Dummies guide for new Mounjaro starter wanting sustainable long term weight loss

[minnymoobear]

Hi all. I’m due to take my injection shortly starting on 2.5mg of Mounjaro.

I am 202lb, 5.5” and aged 51 - been a few stone overweight for most of the last 25 years. Prediabetic, with high cholesterol and blood pressure that goes very up and down. Started walking a lot more over last few months and so 5-10k steps a day, swim and gym maybe once or twice a week and will be increasing that.

I want to use this time on MJ to make long lasting changes and not just rely on the injection to change my life on its own!

Looking for ideas of things what worked that I can try out in my life so this can be a real lifestyle change for me. I’ve read so many threads here and see stuff on social media that I am overwhelmed and making it more complicated than it needs to be!

so I’d love to know - what did you to get the best results that are sustainable? What actually worked for you while on MJ?

-Tracking calories and macros - how to do this consistently?!
-protein shakes - home made or shop bought?
-exercise routine - how did you build muscle? What was your routine?
-any food and meal hacks to keep protein high and eat well for long term not just a few months
-any mindset advice or tips that helped you generating meals out and tracking?

Thanks so much in advance!

My top tips are:

• join the relevant month starter thread on here.
• use something like My Net Diary to track calories and see what you're really eating.
• Check out the Shotsy app for tracking your jabs.
• eat lots of cottage cheese and anything else high in protein, and lots of veg and ditch the carbs because you don't need to fill up on them any more
• I haven't needed protein shakes. I want to learn good eating habits that will be sustainable.
• I have had an electrolyte tablet in water every morning which has helped me hydrate.
• try to stop viewing food and alcohol as treats then you won't feel like you're depriving yourself. Oddly I have fallen in love with Pink Lady apples and feel like they're my new treat.
• I'm a bit rubbish on the exercise but track your steps and try to increase them, plus get some hand held weights to wave around.
• I discovered that social events so often revolve around food. Just focus on making a good choice and eating something small but lovely. You don't need to avoid them altogether.

Hope that helps.

My tips are:

to make the most of the initial feeling of not wanting to eat much at all. It wears off soon enough but that starting boost got me motivated.

protein shakes were a big help - they still are. Initially it was all I could stomach but now I use them as a meal replacement to help maintain. I’ve tried lots. Bol is my favourite.

i used the Shotsy app to record my jabs, nutra check app to track food and weight. Soon stopped tracking food as I didn’t need to but still use that and My Fitness Pal to
record weight and monitor progress.

Drinking lots of water helped.

I did the whole thing (lost just over 3 stone) not going above 2.5mg jabs. Appreciate that doesn’t work for everyone but don’t be in a rush to go up the doses. Using some willpower too has helped when it came to maintenance time. Maintenance is harder than losing!

Good luck!

-Tracking calories and macros - how to do this consistently?!

I didn’t track calories and macros. Been on Mounjaro 2 years and lost 11 stone. I stopped snacking, stopped eating sugary processed stuff and ate smaller portions.

-protein shakes - home made or shop bought?

Neither! Never had a protein shake in my life.

-exercise routine - how did you build muscle? What was your routine?

At the start I couldn’t contemplate regular exercise but found that I had way more energy and therefore did more walking and was generally less sedentary. Then after losing a chunk of weight, I started the Couch to 5k programme which was great. I now run regularly alongside doing lots and lots of walking.

-any food and meal hacks to keep protein high and eat well for long term not just a few months

I don’t know about hacks, but just look for easy sources of protein like Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, lean meat or fish if you eat meat, anything that’s easy to prep. Especially at the start it can be hard to think of what you feel like eating so anything simple and quick will help.

In terms of mindset, I just did what felt right for me. Thankfully at the time when I started there was a lot less in the media about Mounjaro/GLP1s.

I started Jan 2025 and over 7 stone down. I'd say....Nutracheck is a fab calorie tracker, lots of water, lots of protein, try to exercise as a priority I've lost my bum!

I have found tracking calories to be essential and made me more aware. I pre weigh portions of food and don’t guess. I use an app that tracks the macros.
eat clean, not processed food, lots of king prawns, eggs, Greek yogurt. I now love watermelon and eat it most days.
i eat out lots, just choose carefully (check menu’s before i go to work things out) I feel it’s got to be sustainable whatever I do- I’m in this for the long haul.
making sure I have plenty of food- I actually have my own drawer in the fridge, to keep my bits in, and I batch cook soup for my evening meal each weekend. Repetition works for me.
joined the gym and did the pt free session, which taught me a routine of resistance training (essential as I age) also swim, and just started yoga.
i need to exercise more consistently- but it is hard to fit everything in- but anything is better than nothing! I’ve lost 9 stone in a year, and still have a bit to go, but naturally it’s slowed down now. Good luck- I’ve found it life changing! Oh- and tracking water in take- I drink between 2 and max 4 litres of water each day. Normally land at 3, a good water day leads to a loss on the scales!

@MoneyJo, great tips, thanks for sharing.

Will check out Shotsy, and already joined July thread. I don’t drink alcohol so that one is easy and the rest of your list is great . I don’t love cottage cheese but know it’s good for easy protein so will start including it with my meals.

Hope your weight loss is going well!

Oh wow @KizzyKoala 3 stone loss is amazing on that dosage - well done you!

I struggle with drinking enough water but the current heat helps and I’ve been adding in sugar free squash which also helps me more.

How did you drink so much?

Thank you @SilenceInside - congrats on your loss, that is amazing! And doing couch to 5k is inspirational - I am walking more but don’t think I could run! Will deffo be looking for and including the easy protein sources - I should be at about 100grams plus daily for my weight.

@1989STAR thank you and well done on that loss - amazing!

did you want to lose the bum? I have a large bum and belly so would be happy to lose some of both!

Thank you, amazing weight loss @MsCrawford - go you!!

thank you so much for sharing your tips.

Water and protein are essential so I’m going to focus those on those in first week and get used to tracking. I think the planning and pre weighing items is really helpful and will help me to keep on track.

In the first couple of months you will be pretty much uninterested in food, so that's a good time to do all the boring admin side of weight loss, because you won't feel emotional about your food choices. So work out how much protein and fibre you should be eating, and a rough daily calorie goal ( you will probably find yourself eating well under your calorie limit at first which is why you need to prioritize the protein and fibre) and plan a couple of weeks worth of meals that fits your nutritional goals. Once you've been doing it for a month or two, you can probably start winging it as long as you keep losing weight.

I also found it was much easier to exercise when I wasn't distracted by hunger. A couple of months in I signed up for 10 sessions with a personal trainer which was genuinely life-changing.

Drink enough, try and get plenty of sleep, eat plenty of protein and fibre and make a note of what your body reacts badly to (in my case, I have to limit alcohol and fatty foods) and you can keep tweaking as you go.