Coming off the Jabs - please tell me what happened?

[coconuttyz]

I’ve been off Mounjaro for 2 months now. I got down to my target and started to worry about the injections so decided to stop - I’ve gained 5lbs in that time.
Currently trying to maintain by counting calories (1350 a day) 10,000 daily steps plus running 5K x3 times a week.
Was anyone able to maintain following a similar pattern?
I’m sure the 5lbs gained has gone straight to my stomach and hips, but otherwise I still feel quite lean.

Any advice and tips welcome!

TIA

Because appetite comes back with avengeance.

@Disturbia81 is that what you’ve found, after stopping WLIs?

How can you not grasp it? Peoples appetites come back hard so they start eating everything again, it is extra hard to maintain for them because it goes from not feeling hunger to feeling it in full force again. A stone can go on easy.

My friends who were on it say it did and have put weight back on, plus reading on here.

That is weight loss for you though. Its an ongoing battle if you're that way inclined.

Different people have different strategies that work for them

Of course you can create healthy habits and stay slim. Eat two meals a day, eat healthy and fibrous food, exercise/walk daily so that your calories in don’t exceed your calories out.

The big problem with these jabs are that they cause muscle loss and this in turn lowers your calorific needs /your metabolism.

I wonder if some posters here get paid by the jab manufacturers?! They would love us to keep buying them…

A stone in a month is extreme over eating. Obviously I get that this can happen but it's a scary prospect to be so out of control so quickly after coming off the medication. I've done it before, as I said, I know how it feels, and I gained 1/2lb a week for 5 months before I went back on WLI.

It's just as easy as that is it? 🙄 obviously it's not, or people wouldn't struggle. And you don't have to lose muscle on WLI. Not everyone does!

Thats why it’s better to reduce your food intake without relying on drugs to temporarily lower your appetite. Yes, it’s much harder but it’s much more sustainable and successful long term.

This.

People are forgetting obesity is a disease. It's not just calories in, calories out. Hormones feedback mechanisms are involved. Expecting not to gain some weight is unrealistic, scientifically as well as mentally.

There's a complex hormone feedback loop that the jabs help to modify. When you come off the meds, the body quickly goes into overdrive trying to compensate with a massive dump of the hormone that sends hungry signals to you and cortisol and insulin become dysregulated again or I prefer to think of it as out of synch.

I have a different condition where I have to monitor my hormone levels closely. It also involves my cortisol and insulin too but as a secondary effect. If I stop taking my medication I have short interval where things seem ok for a while, even great (maybe a couple weeks) that's where my body is trying desperately to maintain the status quo.

Then I fall of a cliff completely and pile on calories as well as becoming dangerously ill. There's absolutely nothing I can do about it and doing cardio would only insure I get worse.

So I take my medication even with the nasty side effects.

I would say a small maintenance dose of the jab a few times a month is a more realistic approach.

They're working on improving these jabs so that the dose will be much smaller and side effects lesser, so in the not too far future, hopefully they will be better.

@Lollylavender what you’re missing is that for people who decide to use WLI, we have tried and failed repeatedly to lose weight on our own. If you can do it then that’s great for you. My whole life I’ve not managed it and sustained it. I’m not going to turn down the chance to lose the weight because it’s the “wrong” way to do it. It’s worked brilliantly for me. I’ve been not-obese for the longest time ever since being on WLI. Can’t even remember the last time I was a healthy weight and I didn’t stay that way for long.

It’s easier to blame our ‘hormones’ than to take responsibility for a healthy lifestyle, but I believe it’s definitely possible to have a healthy bmi by eating nutritious food while also exercising/moving regularly. Avoid fast food!

Look at Japan - hardly and obese or overweight people.

Oh it’s absolutely extreme but is common, hence the need for these drugs.

So I think appetite is a function of other things.
A healthier gut microbiome will mean lower appetite
Higher protein and higher fibre will mean lower appetite
Volume eating of veg can be used to manage appetite
Time restricted eating can be used to manage appetite
lower carb and better insulin control will mean a lower appetite
weight lifting (heavy to failure) will divert some of calories to muscle building (this has worked well for me)

its too simple to say “appetite comes back with avengeance”

I’ve now lost count of the amount of times Japan is quoted in relation to these drugs. Japan has a rising obesity issue that is causing concern and in addition due to different physiologies, bmi 25 is the threshold for obesity where as it is 30 in the uk. In addition due to transport costs, walking is more prevalent, so the population is more active and the food is much simpler. But it is on the rise. We don’t live in Japan, and it is very difficult to live like we do.

