18 months on Mounjaro and not losing

[Polkadotdash]

Looking for other non-losers!
I’ve been on Mounjaro for 18 months now. I had a period in the middle where I lost some weight (about 2.5 stone). Then I stopped losing altogether about 9 months ago. I’ve since put on half a stone.
My current dose is 10mg. My BMI is 29.
I feel very disheartened. I’m in a lovely group elsewhere on mumsnet who we’ve shared our journey with from the start. I’m the only one who hasn’t reached their goal and has actually gained. I feel like I’m some freak.
Anyone else like this?

OP, I'm on the max dose of MJ. Lost quickly to begin with but now almost plateaued- losing maybe 0.5lb/week. TBH I'm very happy with this- I feel very well on MJ, my appetite is only slightly reduced at this point (which I like, as I enjoy eating with family/friends as a social thing) but I have no food noise so no urge to snack- I feel as if I could carry on quite happily forever so the slow pace isn't an issue. I'm now at the top of the healthy weight category and intend to stay on max dose until I'm in the middle of the range- at this rate that's going to be the end of this year as my weight loss is so slow, but that's fine- then I'm gradually going to reduce my dose to maintain. Suspect I will be on MJ forever and at a fairly high dose.

If I were on 10mg at this point I'm sure I would have stopped losing completely and might be gaining.

It’s pointless. The op beleives she is a medical marvel. Her body maintains its weight, when she is in a calorie deficit. And it doesn’t burn either fat or muscle to fuel that defecit. It is as yet unknown how she thinks she fuels her defecit. As it’s not anything she consumes and it’s not fat or muscle either. As that would make her body lighter.

there is no convincing her she is not a medical marvel. Her body is achieving ghe unachievable.

For the TDEE/BMR calculator I use, I weight of 13st and BMI of 29 gives a BMR of 1,460 rather than 1,650 cals. it could well be an inaccuracy of TDEE calculation which means you're not in a deficit and hence not seeing a weight loss maybe.

Hi - student dietitian here.

What happens with ‘starvation mode’ is actually adaptive thermogenesis aka a reduction in energy expenditure, not a magical suspension of the laws of thermodynamics. It does not mean you would remain overweight while eating in a deficit for months. Otherwise people would never starve to death. If you were in starvation mode (adaptive metabolism) it only reduces caloric need by about 120calories a day. So you would still be losing weight on a deficit even with hormonal, pharmaceutical and physical differentiation in caloric need and expression. Despite having physical differences, weight and mass obey the laws of physics - these differences change how many calories you need and use NOT that you need to be in a deficit to lose weight. And there are no medical conditions that make you gain actual weight while eating below your expenditure. Water retention, fluid build up or growing a mass etc could add weight but these wouldn’t be true fat gain.

Well said 😊

Yes that’s what they found during the actual starvation study, which is what I think has been misrepresented as starvation mode and went viral. These people were starved, literally, and as much as metabolism dropped and energy requirements were less, weight loss continued rapidly as would be expected. It was not impacted.

its surprising how many people genuinely seem to beleive you can either maintain or gain weight in a defecit. There is never an explanation of how your body is fuelling itself though.

A defecit is a defecit, its eating less than you expend, what ever that expenditure number is. And that daily expenditure number reduces as you lose weight. As the heavier you are, the more you need to consume to maintain it. As such your daily cals can be a lot higher when you’re heavier, to lose weight, than they can when you’re lighter, it has to reduce significantly to stay on a defecit.

so you may need 2400 cals to maintain a 20 stone frame. And can lose a pound a week on 1900. But at 15 stone, you will need (example numbers) 2000, so 1900 would see you maintain your weight, and you’d need to drop to 1500 to continue to lose 1lbs a week.

What has worked for me when I’ve stalled and gained a few lbs. I’m mid 50s it’s hard.
Weight Training - just 20min x 2 a week can really make a difference. Increasing your body composition to more muscle v fat even if your overall weight is the same the muscles use more calories.
Fasting - min 14hrs every day - I shut the kitchen to all snacking by 7pm and eat breakfast no earlier than 9am.
Walking 1-2hrs every single day - adds up to 10-15k steps daily. I have a dog which makes that easier. My job is desk based 8hrs a day.
Protein 100g a day I aim for.
Track every morsel for 48hrs, weigh food out just to reset portion sizes as I had creep of portions. 1 extra spoon of yoghurt adds up sadly at my age.
Doing all these consistently has restarted me losing a lb a week again. Good luck keep going.

Your quick Google disagreed with you and agreed with me too, in the very next sentence after the one you highlighted.

A good lesson in not trusting AI to think for you.

I lost 8st on MJ and it’s quite simple. If you are not getting a decent suppression you are significantly insulin resistant and need to continue up to 12.5 mg then 15 if still nothing . I had to be on 15mg to lose 80% of my excess weight.

This thread has become exactly what I didn’t want it to be.
I don’t believe I’m a medical marvel. I do believe I’m an individual though.
I can’t afford higher doses - just scraped together enough this month for 12.5mg
I do not put any measure by the TDEE calculators, so please stop quoting them back at me.
I’m not here for diet advice.
I was looking for people with a non-typical experience on MJ since all you ever hear about or read about is people losing huge amounts of weight very quickly. Thank you to the people who have shared their experiences with me.

