Mounjaro -10 stone or more to lose - Thread 11

[TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne]

Thread 11?

How did we get to this point?

Ah well. We're doing so well. Do join us.

Same as @MCR24 for me. There weren't the same numbers of people on WLI at the time and there wasn't much discussion about when to move up doses. I didn't think about it too much and just moved up to 5mg after 4 weeks on 2.5mg. In retrospect, I had very high suppression on 2.5mg and was losing a lot of weight, so now I can see that I could have stayed on 2.5mg for another month at least. I had some side effects on 5mg, but had already ordered a 7.5mg pen (doh!), so I used that to stick with 5mg for another couple of weeks before slowly moving up to the full 7.5mg. Then I stayed on 7.5mg for months and months. I moved to 10mg after that and have been on 10mg for the rest of my time on Mounjaro to date.

Has the advice changed then? My doctor said that you only move up if you need it and that lots of people do well staying on 2.5 or 5 mg. On the January starters thread I'm on there are people who aren't feeling any benefit yet on 2.5 so will go up. But so far, I'm doing fine. And I'm bloody terrified of the price at the higher doses.

I went up every four weeks but I started two years ago.
It was recommended then, and the price wasn't so bad.
I used to get a 15mg pen for £165.

I don't think the advice necessarily changed, just the emphasis has changed to a bit more of an individual approach rather than following the suggested dosing schedule. I could easily have stayed on 2.5mg as my supplier then would have allowed it, but the general advice was to move up. That's because from the clinical trials the evidence showed that 2.5mg doesn't produce significant weight loss for the majority and the first dose that does that is 5mg.

I started at the beginning of July 2024 and the numbers of threads about WLI on MN was nowhere near what it is now, and the numbers taking WLI were very much fewer. So I just don't think there were that many people who were varying from the standard schedule and there weren't that many people with experience of doing that around and chatting about it on MN.

How much is it now in the UK? I'm in Sweden and it's almost £400 for a 15 mg pen.

Looking on Monj.co.uk which is price comparison site for Mounjaro, the cheapest 15mg pen is £270 ranging up to £375 depending on supplier. You can usually get a one-off first time customer discount for a new supplier, which can bring it down to £230 or so. You could then swap around each order to keep the costs down.

Before the Trump-induced price rise in Sept, I was getting a 10mg pen for £135.

I got a bargain from Bolt last week (£229) but it's usually about £250 - £260

I've thought the same for so long, stressed about whether I'm 'doing it' right, scared that I'm going to experience terrible side effects (touch wood I've had nothing so far and I've just done jab #12). I feel sad that it's taken me this long to accept that this help is available and that I do deserve to be helped in my weight loss journey- this is a huge thing for me as I've always felt it's my fault that i'm this size when it's starting to become clear I didn't have the right tools. Then it turns into jealousy and anger that we have to pay extortionate amounts of money for this when there are people that have never had issues with their weight, and then guilt because that's not their fault either! Essentially what I'm trying to say is I fully get the spiral and how overwhelming it can be. On the flip side I am very good at hiding real feelings and rarely post what I actually think & feel online. Some of it to be fair is because I have seriously dark humour and I'm always worried I'll offend someone 🙃
Onto my update, I'm 12 Jabs in, have lost 12.2kg which is 9% of my SW which feels amazing though still wish I'd lost more by now. I'm now in limbo with shopping for my wedding dress (eek!) as I don't know what size I'll be come September!

@Janie934 congratulations 🙌 on 10 stone loss!!!!!

I hope you celebrate xxxx

@MrTiddlesTheCat I started in July 2025 so the guidance had changed by then and whilst some people were still following the "increase each month" guidance, a decent number of people were following the "go up when you need it model".

So far I've done:
2.5mg - 8 weeks
3.3mg (golden dose) - 1 week
5mg - 19 weeks

I have 2 5mg pens in the fridge (opening one this week) and am planning on doing 8 doses of 6.25mg from those (using the golden dose to top up each week in essence), then will move onto 7.5mg. I am still losing an average of 2 pounds a week on 5mg but its getting a lot harder and snacking has increased so it feels right for me to move up now.

Plus, I think for those of us who have lots to lose if you can go up slower it helps your brain because I've heard a lot of people who went to 15mg quickly and then feel there is nowhere else for them to go medically, whereas if you stay low for longer you have options in terms of both further lifestyle changes but also increasing medication.

Thanks @PearlTeapot I'm not quite sure how to celebrate as I haven't told anyone in real life.

I'll tell my DH when I do my official Thursday weigh in and record it on my apps but I feel weird about telling other friends and family.

I think its because whilst its a huge achievement I also feel a sense of shame that I was so overweight that I needed to lose that much weight (and still have 5-6 stone to lose to get to a healthy weight). I keep having a thought in my mind that I've basically lost what some adults weigh in total.

Also, I haven't told anyone in real life (even my DH) my starting weight and I'm aware that the more I lose the easier it'll be for people to guess.

Writing all that out I'm thinking that I need to work on my feelings around my start weight. Perhaps then I'll be able to just celebrate without the self-recriminations and embarrassment.

I can see why people who wear a UK 18 would see themselves as plus and I would probably see it as borderline, but yeah, hard for me to get used to that when 18s are everywhere these days in most shops.

I once made the mistake of rolling my eyes (well, virtually) at someone on MN who called a 16 a plus size and was told 'oh but it's so hard to find clothes in shops as a 16'.

