Oh come all ye injectors, slimmer and maintaining, oh come ye, oh come ye to Thread Number Three! For all those who've hit goal, maintaining in whatever way they can / want to / aim to etc

[MargoLivebetter]

Welcome fellow maintainers to our third thread! Tis the season to be joyful and we do have reasons to be joyful, as we are still here. Not always the perfect journey and full of treats and temptations, but we'd have nothing to talk about otherwise. So hop on the Magical Maintenance Sleigh of Wonder and lets go! (Apologies to all those reading this for the first time in March! I got a bit carried away my festive season puns.)

Yes not ideal. I have protein works vegan Wondershake salted Carmel and if I feel
peckish I’ll have one of them first - makes me feel fuller. Another option to to try and eat a tub of fat free cottage cheese.

But perhaps you just can’t stop so need to know not to start.

In your shoes, I think I would be considering dropping down a dose again. If you don't want to keep losing, you have to find the sweet spot. Remember nothing is irreversible. See how you go and let us know.

Honest answer is I don't know but I'm really sorry to hear that you are feeling miserable. Is the emotional situation an ongoing thing - as in have you had it for years and years? Have you ever found anything before MJ that helped with mood stabilisation and anxiety?

Thank you for the advice, I only wish it was that simple! I know all of the right things to do, I know what I need to eat to keep me full, I have plenty of snacks that I can have that are within my allowance, but I just lose control sometimes. It’s something I’ve been battling with my whole
life. I have massively improved though, I used to binge daily, and was morbidly obese my whole life. I am now a healthy weight, have maintained for over 3 months so far, and am managing to get straight back on track after a bad day instead of letting it spiral. So I am on the right track, just not completely there yet. Hey ho, I will keep trying!

Yes it’s hard. I’m still taking 2mg and haven’t had any out of control episodes. For me I’m now a bit repulsed by carby snack food - not sure if it’s the MJ (at a low dose) or otherwise but it means easier to keep on track .

I started tapering down in middle of August 25 when I hit bmi 25 and also moved up to 15mg a few weeks before. It was so strong and I felt like a zombie for the next 5 weeks and lost 6lbs. I kept taking it because I thought I would start to tolerate it but this one dose defeated me. I kept tapering down as the doses felt too strong, did 2 weeks on 12.5mg and then to 10mg for 6 weeks. Then that felt strong so I did 8.75mg and 8mg and then 4 weeks on 7.5mg. I then switched to 1.7mg wegovy for 3 months which worked well for 2 months, but then in the last month I had a lot of side effects including inflammation and ibs returning as well as carb and sugar cravings and ravenous hunger and gained 2.5lbs. Then returned to 7.5mg mj for a month which again was too strong but I lost 6lbs in the month, so I've dropped to 5mg now and im bmi 22. So my dilemma is whether to keep dropping down and come off or just stay on a low dose. I am feeling hungrier now on 5mg but I'm able to eat within maintenance so it's still easy enough. The problem is I used to be prediabetic, possibly diabetic, had high BP and cholesterol and cannot go back to that. The 3 months on wegovy ended badly and the carb and sugar cravings reminded me of my prediabetic days so I don't know if I would end up back there if I came back.

I’d go down a dose. I’ve only cut down from 7.5 to 5mg so far myself, but will try to gradually get down to 2.5 if I can.

I dose twice a week, so 2.5 x 2, in order to have a more even amount in my system, so I wouldn’t stretch the gap as my first choice. If I get down to 2.5 and find that’s still a high enough dose, I might increase my gap at that point.

No, this almost feels like menopausal symptoms returned, just the mood/emotional ones. Im just going to remind myself I've come off a medication I've been on 13mths and not overthink it. I'll check in with myself in a couple of weeks.
We go away for 5 days at the end of April, which im so ready for as well.
Love this thread and the support ❤️

@Mysticmaiden how long have you been on the 5mg dose?

Do you take HRT? It's possible there was an interaction between your HRT and mounjaro which now isn't there, and the shift has led to the mood changes. But since you noticed a change when you first went on it, the change back now you've come off does suggest it was doing something independently. There's so much we still don't understand about the effects in the body.

Could you consider a small dose - maybe sub 2.5mg, and see if that would help stabilise your mood?

