Mounjaro 15ml not longer working - advice needed

[AnotherEmilee]

I have been taking Mounjaro since July 2024 and have been on 15ml since Feb 2025.
I started at over 20 stone and have lost 4.5 stone. I was losing slowly but consistently until November 2024.

I have not lost any weight since the beginning of December and am finding the Mounjaro to be less effective, some of the food noise is creeping back and the food I am eating is not keeping me full for as long as it was.

I have made habit changes and am eating different foods but Mounjaro was heavily supporting these. Now I am eating the same heathier options but I am starting to feel hungry by late afternoon and with some of the food noise back it is difficult to always make healthy choices.

In January my weight started to go up so when I placed my last order I spoke to my supplier about this. They sent me an e-mail with a reminder of the standard advice about eating more protein, increasing exercise, drinking plenty of water etc. They did also say that I could try going back down to 10ml for a month then 12.5 then back to 15 to see if this helps.

I have been trying to make sure that I am drinking plenty and eating the right foods and this has helped a bit. I have stopped gaining and am back to the weight I was at the beginning of December.
I weigh every day and have been at 16 stone 2-3lbs for the past 2 weeks and it has stopped going down again.

I need to place my next order today and I don't know what to do. Should I order 10ml? I am worried that this will just make it harder and I will gain weight for the next 2 months (although it will make it a little cheaper).
Has anyone else tried this and did it work for you?

I don't think it would make much sense to drop down to 10mg, or 12.5mg when you've been on 15mg for a while. Did the pharmacy provide a rationale for that, or was it just a suggestion?

You could of course try it and see, and accept that it might mean 2 or 3 months where you might potentially gain weight.

What calorie total are you aiming for daily, and how much below your daily calorie need does that make you?

Are you counting calories? You sound as though you're doing everything right but just eating a bit too much. I'm on 12.5mg (still considering whether I need to go up or not) and I do find that I can eat a lot more now than when I started - I've been on mj for 15 months.
Because I eat more now I have to be much more conscious of what I'm eating and how many calories rather than just relying on suppression to keep the calories down.
If you haven't already, work out your tdee and set a calorie goal and track everything.
Even without suppression, mj does a lot of unseen work to help weight loss so still worth taking. I would say my food noise is more than at the beginning but nowhere near the levels it was before I started taking it.

I've seen lots of people online who have had said they've had success with dropping the dose as advised by your prescriber.

I haven't personally had to do it though.

Good luck with your continued weightloss journey. You'll find a way through your current setback.

Thanks for the replies and the encouragement.

I can't remember fully why the pharmacy suggested dropping the dose, I think it was something to do with your body getting used to it after a while and changing the dose might help with this, so when I go back up to 15mg it might become effective again.

I am not counting calories, there are a few reasons:

• my DH cooks most of our evening meals and he doesn't measure things - he does it mostly by eye and even if I did follow him around while he was cooking and weigh things (I have tried in the past - it is annoying for both of us) it is then difficult to know how much I have had. If it is something like spaghetti bolognese for example, he makes it for the whole family and we then each help ourselves to pasta, sauce, salad separately.
• It bring back bad memories of dieting in the past which I have been trying to avoid whilst taking mounjaro. I am trying to make sustainable changes to what I eat and calorie counting is just not sustainable for me long term.
• Related to this I have found myself getting a bit obsessed with calories in the past and choosing the lowest calorie option or the one that is easiest to work out instead of the healthiest (eg choosing a packet of quavers over a less processed alternative)
• I know from experience that it won't change my behaviour. Knowing I am over my calories limit won't make me not have a snack when I am hungry it will just make me feel worse about it.

I was happy with losing slowly. I am just getting frustrated that the weight loss has stopped especially when this medication is so expensive.

I have just checked my weight tracking app and I was 16 stone 0 at the end of November so I have not managed to loose all the weight I gained over December-January.

I think I will order 10mg this month and see if it works, and just accept that I might have to really focus just to maintain for a few months. There is no deadline, I am hoping to lose weight for life and have accepted that I might have to be on mounjaro for a long time to achieve this.

I have not been exercising much either recently, but it has to stop raining eventually and with the light evenings coming I will try to get outside for a walk a bit more often.

Honestly, the only reason you won't be losing is because you are consuming too many calories. I am not sure reducing dose then increasing it will work but it may be worth trying if the pharmacist has suggested it, I can't see how it'll make you less hungry, which is essentially your issue.

Obviously the WLIs only work if you eat in a calorie deficit. I totally understand your reasons for not wanting to count but unfortunately I can't see how it'll work without this. Overall you need to ensure your balance is the best it can be around protein, carbs etc. You can quite easily work out approximate calories in a big batch of bolognaise for example, it doesnt have to be exact but if you really dont want to could you half the amount of carbs you're eating with dinner and for all snacks focus on everything high protein for a few weeks. Or just log everything other than dinner and leave around 7/800 calories spare. If you're hungry keep low cal/high protein snacks in (or even clear whey protein)

Eating say chicken/fish/steak and veg will be really low calorie and high protein, I try and do this as often as possible then will enjoy spag bol or a curry on a couple of days. I don't religiously log calories but I did it long enough to know what is about the right amount for losing weight now.

