Did making the jump to a higher dose help you?

[uttermadnessindeed]

I’ve lost 3.5 stone so far on MJ and have another 2.5 stone to go. People really started noticing and commenting and because I felt so much better about myself, I’ve gotten lazy and fallen back into bad habits. I’ve been on 7.5mg for about 6 months and it’s worked ok for the first 3 or 4 months but then recently been thinking about food much more, had increased snacking and as a result I’ve just toyed with losing and gaining the same 3lbs for weeks,

Anyway, today I’ve ordered 10mg as I desperately want to get back into actively losing. Wondering if anyone else has been in this position? Did going up a dose make a difference?

I was on 7.5mg for months, and started to experience a slowdown in weight loss. So I moved to 10mg and the weight loss resumed. That’s going to be the case for most people I’d have thought.

7.5mg was always a less effective dose for me. I did 20 weeks on it and persevered, but it was no more effective than when 5mg started feeling less effective (stayed on 5mg for 6 months). I’m now on month 3 of 10mg and the difference between 10mg and 7.5mg is huge. I’m back to consistently losing 2-3lb a week and the suppression is good. 7.5mg also made me really constipated, 10mg has resolved that for me too.

Im in 7.5 and when I moved up it felt a huge step. But 2 months on i think 10 is the next step. So many people lose lots on 2.5 but im still struggling and maintaining even on 7.5.

I keep thinking im failing by moving up to a stronger dose, like, why isn't it working for me? Why are people losing loads on low doses and im still not reaping the rewards.

Id quite like a huge drop in weight.

2.5 has no therapeutic effect. People will argue blind the scientists are wrong, but you need to take into account the placebo effect, sheer determination, fear of moving up, desire to be able to say they did it on a low dose, and also finances. Not everyone can afford to move up or will admit they can’t afford to move up,

If they can make it work on 2.5 that’s all that matters, but I’d really not assume it’s as simple as a true effect of the drugs and I suspect you’d find many of these people would move up if the cost was lower for higher doses.

the guidelines are move up till you find your optimal dose, it’s the one below that which you can’t tolerate. But you know when you get there, for me it was 10, it was perfect, I’m now on 5mg maintaining and have been for about a year, and my weight is very stable.

Thankyou for this. And to the OP for the post.

I feel like there's something wrong with me for not managing to lose on 2.5, or even 5. This helps me see a different perspective.

I’ve gotten lazy and fallen back into bad habits

For me, as everyone is different, one thing I learned over the last 20 months is to not underestimate how much bad habits impact the (possibly perceived?) effectivity of the medication.

I noticed this quite subtly regularly, but the first time that it really hit home was my first Christmas on Mounjaro in 2024. Out of routine and really enjoying Christmas regular bad habits, the food noise etc ramped right back up. But a few weeks of getting back into routine in January and the (perceived?) effectively kicked back in.

The problem I had with losing weight before Mounjaro was keeping to it long term. Now I know if bad habits are causing issues, if I can attack them short term over a few weeks, the medication will kick back in to help with the long term.

Obviously if you have tried to resolve your bad habits that have snuck back in, but find you can't, a dose increase would be the next step.

@cloverblue every one has their own physiological reaction to the medication and that will vary a lot. It is true that some people do get an immediate response on the 2.5mg dose, but that’s not the majority experience and meaningful weight loss is not expected on that dose. Many people need higher doses to get the full effect, with some needing the top dose. It’s just how you respond and not that anything’s wrong with you. You may find 10, 12.5 or 15 works for you and you start to see the results that you’ve seen in other people.

This is bizarre. The drug is tested up to 15mg and prescribed up to 15mg for a reason. Would you take half a paracetamol and hope your headache went away or take the full dose of 2 pills because that's what's clinically effective?

OP to answer you of course higher doses helped because that's how the drug is effective.

Thanks for the encouraging replies! I’ve just felt really annoyed at myself because I’ve worked so hard to get this far (totally overhauled my eating) and I was losing hope that I’d ever be able to get to goal. I was a bit reluctant to spend even more money but I’ve found 10mg for £229 (much less than the £287 I’d seen) so I mean, you can’t put a price on good health so I’ve just ordered it.

In the beginning of both 5mg and 7.5mg, it was sheer bliss. I never thought about food, was never tempted or even fancied anything but last 6 weeks I’ve been craving all sorts and giving in. Obviously it shows that without the drug, the good noise is never far away but I want to get to my goal weight and I’ll worry about the next steps when I get there.

