Mounjaro / Wegovy with > 5st / 30kg to lose - Alumni Maintenance Thread

[WeAllHaveWings]

Trying the new Community groups feature for a maintenance focussed thread for our Mounjaro/Wegovy with >5 stone/30kg to lose alumni 👩‍🎓

All Mounjaro/Wegovy with >5 stone/30kg to lose posters and lurkers who enjoyed the supportive weight loss thread welcome whether you have graduated to maintenance already or getting close and pondering what happens next!

I expect this thread will be much quieter than our main Mounjaro/Wegovy with >5 stone/30kg to lose thread (which has been running for almost 2 years now!) as it feels intensity drops when in maintenance, but it would be great to keep in touch with everyone now and again and how we are all getting on post-weight loss and what we find works / doesn't work.

I'll start the thread with Mumsnet maintenance posts most repeated practical maintenance advice gathered by asking CoPilot to look at the board -

🚫 Don’t stop abruptly – taper your dose and/or slowly space injections; stopping suddenly often means hunger and regain

🎯 Aim for the lowest dose that keeps food noise calm, not zero at all costs

🍽️ Expect appetite to return – hunger is normal in maintenance, not a personal failure

🔄 Don’t jump from dieting straight to “normal eating” – a slow reverse diet (adding food gradually) helps weight stay off

🍗 Keep protein‑first habits and the smaller portions you learned while losing

🏥 Check your provider supports maintenance (some stop prescribing below certain BMIs)

📏 Allow a weight “zone” (±2–5 lb) rather than chasing one exact number

🧠 Weigh less often – watch trends, not single‑day/week blips

🚶‍♀️💪 Walk regularly; add gentle strength if you can – movement supports stability and confidence

💭 Expect maintenance to feel mentally harder than loss – less scale feedback doesn’t mean you aren’t succeeding 💛

(Hope this works in the Mumsnet Community Group feature!)

Hi. How is everyone getting on? I’m good. Bumbling along near the bottom of my allotted weight window, so think I’m going to be brave and reduce my dose slightly this week. Feeling a bit apprehensive as food noise is popping up occasionally (and I’m succumbing- but far less than in my previous life), but doesn’t seem to be reflected on the scales. I probably should try eating more “normal” food, but often don’t fancy it. Hence the trying a lower dose. Will report back…

When i first saw the 5 stone to lose group i didnt quite feel i belonged because i never thought id actually manage to lose that much.
But, 5 stone 10 pounds later, i am maintaining since Jan on 5mg per week now (went up to 12.5).
Increased my calories gradually from 1200-1400, now at 1750 a day. It was a bit of guess work and chatgpt to work out maintenance and reverse dieting calories. Im 5ft4, have a sedentary desk job but go to the gym 4 times a week and do something at home on the other days. I only manage about 6000 steps a day. My bmi is around 21.7 i think but i dont want to lose anymore, i am trying to recomp now. Its hard and slow and nowhere near as exciting as seeing the scale go down!

I'm doing good too. I seem to have settled at around 10st 11. The water weight from last week's crazy heat has gone. At one point it had added close to 3lb on the scales*! 😱

I'm still taking 5 from a 7.5 but when that's done I should shift down to 2.5.

Well done @MrsMiagi and welcome to this thread!

Passed my 2-year Mounjaro anniversary now, and here's another thoroughly boring maintenance update... everything is still ticking along nicely within my maintenance range.

I'm still on 2.5mg and have dropped back to my lowest weight again (BMI 24.3). It's been a stressful couple of weeks with long hospital commutes, lots of visiting, and quite a few skipped meals, so I fully expect it to creep back up again at tomorrow's weigh-in or over the next week or so. Sharing my latest graph anyway.

@Questions1234 I've noticed is that some days/weeks the food noise definitely comes back, but I can usually link it to what I've been eating. More carbs/less protein/letting a few mindless snacking habits creep back in. My new normal probably needs to be lower carb and more mindful if I want to keep it at bay. Maybe with more time my body/brain will reset and those cravings will fade - or thats what I hope happens one day! If not, and this is what I need to do to stay in "obesity remission", then so be it.