Exercise will make a tiny difference but it really is small unless its really high intensity.

Sorry, I forgot to say, losing 4.5 stone is amazing also!!

So been on it over 18mths and lost 4s

it really is what you eat. You need to count calories as what dh is cooking esp if a pinch of this and spoon of that an no measuring you are obv eating weight more calories than you think

to lose weight you need to drop 500/600c a day so around 1200 height depending

if hungry in afternoon then have a 100c snack but something ideally high in protein

Try intermittent fasting/time restricted eating.

It worked before because when you have lots to lose you can get away with not counting calories but now that you have already lost a lot the margin for error becomes smaller and it looks as though that alone will no longer work.

If you don’t want to count Calories can you add another intervention like intermittent fasting or cutting out carbs to have the same effect?

I am intrigued at the suggestion of reducing dose as my provider always says they wouldn't recommend because you build a tolerance for GLP1 so no point going lower. I guess there is no rule book here and all down to individual pharmacist personal opinions. Although always bear in mind their primary goals are to ensure they are evidencing they are prescribing safely and to sell pens... they don't actually care about your success.

Unfortunately if your family meals are calorie laden and do not have enough protein/fibre to satisfy you and leading to snacking, you are going to have to adapt around them. The more you lose and your TDEE reduces the less you have to play with so you need to understand where your calories are coming from to adapt.

Using your example meal - I was a pasta addict, huge bowls a couple of times a week. I now only eat pasta once a month or so and even then I don't enjoy it really anymore as it leaves me feeling hungry again too soon after (and craving more pasta the next day!) If dh/ds are having bolognaise they will have pasta and I will have mine over a small/medium baked potato or sweet potato with extra veg. Easier to portion control and I feel fuller for longer.

dh/ds are not keen on fish so I have it myself 1-2 times a week while they have something else I'd avoid like pizza.

Have you tried jabbing every five days?
I've been doing that for ages and combining it with OMAD and IF.

I agree that you will need to look at adapting what you eat from what your DH cooks. So I would not eat the pasta element of the spaghetti bolognaise, or have a very small portion, and have a small serving of the sauce and then lots of salad assuming it’s not already dressed with an oil dressing.

You are currently eating to maintenance calories, so there needs to be a reduction somewhere. Either in the food you can control and/or by reducing/changing what you eat in the evening. Any increase in exercise would also help, to a lesser degree. Any chance you could get a treadmill or walking pad so you can walk regardless of the weather?

I hear where you're coming from with not counting calories. I have mostly avoided counting during my weight loss for similar reasons (although I'm the cook, all the weighing and measuring still does my nut in).

if you've not lost for months, you probably are eating about as much as you're burning. There's some good advice on this thread - some will work for you and some won't. For me, I could never do OMAD - I'd get too hungry in between. But I do have less carbs - only a small portion of pasta with bolognese, I never eat the garlic bread with lasagne, just a spoonful of rice with a curry and so on. Then make sure what I am eating is full of protein and veg.

Anecdotally, lots of people are finding they hit a point where the meds just stop working. In the trials they didn't, but in real life people find the food noise comes back - and no amount of 'better habits' are going to stand up to a brain shouting "I need food give me food now" constantly. There's a lot we still don't know about how GLP-1 meds work. However - there is a lot of research going on and new options in the pipeline - so while it feels frustrating now, in a year things might look very different.

no amount of 'better habits' are going to stand up to a brain shouting "I need food give me food now" constantly

I would say that is not everyone. If I eat pasta/sugar/rice/upf or even sweeteners more often than very occasionally it dials the volume right up in my brain.

Last two years on Mounjaro over Christmas (and tough Januarys to get back into routine) I have learned I also need to actively keep up with the "better habits" to quieten my brain. Mounjaro helps, but I also need to work with it and when I do it all falls into place.

@WeAllHaveWings I get that as well, I really can't have anything nice or I turn into the snack monster. But there's a difference between food noise and hunger. If you've lost weight then your body will want to regain it - and the mounjaro balances that. For the OP though it sounded like they're just hungrier than the meds can manage? It makes sense that if there's super responders, there's also weak responders.

The thing is op if you want to lose weight you need to diet. However you chose to do that, relying on the drug to do all the heavy lifting for you will never be successful,

I think you need to take some time here, and really think about it, as maintaining will be very difficult if you do get to where you want to go. If you simply want the meds to do the work for you.

Could you list an average days here so we can see what you are eating? If your evening meal is fixed (although I’d be interested in portion size with that) maybe you can adapt your other meals?

i assume your dh knows you are on it. So why is he hindering your weigh loss. Is he big his self and jealous ?

spending £250/300 a month if on 15 is a lot of money if not losing

people think mj just takes the weight off. It doesn’t. You have to put in the hard work and main one is calories. If eating more then burn off you will not lose weight. End of !

OP, I also don't calorie count for similar reasons to you. I have been on MJ since July 2024 and have lost five and a half stone, bringing me to a BMI currently of 28 - down from 42. I am coming out (I hope!) of a loooong plateau and I have experienced a couple along the way.

