Before I start Mounjaro - advice pls if you have got to your goal weight

[AplineDaisies]

I have a number of friends who have lost weight with the injections and I'm thinking of starting but what is the real cost?

Do most people have to stay on them for life or do you wean yourself off, if that's possible?

I can't afford them for the rest of my life but I need to do something. Years at SW didn't help.

You don't have to stay on Mounjaro for life to keep the weight off. Yes, there are plenty of studies that show people regain the weight over a period if time if they do stop - but this is exactly the same with any diet. That's why so many of us are the typical yo-yo dieters. It's not because we stop the drug.
This is why it is so important to change our lifestyle and eating habits. Not simply changing what and how much we eat while we're losing weight, then going back to our old diets when we reach goal, but recognising that we need to eat healthily forever.
Mounjaro allows us to reach goal more successfully than trying to diet without it. But however we lose the weight, not regaining afterwards is up to us. If you want to stay on MJ long term to make that easier, then that's a perfectly acceptable personal choice, but it's not absolutely necessary.

I have lost 3.5 stone in about 13 months. I have always lost weight very slowly so no surprise there. I want to lose another half stone and then work down through the doses until I am off completely because I definitely can't afford it for life. I feel I have learned a lot, as a short arse I will have to watch my portion sizes for life, and I have learned the importance of protein. I have always previously given up on diets because I lose so slowly and had come to the conclusion that diets don't work for me, I have now discovered that they do work, I just have to be very, very patient.

Oh and I no longer buy crisps or biscuits so wont get tempted, online shopping helps me with that.

Been at goal and maintaining a few months now, on maintenance MJ. I did about half of it on 2.5 then moved up to 3.25 then 5. So was fortunate in that respect, but it's really the luck of the draw whether you respond to the lower doses or not. Given the things I now consume less of, rushes me no more than £30 per week. The plan is to continue long term.

Wegovy is of course cheaper. I was on MJ, had shifted much of the weight before the price hikes and got a couple ahead of time, so I think I only paid the new price for maybe 1 pen before I hit goal. If I were starting now I'd probably go for Wegovy instead.

I just read that Wegovy isn't as effective and has more negative side effects. So I wasn't thinking about it.

I don't know anything about side effects, but my understanding was on a population level there isn't a big effectiveness difference. That said, I've never taken it so am not speaking from a position of experience here. I may move over if and when they change the MJ pens to prevent bonus dosing, but appreciate maintenance is different.