Weight gain after Mounjaro

[Liambro]

So like many, I gave in to Mounjaro after years of failed dieting and it worked! 3 stone down and changed my mindset about food. However, once I came off it the weight has piled back on! I’ve gained almost a stone in just over a month despite only having 16000 calories a day (I use an app to track calories) has anyone else had this? I’m worried that in a couple of months I’m going to have gained all the weight back! I exercise and don’t snack and I’m literally putting on 3/4 lbs a week! Any tips? I can’t afford to go back on it, has anyone else experienced this and the weight has calmed down, I’ve gone down to 1400/1200 calories now but it’s hard to maintain and I’m worried that once I go back up I’ll just put more weight on. Any advice would be appreciated.

Are you adding your exercise to your calorie tracker? Ime they wildly overestimate your calorie burn, give you the exercise calories back to eat and cause weight gain.

You need to work out your TDEE, the amount of calories to stay the weight you are now, then reduce the TDEE amount by 15-20% for a weight your loss calorie target.

At nearly 5ft 10 my TDEE to maintain my weight is only approx 1,700. To lose weight it was only 1,300, which was impossible without filling up on lentils in practically every meal!

How tall are you, what age are you, and how much do you weigh now?

3-4 pounds a week is a little scary, are you sure about your tracking? I had body scans when I was on MJ and when they told me I was losing muscle, I started lifting weights and worked up to very heavy weights 2-3 times a week. This has definitely helped me maintain. Muscle helps with insulin sensitivity and keeping your metabolism steady. What sort of exercise are you doing? If it’s heavy cardio it won’t help much and will spike your cortisol, which promotes fat storage.

You are going to gain all the weight back if you’re persistently eating more than you’re burning off, that’s the number you need to know

Mine is maximum 1100, hence why I need to take Mounjaro to maintain.

If you personally need (and by need I mean not ravenous with hunger) to eat 1600 calories then you need to take Mounjaro to maintain

Hi, thanks for the reply, I’m 5ft 3 and I now weigh 9st 8, I was 8st 10 lbs when I finished Mounjaro, I don’t add extra calories for any exercise as I don’t trust the app so I was sticking to 1600 for maintenance, but often would be closer to 1400, I have been averaging between 1200-1400 for the last few weeks but the weight gain has remained the same.

Remember that not all weight gain is fat. Are you measuring your waist, hips etc each week?

I haven’t been measuring but I will start, I feel like my clothes are getting a little bit tighter so I want to stop it now. I just assumed as I was on 1000 calories to loose weight that 1400-1600 would be ok to maintain, but I was wrong!

Research shows that the weight regained after stopping Mounjaro is mostly fat mass - the reduction in muscle mass is generally not regained so you're potentially worsening your overall body composition with each cycle of loss and gain. That's why it's really important to build muscle mass while you're on treatment.

Have you properly worked out your maintenance calories? Mine are around 1600 and I weigh 12st 5.

I just helped my sister work out her maintenance after coming off MJ

Shes the same height but weight is a bit higher.

It's only 1350 to maintain and 1180 to lose 1lb a week.

Unfortunately her hunger has come back and she is raging at herself because she didnt use the time on the injections to change her attitude to food, just ate smaller portions of the "bad stuff" she had always eaten.

Shes retrying now with more emphasis on veg, protein, fibre and trying to cut out the 99cal snacks like bars and low cal crisps.

Also adding in walking and yoga but realistically that wont do anything for actually losing weight, but will help to start her on her way to toning up and becoming active

Yes. After a year I regained it all now I’m starting again. The first 6 months I only gained a couple of pounds and then I kind of fell into a giant food hole and stopped caring anymore. So here we are. I’ll be maintenance dosing for a long time this time around.

3 lbs a week of fat gain is an extra 10500 calories a week above maintenance so if your maintenance is 1400 for example (and that's on the low side) then you must be eating average 2900 calories a day to be gaining like that. Either you're severely miscounting what you're eating or...well I don't know what the alternative can be. Fat can't be created out of nowhere, you must be consuming the calories needed to create the fat.

When I first came off it I was only having 1200 calories and I put on 6lbs very quickly so I asked my GP (I was there for another reason so used the opportunity to pick his brains as he’s also a weight loss coach) and he suggested upping it to 1600, said sometimes you don’t eat enough and your body stores fat rather than burns it, so I upped to 1400-1600 but that was obviously too much, it’s quite hard to maintain at 1200 without Mounjaro but I’m guessing that’s what I’m going to have to do in order to maintain (once I’ve lost the extra stone I’ve gained)

Eat less, move more =weight loss
esr more, move less=weight gain
its basic physiology….no magic involved, just will power.
Personally I know how hard this is to carry out.

