I need a higher dosage but have just received lower dosage one. What to do?

[MercyMeMary11]

It wasn't a mistake but I have been rushed off my feet. I have lost 12lbs on the 2.5mg but in this last week (week 4), I have plateaued. I renewed the 2.5mg in a rush and now it's just not working

I really need to start the 5mg but I have just received a new 2.5mg.

Any advice please?

@gemma76wh I think my weight gain is due to many social occasions tbh. I thought the MJ would stop me wanting to stuff my face though

@MercyMeMary11ive definitely found the suppression isn’t linear for me. Some weeks it’s really strong and I can resist temptation, others if the temptation is there I can happily go for it! I’d def give it another week or 2 and see how you go before deciding to increase. I also hugely recommend going up incrementally, I found 3.75mg to be a really good sweet spot for me, I’ve not needed to go up to 5mg (I tried a couple of times and it was too much). The way I see it the longer you can stay on lower doses the more money you’re saving and (no idea if this is accurate?!) less you are relying on the medication.

Erm, sorry if this is TMI, but you don’t evacuate your bowels daily. This common on GLP1 meds especially early on and in the weight loss phase as your digestive system slows (this is one of the things it does, as slowing the transit of the food means it sits in your stomach longer and you feel fuller for longer), and you eat less so are not filling up your bowels with the usual amount of food/roughage?

Lots of water and fruit helps to get you/keep you regular but it is common only to go twice a week. If you’ve not been for a few days, you will be retaining poop… as soon as you ‘go’ there will be a 1-2lb weight loss registered on the scales. It’s why you can’t only rely on the scales and why they tell you to only weigh once a week. I only weigh on days when I have ‘been’…

I know that feeling - have two SEN DC (now YA at 18/ and 21) and had several tough years during lockdown with the eldest who has severe MH issues. I also had very bad covid myself (first iteration within weeks of first lockdown, took months to recover). Peri/meno decided that was a great time to announce itself. I had no emotional or physical wherewithal to prioritise my health in any way and gained about 4-5stone.

It was one of the reasons I decided to take a pragmatic approach - slow, but sure weight loss after the first couple of stone, and really taking time to focus on my health and lifestyle habits. I rationalised it in terms of: I need to be my best and most healthy self if I am to be able to give DC the support they need. Effectively I started it because of them, but soon felt so much better in myself that I was able to centre my needs and accept I was as important as they are, in my own right.

It is really hard as a parent to DC with disabilities - you become (necessarily) so focused on them and you carry a lot of guilt if you want something just for yourself. But they benefit vicariously with you prioritising yourself and modelling self care. They need you to be your best self and you deserve to be that person too. Just don’t rush. Look on it as a life project.

Not sure if that helps at all. :)

@AnonyMumAuDHD thanks, yes I’ve had a very slow week for bowel movements so that’s probably what that 1.5lb weight gain is 🤣🤣

Agree that the losses are not always linear. I've been on 2.5mg for 10 weeks now, and weigh every day. Sometimes it's a gain of 1-2lbs on one day, then 3lbs less 2 days later (usually after a big poo!).

To gain 1lb of fat in one week, you'd have to eat 3,500 calories over your TDEE, and if you've been doing that, the problem isn't Mounjaro!

It will. It's unlikely to do that on 2.5mg for long however, so if you're not feeling much suppression it is probably time to move up.

Try not to get sucked into the ideas of increasing weekly by random/different amounts, or injecting to a different schedule when in the early weeks/months of initiating treatment. It is not wasting money, it needs some patience. The medication builds in your body over the course of 4 weeks whenever you initiate treatment or increase dose. If you are also during those 4 weeks increasing doses randomly it just confuses things if you start to get side effects - what accumulated dose is causing the side effects.

Order a 5mg pen if you can afford it and keep the 2.5mg for now, or just take double the dose.

I would take the 2.5mg for 4 more weeks; 12lbs in one month is amazing and weight does plateau every so often.

Yes I will do that. Today is an easier day - no social events but next week we go on holiday and we are already invited to a tea and bbqs. I will aim to be restrained.

A Stall or Plateau in WLI terms is usually 3-4 weeks with no loss or a gain in weight. I would just be patient.