My attitude is that I expect to be on GLP-1s for life and when I plateau, I am not gaining weight. Just maintaining at a weight underneath obese is a massive triumph honestly. I am not in a hurry, because rapid weight loss in the past has been so damaging to my metabolism.

Winter is a time when it's harder to lose weight. My food choices are different, my energy levels are lower and I'm fairly sure my body wants to hibernate. As signs of spring are gradually emerging, I can feel the change and I'm seeing it on the scales as well.

I have never gone higher than 7.5mg and my body doesn't always respond predictably. It took me a very long time to work up to 5mg due to side effects and after staying on 5mg for a few months, it started to make me extremely ill completely out of the blue. I went back to 2.5mg and built up slowly again. Then all of a sudden 5mg felt totally ineffective and I worked up to 7.5, was absolutely fine and then the awful gastro symptoms suddenly hit again. No change in diet, no clear food triggers. Dropping the dose to one that had previously been ineffective suddenly worked and 5mg was really powerful again.

I just don't think a human body functions like a machine. Sometimes I am more sensitive to the meds than others. So, in my experience dropping a dose can work inexplicably well. And patience is key - I think so long as I'm not gaining, everything is ok. And the weight comes off quicker in spring and summer!

I don’t count calories but I am conscious of the foods I eat and portion sizes. I definitely used to eat far too much food than my body actually needed.

Years ago, my ex used to be the main cook and he dished up the same portion size for both of us. It was hardly surprising that I steadily gained weight and he stayed slim. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I try to stick to eating mostly protein and fibre and v low carbs. So very little bread, pasta, rice etc. and mostly vegetables, salad and meat/fish. If I eat pasta bolognaise for my dinner, I’d have to put it onto a smaller plate to ensure I didn’t eat too much.

If you’re serious about losing more weight and keeping it off, you really have to re-think your food choices and accept that this will be your life going forwards.

I find carbs make me hungry. Perhaps you could cut them (and lose calories too) from your evening meal. Have the bolognaise, but on broccoli or salad or lentils instead of pasta. Have cauliflower rice instead of rice. Skip potatoes and bread.
Another possibility is to reduce portion sizes: buy a smaller bowl and plate and serve all your meals in these. Yes, you may still be hungry but make yourself go 2 hours before a snack (and then limit the snacks to an egg/ an apple/ some berries and Greek yoghurt- these will help manage hunger better than biscuits/ crisps/ toast). See hunger as a sign your body is having to raid fat stores!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
There is a lot of good advice and lots to think about.

Main meals are not the problem they have always been fairly healthy they are just the reason I find it difficult to count calories.
DH does know I am taking mounjaro and is supportive. He does the cooking because he is better at it than me and also because he finishes work before I do. So he finishes work, picks the kids up from school and then has to cook a dinner that is suitable for himself (tall, health weight, active job), me, a teenage boy going through a growth spurt and 2 other picky children and has to manage this around taking them/picking them up from after school clubs and other activities.
I am very grateful that he takes care of all of this while I just finish work and come straight down to dinner (WFH). He tends to make things that can be served separately so I can take a small portion of pasta and have more of the sauce and salad and the hollow teen can have a bigger portion + garlic bread.

I can definitely look again at what I am eating during the day up before dinner. I think I have been getting a bit lazy recently, I was making things like lentil and vegetable soup to have for lunch but I haven't done that for a while. I also might start counting calories during the day and just leave an amount free for dinner as someone suggested. I can always stop if it starts making me crazy/miserable again.

Thanks again for the support/ advice/ encouragement.

Weight loss injections don’t make us lose weight faster, they enable us to lose it consistently, so counting cals on the injections are very different to doing it off them, where hunger makes it difficult.

I have never counted cals past a rough tot up in my head, but I can eye a portion size, and I know how much I consume roughly for breakfast lunch and snacks.

as said, these drugs don’t do the work for you, irrelevant of how many folks wish to beleive that, and if you simply rely on them to give enough suppression you can’t over eat, then you are never ever going to get to goal.

I lost 4s 9lbs in just under 18 months from 20stone 9 to 16stone.

I am happy with this rate of loss, some people may not understand but I wanted to lose weight slowly. I have weighed 18stone + for the past 20 years.
I am worried about gall stones or loose skin problems if I lose weight quickly. I am also dreading people starting to notice and comment on my weight loss. I am used to being the fattest person in the room and being the fat family member/friend. I wanted to lose slowly to allow time for my brain to adjust and keep up with my changing weight.

It’s also part of your problem though, you’re losing so very slowly, less than a pound a week so not even reaching the advisable min, which means you eat just below maintainance, and then as your weight drops, that maintenance does too, thus bringing you closer to no loss as you simply eat to maintenance.

you also don’t mention if you’re doing weight training or eating your protein sufficiently, meaning there is a high chance you’re losing muscle, which reduces your maintence cals again.

id really think about your reasons for going so so slow when spending so much money, and recognising it’s got you into this situation. Is it really you’re worried about loose skin, as going slowly won’t change that, working out will, is it really you’re worried about not being the fat person anymore;

or is it you just really don’t want to diet or reduce food, and are doing this simply as you feel you should.