Agree appetite comes back as it was predrugs, there is absolutely nothing to evidence it is in any way different to appetite pre drugs. The correct phrase would be appetite comes back as before. For the simple reason the drugs don’t work when you don’t take them,

I’m just going off what friends have told me about their real life experiences and quick weight gain. They say it feels stronger because they’ve gone from feeling nothing to feeling starving. Not saying it’s literally stronger, just feels it to them.

please read this https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2026-01-08-new-study-finds-stopping-weight-loss-drugs-linked-faster-regain-ending-diet Honestly, if you can't afford to stay on it for the longer term, it's really not worth it unless you have a specific goal in mind like trying to conceive or reducing risk factors for eg.joint surgery. ,or if you are someone for who obesity has crept up on them in recent years (and previously maintained a healthy weight without disordered eating) rather than someone who has lived with long term obesity (unless you have very clear plans around how you will get support to change your behavioural patterns).

Yes - that’s fair. But I know myself when I eat whole food, adequate protein, fibre and mountains of veg I’m not hungry on say 1,500 calories. If I eat rubbish I’d be hungry even on 2,000.

Everyone is so different- what works for one won’t work for others - dependent on insulin status, amount of weight needed to lose, time spent overweight, previous variations in weight , microbiome etc and that is before variations in diet and exercise…
Completely understand anxiety about regain. It worries me too. But … cautiously optimistic. I lost 3 stone and since August have been injecting 2.5mg about once a month. Am 2kg lighter than August now. When I started MJ cut out all UPF, refined sugar and snacks, concentrating on fibre/ protein and complex carbs ( and fruit). Am eating exactly the same diet as when on MJ , but not really hungrier than ‘end of the week MJ’ days. Plan my weeks meals in advance and look forward to them. Jabbing low dose intermittently hopefully will just ‘embed’ current diet as ‘rest of life’ diet. Personally I think there has been a metabolic reset but think I am v v lucky with this ( am sure we all vary in this regard) as I think previously I was on verge of pre - diabetes - ‘looked at food’ and put on kgs, but weight loss corrected this and body able to handle food better without regaining weight as I did in the past pre MJ. Again realise I am lucky but just wanted to post something positive !
I am learning on the go in what feels like uncharted territory! …

Yep. You'd think people would have the sense to google Japan before basing a whole belief system around weight loss on it. Affluent societies start getting fat once their populations stop smoking, and it doesn't matter whether anyone has faith that it could be otherwise or not. It never is.

OP I'll be staying on so I don't have any tips to offer, but wish you the best of luck.

I get mine for the same price as you

i micro dose and it it can last me ages
Im maybe using it every 4 -6 weeks but the longest I went without using it was I think 9 weeks

I know lots of people doing the same as what you and I are doing and it’s working well
I've been on it for at least 18 months and had 0 side affects

my weight has stayed stable with going up - down 1-2 lbs depending on what I’m doing

i weigh myself every other day and religiously note it on my phone
it’s much easier to knock 1-2 pounds off than 1-2 stone

That’s true, carbs make me hungry, it raises my blood sugar and then when it crashes I feel hungry and it offsets the meds.

i went on a couple of weeks all inclusive, ate and drank so much sugar and carbs, onky gained 4 pounds which came off within two weeks, but I did need to consciously reset when I came back, had a day of eating crap then forced myself to stop, get back to healthy eating, and it was probably a week or so before I felt the meds kick in again as they normally do, and I am on a 5mg maintenance dose, the sugar seemed to over ride it. It’s only when it’s fully out my system do I feel appetite suppressant and no desire to eat crap

@Binus "Affluent societies start getting fat once their populations stop smoking, and it doesn't matter whether anyone has faith that it could be otherwise or not." its not really about smoking , the obesity rates in the uk have been rapidly increasing since the 90's, it's more to do with dietary changes around availability of ultra processed foods, impact on gut biome etc etc.

I stopped two months ago and have fluctuated between losing and gain the same few pounds.

I’ve increased weight training, am still eating mostly healthy but still struggle with the portion control. Am mostly managing to maintain good habits overall.