The next few months is going to be all about exercise and strength training too. I’ve focused so far just on my eating and haven’t done much exercise. Looking forward to my 10mg arriving.

Also, interesting to read one PP say that 10mg cured their constipation. That would be amazing if that happened! I’m currently on daily laxido and would like that to return to normal.

Feel encouraged after reading this so thank you.

The only reason GLP-1 agonists are prescribed at a range of doses is because of the side effects being reduced if you ramp up gradually. If they were side effect free I expect there would just be one dose available, the 15. Your response or not to lower doses is not an achievement/failing.

I did a month on 2.5 but it wasn’t enough so I moved to 5mg and that worked well for me for 4 months. Then I couldn’t lose anything for 5 weeks. I Increased to 7.5 a month ago and weight loss is moving again. The odd thing is I still eat the same as during the stall on 5mg but I know MJ does more than just suppress appetite.

So yes absolutely go up to the 10mg, our body gets used to a dose after a while and it was designed to increase when you need to. Some people are lucky and can stick on a low dose but most of us do need to increase.

It is not only about side effects, even if they were side effect free there would be multiple strengths because people respond differently in terms of appetite suppression, weight loss, blood sugar control etc. It isn't just about tolerating doses it is about individual effectiveness.

Oh that’s a very good point. I’ve never thought of it that way.

My OH has lost almost 3 stone over 8 months and has only recently moved from 2.5mg to 3.75mg. She found 2.5mg very therapeutic.
There is trial data available which clearly shows doses of 1.5mg can be therapeutic and takes account of placebo in double blind trials.
Plenty of drugs are started at a low dose and only increased to the point they give the required effectiveness for the individual. Blood pressure medication is just one example.
Drug companies want their drug to show the best weight loss results to their competitors so they ramp the dose up in trials to hit the headlines. But their instructions are very clear - only increase dose on the advice of your healthcare provider - and it’s for effectiveness. No need to increase if it’s working, even if you’re not experiencing side effects.

I did 4 pens of 7.5 as it was working. After the last pen I found it stopped working so went up to 10mg. Been on 10mg a year now, reached my goal with 10. I am going to slowly come back down soon.

Go for it, 10mg for me is the best.

My 10mg pen is due to arrive tomorrow and I can’t wait. I’ve been out in the garden all day getting it ready for summer and all the while, the ‘old me’ thoughts of having a slap up meal because I’d ’earned it’ followed me around. I have given in and am about to eat a lot of my favourite pasta.

I want to be rid of this and for the last part of my journey, I’m definitely going to be working on my emotional approach to food. I don’t want to stay on WLIs for life (respect for those who choose otherwise, of course).

Looking forward now to finishing the job and getting to goal!

Been on mounjaro since Jul ‘25, gradually working may way up to 10mg. I’m down from 160kg to 114kg so far and my diabetes is now in remission. Last revue with my diabetic nurse we decided to stay on 10mg even though it’s quite slow, it’s pretty steady. She said that obviously she’s read up on the official effects, but now she has a couple of people on it, and she’s spoken to others on it, she says anecdotally the real life feedback is that it does go in waves of effectiveness so getting plateaus seems ‘normal’.

In her opinion the overall results are amazing and you need to stick at it even when it’s effectiveness seems to be wavering.

I have tried to stay in as low a dose as possible and looking at my Shotsy graph i think I moved up too quickly - ie the moment I felt hungry I blasted it with more MJ. That said I’ve been on it since June 25 and for the last 3 months been on 6.25mg, though this was to plateau on purpose due up other health issues. My reasoning for staying low is that my friend ramped up quickly and now has nowhere to go as they are on 15mg, started 5 months before me. I am looking at increasing again but possibly to 55 clicks of a 7.5mg pen, currently on 50clicks. I’ve always done interim increases as I found the big increase causes me problems.

I'm 15 months in and still on 7.5mg. I went up to 10mg about 2.5 months ago but the side effects were awful so I dropped back down.
I'm not getting the same suppression or weight loss so do need to try 10mg again.
I've lost 3 stone ans have 1 to 1.5 stone to go. I'm glad I've lost slowly, or rather had plateaus as its allowed by body to adapt. Even with that I still have a little loose skin. I also notice the scales may not budge but I am smaller.

First day of 10mg and I can definitely feel the effects already. Woke up in the wee hours and decided to just take it and then go back to bed. Had my breakfast around 5 hours later and could only manage half of it.

It’s been a while since I felt like that so I’m hopeful this will now have me on the right path to losing the rest of my weight.