@MrsMiagi Welcome to the least exciting thread on Mumsnet 🤣 I'm in a sedentary desk job too, WFH so I don't even get the benefit of commute steps! I keep telling myself I'm going to get up 30 minutes earlier and have a "walking commute" around the estate before work... but so far my bed keeps winning!

I WFH too. Its so hard isnt it! I have a walking pad but if i walk on it for too long it ruins my knees then i am in pain for days. So its a 5.15am wake up and gym 4 days a week, otherwiae my BMR is low so i would be on minimal calories. My aim now is to increase my calories as much as i possibly can witgout weight gain. 1750 seems ok for now but id love to reach 1900!

@WeAllHaveWings thanks for the tip. I have focussed on more protein and water, and do think it’s helped with the food noise. I’ve also enjoyed a few icecreams here and there, and doesn’t seem to be showing on the scales and I’m happy with that… it’s the mindless eating I dread going back to.

I had a very bizarre experience with someone I barely know squeezing my bicep randomly. It was in the context of where I go for my fitness, but nevertheless I found it deeply uncomfortable. Made me reflect that other people’s reactions to my change in size has been one of the most challenging aspects of this journey. Thankfully my husband/immediate family haven’t been weird, but others really have!

@Questions1234 I am not a tactile person at all and if someone attempted to assess any part of my body through touch I would immediately jerk away with a very strong "what on earth do you think you are doing!?". A couple of people had that reaction from me when I was pregnant and they tried to touch my pg belly.

In a fitness space they should ask (so you can at least flex that bicep first 😬) , and you should decline with a quick "appreciate the enthusiasm, but no" without feeling awkward if it feels uncomfortable to you.

Had my maintenance call with SD today. Fessed up to click counting and having a stash of pens which they understood. Agreed a break from ordering for 3-4 months which they have noted in my file, a way forward for future orders, and have a £10 off all future orders code. It won’t use up my whole pen stash, I will still have 2 pens to sort out later, but overall happy 😀

Hi all. How is everyone getting on? Thought I’d check in with a random NSV (or the opposite of victory)… am at a theme park with my kids, and while it’s lovely to be free of the “will I fit into the seat” worries, my lack of padding means the plastic ride seat are really hard on my spine and bum. I wonder if everyone feels like this, or am I just especially bony in those areas 🤔

It’s my birthday soon and am planning to celebrate with a 20km run. Blows my mind that I now consider this a birthday treat (and I really do!)…

Yes I feel bony bits now too - especially my sacrum and hip bones. Never really felt those before!!

I'm on week 2 of 10MJ as I tirate down.

My weight had stuck at 73kgs for about 6 months - This is at the very top of my healthy BMI & though I settled there I would ideally have liked to be below 70kg. But I wasn't too worried as i liked being stable. But now I am tirating down I seem to be losing a bit more very slowly - about 71.5kg now. So maybe I will get below 70kg after all?

Your 20km run blows my mind too @Questions1234 - what a magnificent change of lifestyle!

Another one here feeling bones too 👋.

I've always preferred a firm mattress, but it now makes my hips ache, last couple of days I've been looking for a mattress topper that will cushion enough without sinking into it so it gets too warm!

This morning I came across some photos taken pre MJ - at my biggest.

It's like some kind of dream state - I'm horrified at how big I was but now my brain is stuggling to even remember what it was like.

I'm so unbelievably pleased to have lots 53kgs - I can't imagine life being 41BMI now.

53 kilos is a lot of weight - I find it very difficult sometimes to fathom it all. No wonder people don't recognise me and say "pleased to meet you" when they already know me. Looking at the pics I can see why - my face has changed a lot.

Bizarrely the dress I was wearing in the horrible pics I still wear!! Its only really fitted at the bust & is adjustable so it's wearable & I still love it.