Yeah, maaaayyybbeee in a few designer stores there aren't 16s, but just try to find a nice not totally polyester suit or tailored jacket for work as a 26 or even 24. Please try. I'll wait.

(sorry, not very nice of me but grrrrr.)

You’ve done so so well! I’m in a similar position and honestly when people ask I just half what I’ve lost. I’m coming up to 10st down but say 5- even to my partner. Nobody questions it and it seems substantial enough to be believeable to the untrained eye I guess. Also something there’s been a lot of talk about on this thread, once you’re a certain size people just seem to view you as ‘very overweight’ so they can’t see a material difference between say being a size 22 and 26 even though it can be 3 stone.

Yeah ..I guess for some people size 18 is their biggest and they feel it's plus size because they are used to being smaller
Where as I'm only just starting to fit in to size 18 ,so I didn't think it was still plus size .
Who knows ,I don't 😃

I went up every month because I was recommended to as well ,I started about 14 months ago I think .
I wonder if the advice might of been different if it was more expensive back then
I certainly can't take another price increase

Yes ,I know that feeling,I started as a size 32 on a good day 😕.
I dreamed of the day I could buy size 22 jeans with my shopping at Tesco .
Where others would be horrified they needed size 22.
I think your probably right ,I think 18 is seen as plus size ..

Janie, I know exactly how you feel. There’s such slot of shame when it comes to weight and self blame. I’ve found it paralysing. Realising that I feel ashamed of most things when it comes to health was a bit of a revelation to me, and I think I trace that back to my weight. I’ve always been bigger than other people my whole life and always felt ashamed of it. Ever since I was at primary school. And ever since I was that little every medical appointment and condition has been seen through the lense of my weight.

How many times have we heard the question “Have you thought about losing weight? “

fucking hell would you believe that’s never ever occurred to me.

the amount of strength it takes to build a sense of self worth and confidence in a bigger body when everyone and everything is constantly screaming at you to be ashamed you’re not smaller and guilty that you can’t manage to be without huge unsustainable emotional and physical effort . And then having to dismantle that carefully built edifice of self love in order to take a risk ion mounjaro? Vertiginous and scarey.

The plus size thing is another example of how varied and undefined women's clothes sizes are. Some shops "plus size" will start at size 14, and their size 14 will be smaller than most other shops. In other shops it will be 16 upwards, or 18, or 20.

When I was a youngster in the 90s, 16 was definitely a size that I considered plus size and it was not usual to find 18s or higher on the rails. Now, you find 16 and 18 in pretty much all high street shops, with many having 20 to 24 available in most or some lines.

Height is something that isn't considered either, as a tall woman will usually also need a larger size just due to scale. It's only the tiny percentage of women who are supermodel dimensions who are tall and also slightly built.

@Janie934 im sorry you don’t feel able to celebrate but I hope you will do something to mark it because ten stone is unreal.

I have absolutely no idea what size I am now. So I dare not buy anything in supermarkets. I’m still much bigger than I can stand.

I have bought this year so far, 20 bras. Twenty _ ive no clue of my size. I've done Boob or bust but it doesn't work. Im gonna have to go to town to Bravissimo and get measured i hate it so much. Grrrrr

Yep. 100%

It peaked for me around a year ago. I started to feel even more fatigued than usual. Went to the doctor who told me it was my weight and I need to sort it. To be fair, he did put me on a weight loss programme which was working. But I felt so poorly. A couple of months later and routine screening found I had breast cancer. So no amount of dieting would have fixed me.

Everyone on here is so inspirational some great results and we’re all on the same journey to be healthy and happy however long it takes us.

Jab 39 this week and I’ve broke into the next stone (just)
Highest weight 19st7lb
MJ SW 18st1lb
CW 14st13.2

I took my measurements yesterday and lost 6 inches off bust
6 inches off waist
6 inches off hips
I removed 4 pairs of black trousers from size 24,22 and 20 as all too big. I would still love more than 1lb a week but it’s all adding up. Booked a cruise for October would love to have lost another 3 stone by then. Onwards and downward losers🚢

Just had the doctor phone me with the results of last weeks x-rays. Arthritis in both knees . :-(

@MG2026 love the bingo card!
@Janie934 wahooo 10 stone! That is a HUGE achievement. You must feel so different already. Rollercasters was one of my "things" . I managed to go to one locally but haven't been back to Merlin yet but... For me I found I didn't enjoy it like I had 17 years ago and I felt, along with the excitement that "I fit!" a real loss at not being able to do it with the kids when they were wanting me to do it with them 😔.

So sorry @diggitydoo .

Re recommendations. I started a year ago and my provider was clear that manufacturers had said it wss a "minimum" of a month at esch dose but that some pharmacies had taken that to mean rush up the doses. So the official guidance hasn't changed it's more the interpretation. At that stage though there were still pharmacies showing you that's what they'd send you ( pre tightening of controls so pretty much irrespective of your weight loss or how yiu were finding it)

Health care in the UK usually goes by "minimum effective dose" with medication but then that still begs the question what is effective.

There's definitely been spats of a few weeks when I thought I wasn't losing then had a drop so actually didn't need to go up at a point I could have.

I'm on 8mg a year in and still losing but contemplating going up to 8.5.

When I started my provider still did have the long term doses as 5, 10 and 15 as those were the ones tested but that seems to be flexible all round now.

Also the word "maintance" used to be used to refer to the dose that works that you maintain weight loss on so regular dose... Whereas now it means once you've got to your goal.