Your GP was talking nonsense, the body can't create fat out of nowhere so adding more calories was never going to do anything other than create more fat.
it's quite scary to think that your TDEE is so low. What's your age bracket? Do you exercise? I don't understand how you gained weight on 1200 calories. Are you absolutely meticulous about tracking?
I am heavier than you at 11 stone BMI 26 but my TDEE is 2000 calories in part because I have decent muscle mass.

What you are eating is as important as the amount of calories. Unprocessed foods as much as possible. Concentrate on protein and fibre. Lots of water. you can’t go back to eating what you ate to gain the weight in the first place.

For some people they will need to be on the medication in some way for life. A bit like if you were prescribed blood pressure medication. You would be on that for life.

There are ways to micro dose the medication so that you are taking enough to help keep the weight off. Sadly taking it short term to lose a certain amount and then coming off it and not regaining the weight is risky.

I’m 45, I have a treadmill and weights that I use most days, I go to the gym whenever I can (only 1-2 a week) due to work, I do yoga once a week, I do at least 10,000 steps a day, usually more but never less, I record everything that I eat, even if it’s only a bite, I’m obviously doing something wrong as I have friends that came off it the same time as me and they’ve not put on anything and they definitely eat more than I do, I’ve had bloods done just to check there’s nothing underlining and they are fine, it’s just frustrating, I’m obviously going to have to cut back even more as I really don’t want to put on anything more weight.

As well as calories do you track macros? Do you measure your protein intake? Would you say you eat a lot of carbs?

When I was on the jabs I tried to change my diet to high protein low card and I try to stick to that, so I don’t eat bread at all, rarely have pasta and eat a lot of fish and Greek yogurt, I don’t track macro (not even sure what it is 🤣)

This is what I don’t understand, there is no way I am over eating that amount of calories, I don’t have breakfast as I used to fast so I carried on fasting, so my first meal is lunch and I eat the same thing for lunch every day (chicken and veg protein soup from Tesco or chicken salad) and a Greek yogurt, I have nuts to snack on if I need something in the afternoon but only 15 almonds, then evening meal is always home made and healthy, I don’t fry anything, usually have some sort of fish or lean mince and I’ve replaced pasta and rice with broccoli , and desert I had a muller desert pot which is only 80 calories, so I’ve been really trying hard to be good. I don’t drink alcohol unless it’s an occasional, we dont leave near take aways so never have them and we go out for lunch or dinner one or twice a month where I do eat whatever I want but surely 2 (maybe 3 ) meals out a month would justify that amount of gain. We don’t have biscuits or crisps at home and if I crave chocolate then I’ll have a freddo. I’ve always put on weight easily ,my mum always said if I look at a donut Id get fat!

What was your BMI when you stopped and were at your lowest weight? Is there a change your natural set point is a bit higher (but still in the healthy range?)

At 5ft 3 and 44 years old, my maintenance is 1450 currently but I probably have to stick to 1300 really because it doesn't account for metabolism and genetics. Especially after weight loss and dieting, metabolism slows down so it will be lower than expected. Have you looked at www.tdeecalculator.net I'd use sedentary setting as they often over estimate exercise cals too. I am maintaining on 5mg mj but I know when coming off water retention returns because mj is anti inflammatory, so that's upto 7lbs extra.

I put on weight if I eat more than 1200 calories a day.

if you can’t afford to go back on it then you need to maximise your protein intake to reduce your hunger

But you can’t build muscle mass while you’re eating at a calorie deficit. You might be able to maintain or not lose as much but you won’t build muscle.

Macros are basically your carbs, protein, fibre and fats.

i would switch out your Tesco soup for something less processed. Drop the Muller dessert pot. Processed foods like those even if it claims to be high protein or low sugar is full of additives that can affect weight. It’s not just about calories.

if you have always put weight on easily compared to others and even if you don’t seem to be eating as much as others you could be insulin resistant. I often got comments that people couldn’t understand why I was so big as I never finished a meal and didn’t seem to eat that much. When I initially started on Ozempic three years ago it was as if a switch had been flicked in my body. It wasn’t just about appetite supression. My body seemed to be processing what I was eating better. For me it was definitely the hormone help that I needed. I switched to Wegovy when that became available and am now on Mounjaro. I’ve lost about 65 pounds in three years. Much slower than some I know. Once I get to my goal - about another 5 pounds I am planning on gradually reducing Mounjaro to see how low I can go and still maintain. I think I will be on it or Wegovy for life though.

I follow someone on FB who has lost 70 pounds without the WLI by changing her diet to whole foods essentially. Her page is HungryHealthyHappy. She posts recipes and pictures of what she eats. It might be worth looking at her page for ideas.

Do you track calories on anything like My Fitness Pal? That will tell you your macros split. You can check how much protein, fibre, carbs and fats you are having.

You can build muscle mass whilst on tirzepatide.