I think its something to consider, but i do want to push through to see if it levels out first. I dont want to jump back in to microdosing before I've felt how it is.
Who knew it would be mood changes rather than weight changes that would feel like the hard part 🤷‍♀️🤣

Just 2 weeks but I'm trying to plan ahead to guide my next order. I do currently have 2 x 10mg unopened pens delivered 14th march.

@Mysticmaiden I get the enthusiasm to plan ahead. I think we are all looking at the long-term and how best to stay on track. That said, you’ve got a bit of a stash, so maybe give it a few more weeks to see how you go on this dose and then decide if you want to stick or twist and go lower. Sometimes you have to give it a while to see where your appetite and food intake will go. Just my opinion though.

it was more of some thoughts on coming off completely or staying on a low dose that I was struggling with. The dose I can work out with how my body is responding. Just wondered if there was anyone in my boat, previously prediabetic/diabetic and reduced their dose because it was too strong and then came off and how they fared because for me it looks like increased insulin sensitivity with weight loss so possibly my body has healed and reversed the insulin resistance.

Ah, ok @Mysticmaiden. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Eli Lilly’s weight loss pill is approved in the US and will go on sale next week. I hope they are going to apply for UK approval as I would like to switch to a tablet for maintenance.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/01/health/foundayo-weight-loss-pill-fda-approval?cid=ios_app

I went for an ultrasound this week and they found gallstones, these were not there on my last one in 2022 so think it must be due to the weight loss and mounjaro.

Had a chat with the GP and going to stop mounjaro going forward, it is getting too expensive anyway.

Not really getting symptoms with the gallstones but it worried me a bit.

Thanks @Choux . That sounds like another bit of good news in the weight loss world.

Sorry to hear about the gallstones @Orangesandlemons77 . I think that would worry me too.

From the NHS page women who are obese or lose weight quickly are at risk of gallstones so it isn’t necessarily the Mounjaro itself but reducing or stopping medications you no longer need is never a bad thing
You may be more likely to get gallstones if:

• you're over 40 years old
• you're a woman
• you're living with obesity
• you have a diet that's high in fat and low in fibre
• you've lost weight quickly – for example, through weight loss surgery
• you have a condition such as diabetes or Crohn's disease

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gallstones/

At uni we were taught gallbladder pathologies are most common in the four Fs population - Fat, female, fourty and fair.

I stopped taking regular MJ exactly a year ago. I had a pen in June and a pen in August to mitigate AI holidays and nothing since. I have settled at 5lbs over my finish weight, and that includes a holiday and Christmas.
i have spent most of the last few months thinking I need to order another pen but I am realising I am doing ok.
I exercise 2/3 times a week compared to never. I eat smaller portions. I drink too much wine like I used to!
I am accepting that extra 5lbs, I will still try to get some off over the summer with salad season ahead, but mindful of how I’m not fatigued like I was on the jabs, and of course how many hundreds of pounds I could have spent getting rid of those 5lbs.
For context, I am in my 50s, on HRT and lost slowly, literally a pound a week when I was on MJ. Losing slowly means my skin is still pretty good too. I weigh every morning without fail.
Well done maintainers, have confidence in yourselves, you can do it!

@Mysticmaiden I was taught that at uni too 🫣🤣

Hello! I'm checking in with some positive news! I've lost 1lb this week whilst averaging over 1600 calories per day! I didn't think this would be possible given I ate around 1000 calories per day when losing on mj. Although I do average 10,000 steps per day and 4 workouts per week!
I now have 7lbs left to get to the top of my range (3lb buffer on top of my target of 8st 6). I honestly think I can do it now and get to where I need to be. I will say that I am on a higher dose of ADHD medication so that could be helping my cause, but I've also done some massive mindset work. I'm working with this amazing lady and I think that has been the missing secret ingredient. I had a chat with her for free and then paid for her Kickstarter session (which I'm still on) it's a month and you get a 90 minute session to strategise and then have access to her via WhatsApp for accountability. It's been a game changer. I don't know what the rules are on sharing details so I won't but I'm happy to give people her details. I don't get any referral credits or anything (plus I didn't tell her I was previously in mj and that's why I'd put on the best part of a stone this year, she wouldn't judge she's not like that. I just haven't shared with anyone!)

What Happens When, What Happens When You Stop 'Skinny Jabs'?: On BBCiplayer. I havent watched this yet but you can guess what they will be saying!

Great news @Sadteacher. So good to hear. Really encouraging and inspiring too.