? A medication worked well for the condition it was prescribed for and the patient had a good experience. What is the problem there? Why do we all have to say, oh it wasn't an easy way out you know? For some, it was. So what.

@TheRealGoose my provider has not said anything about there being a time limit. I hope not! MJ has cured my menopausal hot flushes as well!

I just checked my provider's website and they say "you can stay on this medication indefinitely".

I have it in writing from Swift doctor that I may restart within 12 months of my last order with them providing I am still bmi above 21. I believed there are a few now offering similar - possibly Pharmulous, Cloud, Oushk but I don’t know details for those.

@monjmaintainer Ah, that is good news. Things must be getting more logical now!

Well, same, but I know what that statement means. It depends on your interpretation of the word ‘work’, really.

If you mean ‘work’ as in ‘you have to make an effort; people will offer you cakes and pizzas and you’ll desperately want them but will have to say no, you’ll have to sit with a Diet Coke on an evening out while your mates drink wine and cocktails; you will have to forgo your chicken nuggets and fries if you make a pit stop at McDonald’s and sometimes you will break and hate yourself and binge eat and then feel horrendous the next day and either get back on it or self sabotage again and again ending up fatter than you were’ then no, it isn’t work in that sense.

But it is still work as in, you still have to go through the motions, you have to reduce calories. Mounjaro just makes that possible.

I started Mounjaro on the 1st August. My DH stabbed me (ooh!) at around midday. That evening I was at a friends’ house and takeaway pizza was ordered, I didn’t even notice it. That’s literally never happened before

I like being slimmer and I really don't want to have to lose weight again, so that is motivation enough.

unless you are an outlier, if you come off the injections, studies show that almost everyone will regain the weight. It’s as simple as that.

what it’s not as simple as is telling yourself ‘ ohh I now understand that cakes will make me gain weight, I never knew this before!’ … I didn’t need to learn about nutrition and exercise - I could literally write a book about it!

the medication changes processes in the body and it is this that does a lot of the heavy lifting with weight loss and maintaining. You come off the jabs - the weight will go on. And it is approximately a 2 year period before you can say you’ve maintained your weight -so nobody will ultimately be able to answer the question for you yet:

as for me - I started in April 2024 and reached my target of 9 and a half stone in December 2024. I’ve lost 5 and a half stone.

I’ve maintained this weight all year but crucially with MJ’s help still. I take between 5mg and 10mg a week, all depending on how I’m feeling. I’d like to work this down to 2.5 a week so this is my plan for the new year

so my advice is to do yourself a favour and don’t kid yourself: I really really hope you do maintain on your own but sadly the science is stacked against us all and the sooner we accept that the better probably

I’m not sure that’s wholly accurate you wrote it like your body just gets fat again if you stop. It’s not true. You need to revert back to over eating. Yes weight regain is the majority, but it is on normal diets too, 80 percent of people who diet regain. 97 percent of folks on slimming world regain. 95 percent on weight watchers, it’s simply folks can’t sustain it long term, so staying on the drugs enables you to do that, otherwise it’s hugely likely yoy will regain.

im staying on as well, im under no illusion i can maintain my slim body on my own, slowly I will start to eat more, bad day, good day, holidays, and the weight will come back and then dieting to get rid of it is hard, sure its easy to say gain half a stone cut back but id never have got fat in the first place if I could do that.

plus quite frankly i dont want to live like that, its fucking miserable, I’ve had a life time of it. This is the first time I’ve been happy with my body, and I don’t spend my days depriving myself, obsessing about the scales, or feeling guilty. I eat healthy, stop when I’m full, have occasional treats but one does, and it doesn’t cross my mind again, if I’m out for dinner or drinks I can easily cur back the next day, and if I struggle I can tweak up the meds, drop a couple of pounds, and go back to my maintainance dose.

I would assume it would be easy for weight to go back on gradually if there’s no overall change to the person’s diet…

Honestly this is why I stopped bothering with the MN Mounjaro ‘support’ threads… everyone was so keen to tell me i was kidding myself and would put the weight back on. The opposite of support, really.
A year on, I’m 2lbs lower than when I finished. I can’t see what’s going to happen in the next 12 months that would lead me to putting the 4 stone back on, but we’ll see 🤷🏻‍♀️. Fundamentally, whether I put the weight back on or not is within my control.

You can say that about any diet. Everyone changes their diet on weight loss injections, everyone diets, we eat healthy and clean. Otherwise you’re quite unwell. Thats not the issue , it’s maintaining it, just like stopping any other diet.

Absolutely, and congratulations that’s a real achievement, but like anyone who loses weight, you are in the minority. It’s actually 5 years not two, but I believe you will keep it off, as 20 percent of people who lose weight on any diet do keep the weight off, 80 percent regain within 5 years,

I lost 60lb on MJ and I am pleased to say that I have kept it off for 10 months and also lost 12 more lbs. I tried to change my eating habits, work out other options for eating and taking more exercise.

I've only got my own experience to go off, but I've been off it 5 months now. My weight fluctuates between the weight I stopped at and 4 pounds higher depending on hormones etc, but has stayed steady since.

My appetite has come back considerably and I have definitely not had any kind of dramatic shift in my bingey approach to food, unfortunately - I still have a really hard time making sensible food choices that I didn't struggle with while I was on it. However, I lost 5 stone and have an entire new wardrobe and so I do have that keeping me 'in line' as it were - so I do think that has helped rein me in a bit, because I can't afford to do it all over again.

It's both been a miracle and not a miracle for me. Miraculous in that I lost weight for the first time in my life and varying health issues have cleared up, which is amazing. Worth every penny. Not miraculous in that now I've stopped, I am so, so so keen never to put the weight back on that I think about food and what I'm eating all the time, which isn't much fun.