@RobinEllacotStrike I hear you. FB memories is a, well I won't say treasure trove, but a something trove anyway. Especially at this time of year when it's chucking up assorted holiday pics from over the last 15 years. And, the thing is, if it went on FB it means I thought it was a "good" pic. Or at least I hated it less at the time. Now I'm like 😱

I've kept a couple of my size 22 floaty dresses because it turns out they're great for lounging about at home in heatwaves. 😁

Still on 5mg, still trundling along at 10st 11ish. My achilles heel at the moment is not food. It's drink. It seems the anti-alcohol effect of MJ is completely gone for me now, and this weather calls to me.....So far I'm doing ok but I do need to be careful. 😜

Yeah the fact that I didn't instantly delete these says something.
And they are group shots - cooking a big meal for lots of people. The others look normal size humans & I look like a huge giant. I never saw myself like that at the time. I know I was usuallly the biggest in the room but seeing these pics now is like scales have fallen from my eyes.

Peeps in to say hello

Hope its okay to join you. I a. on the 10stone to lose thread not the 5stone one but would love to join you.

Today I'm weighing in at 72.9 kg which is bmi 26. I'm noy at maintenance yet bjt thought I'd come and lurk as it's getting closer! I thiught Id be there by now but although I was still losing a pound a week on average Jan/Feb then I stalled so it looks like Im losjng 0.5 lb a week on average now but no idea if it was a plataue then will go down a gain or if it will be a very slow ride to healthy bmi!

I had hoped to be "putting on the brakes" now rather than feeling Im at maintenance early!

l started at bmi 50 and started MJ Jan 2005.

Ive lost 10stone 4lbs since then!

I am on 9. 75mg and was hoping to reduce once I get to bmit 25 (for cost reasons as much as anything else) even though I know I'll be on it long term - but wondering if this will be my maintenance dose 😬.

wow @FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden that is an amazing achievement!! welcome x

"I've kept a couple of my size 22 floaty dresses because it turns out they're great for lounging about at home in heatwaves. 😁"

Yes me too @GiveMeWordGames - I've found many dresses are still ok to wear in bigger sizes as my shoulders havent shrunk much.

Hello @FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden and you're very welcome. 10st 4lbs is a storming achievement. Especially since only Jan last year. Well done. 👏

It's frustrating how slow it gets right near the end, I know.

Thankyou both 🥰.

I've just seen the shocking number of typos in my last post.... way after the edit window. Oops 😳.

I was reasonably certain you hadn't been on MJ for 21 years.😅

You've nearly HALVED your BMI.
That is really amazing

Yes things slow down.

I reached a natural plateau of 73kg, (loss 53kg) and stayed there for months & months. Now I am tirating down but I've started losing weight again - albeit slowly. I feel like my body needed a rest, to recalibrate. I'm happy here but also if I could lose another 2kg and hold there I'd be stoaked.

😂. Yeah maybe not... Jan 2025.

But feels like a lifetime ago I couldn't walk far, worried about seats and first impressions and clothes and all the things!

Hello everyone. I'm not quite at maintenance, but I'm currently 5lb above the weight I've set as the upper end of my target weight range, so i'm trying to start thinking in a more maintenance way in preparation.

I'm currently on 5mg of Mounjaro, and it's not wildly effective right now - if I had much more to lose, I'd be moving up a dose, but as it is, I seem to be losing around 3-6 lbs a month, which I'm happy with.

Following in from the conversation about surprise pictures of our fatter past selves, I was scrolling Instagram earlier today when I saw an ad for a dance class featuring a video of a workshop I attended with me, 5 stone heavier, taking part. That really brought home how much my body has changed over the last year.

Alumni? Cringe 🤦🏻‍♀️

off you trot then
👉🏽🤡

Well said @RobinEllacotStrike 👏

Much more restrained than I would have been if I'd seen it first. What type of person comes onto a support thread for those who've worked incredibly hard to get a chronic disease into submission just to mock and belittle a tongue in cheek title? Got to assume they have their own ishoos going on, ignore and leave them to get on with whatever causes them to behave this way.