I’m not sure I follow. Of course plenty of people don’t lose on mounjaro, but for the same reason ypu don’t, you’re eating to maintenance. I understand that makes you angry, but there’s no getting round it.

mounjaro doesn’t make you lose weight, what you don’t consume does,

what do you mean you know you’re not a medical marvel but are an individual ar e you saying thst genuinely you still beleive you’re eating in a defecit and your body is maintaning it’d weight, and uses something other than burning fat or muscle to fuel the defecit?

I think maybe the sanest way to deal with this, as this is a bit insane, is to say you’re simply not willing to eat less to lose the weight so prefer to stay at this weight rather than do that. As that’s totally fine and a completely valid position.

however it also means you can’t eat more than you do now, as you will start to gain again.

@Safarisagoody I don’t know what you’re getting out of this. Please take yourself to another thread. You’re completely derailing this one, not adding anything useful for me.

This is honestly one of the weirdest thread I’ve seen on here 😂😂😂

@northernlight20 weirder than screaming at the ceiling of the Sistine chapel? I really must be going some to beat that.

Obviously on the wli section 🙄

@northernlight20 whsts so weird about trying to find others who are in the same boat as me? Isnt that the point of mumsnet? Shared experience?
What I find weird is people who join a thread to specifically tell the OP what they think the thread should be about and when the OP doesn’t immediately thank them for it, they resort to telling them that they are unreasonable and they should do as they are told. That’s weird if you ask me.

I’ve only read your posts OP and I’m sorry you are not getting the responses you came here for.

I can sympathise with you. I’ve been on mj since July 24. I lost 3 stone in 12 months and had increased up to 15mg. Then I had no loss for 3 or 4 months, the price increase happened, I switched to Wegovy and over 4 months I put on half a stone. I restarted mj at 5 mg. Worked my way back up to 15mg and lost 4lb in 4 months. These last 2 weeks I’ve been seriously tracking and counting cals but the effort is immense. I think about food all the time. I’m always hungry. MJ is not making me feel fuller or reducing food noise and appetite. I pay almost £300 a month and am doing all the work myself but I am terrified that if I stop the mj completely to ‘do the work myself’ I’ll just put everything back on. I feel trapped.

I hope you get some movement with the 12.5mg

edit to add that I’m bmi 28.5 and according to calculators I have another 40lbs to lose

Weird to assume you’re in a deficit but mj just doesn’t work after 1yr. Continue up the doses, it will kick in at 15mg eventually. I know THAT’s what you want to hear.

@MaryBennetsGlasses THANK YOU! Just thanks. X

I think it’s inevitable that people will attempt to offer solutions or try to analyse why you’re in the position you are in. I also think it’s quite unusual to take medication for many months that isn’t working. I think most people would stop or change the medication or dose, or make other changes to support the medication in what it’s meant to be doing.

@northernlight20 I’ve not once said ‘why am I not losing weight? Any advice?’ Not once. But you’ve offered it anyway. I think you just want to hear ‘oh thanks so much. I see the error of my ways and yes you’re right. I am a secret eater. That family size trifle I eat at midnight probably is undermining my weight loss’.
And for the last bloody time I CANNOT AFFORD THE HIGHER DOSES.

Op you said you were disheartened, and you come across like you’re unhappy and struggling, so of course people are going to give you the answer to solve the issue and get you losing weight, few can fathom keeping spending the money and continuing as is. We all assume you actually want to fix the issue and lose.

however it’s now clear, you don’t wish the problem solved you just want to know others who keep paying for tne meds and don’t lose weight. And fair enough, it’s hard to comprehend but we are all different.

I'm in an eternal plateau OP. At least it feels like it. Its been 9 months and I've lost and gained the same 4lb.I did lose nearly 6st before that, and my body just seems to have decided that this is what I'm going to be, so whilst I'm still on 15mg its working as a <very expensive> maintenance dose for me.

I am on 1300 calories a day. I've tried eating more one day less the next. I've tried upping the calories (I just put on weight) I feel like its not a healthy option to eat less than 1300 but now the weather is getting better I think I will drop for a while. I'm walking more and do two energetic classes a week. But still i maintain. Its very frustrating as i don't mind being this size (12) but I would really like to get to goal and not be 'overweight' (My top BMI should be 23 but Id be glad to just get to 25)

It might be time to see if you can wean yourself down it while maintaining your weight then. If you’re not losing you can try maintaining on cheaper doses. If it doesn’t work then use the money saved to try a few months on the higher dose?

@Polkadotdash apologies if you didn’t want to hear about TDEE but I was responding to your post -
“I’ve just rechecked my TDEE as I hadn’t looked at it for a while. I’d been working on my BMR being 1500 and me eating 1300 a day.”, with what I thought might be helpful advice and might have explained why you haven’t been losing weight.
if you aren’t interested in calorie counting and TDEE then I agree wholeheartedly with you when you say you’re wasting your money.