r/MounjaroMaintenance

What do people do after they reach the final dose of MJ and have NOT reached their goal weight?

NB: I know what people can do if you *have* reached your goal weight. I'm asking what happens if you reach the highest dose on MJ and you still have a lot of weight to lose.

TA

Because I stopped taking it for a few weeks and I gained 15 lbs. and no it’s not because I didn’t build the right habits. I lost my weight from eating the right foods on mounjaro but once I didn’t take it for a few weeks, the food noise hit me like a Mack truck and so did the cravings. A piece of grilled chicken, some potatoes and broccoli made me feel like I had one bite whereas on the glp1 it fills me up.

So with that being said, what’s the plan for those of you who are not diabetic? I think I’ll be on this forever.

Hey everyone, so I’m in the process of going on Mounjaro soon. I’m a 31 year old female 5’2” who has been diagnosed with insulin resistance and weigh approximately 82kg and only wanting to stay on it for a maximum of 4 months. My reason for being on it for such a short time is that me and my partner want to start trying for a baby early next year. I have been trying to lose weight through exercise and changing overall eating habits for over 2 years. I’m getting disheartened and now feel like medical intervention is my only way. If I pair Mounjaro with 4 days weight training and normal eating with portion control, how much should I expect to lose? Google isn’t being very encouraging about it unfortunately 😒 Any tips, tricks or suggestions would be helpful
TIA 🙏🏻

Hi everyone! I’m 5 feet tall (153 cm) and weigh 71 kg (156 lbs). I’ve been on Mounjaro for a year, reaching a maximum dose of 6 mg. Now, I’m stepping down to 5 mg for maintenance. I lost 25% of my body weight, going from 96 kg to 71 kg. Even though I’m still technically overweight, I feel great at this size. What is your total weight loss percentage? I don't mind not being skinny—my goal was just to be healthier, and my blood work is now perfect!

Going away and am unable to take my jab with me as nowhere to store. Currently on 5mg - titrating down to 0 at some stage. Can I jab just before I go and when I get back - 11 days apart?

Herkese merhaba buradaki bir çok kişi gibi elimden gelen her şeyi yaptığım gerçekten yorulduğum bir dönemde başladığım bu mucize benim için ne kadar devam eder bilmiyorum 2 aydır 5 mg mı ikiye bölerek kullanıyorum ve gayet iyi sonuçlar alıyorum sporla diyetle yürüyüşle kas kaybı ve motivasyonumu kaybetmeden devam ediyorum gerçekten başarabileceğimi hissettirdi ama daha yolum uzun ve maliyette malumunuz cok yüksek verimle bu süreci en iyi şekilde atlatmak istiyorum ve aklımda bir çok alternatif var
1 10 mg lık flakon aldım ve bunuda ikiye bölerek 5 mg olarak kullanmak
2 10 mg lık flakonu üçe bölmek ki çokta mantıklı gelmiyor
3 10 mg yi 2 ye bölüp 5 5 gidecektim ya süreyi bir haftadan on güne çıkarmak
4 etkisi aynı olmasada iki ayı gayet iyi degerlendirerek ozempice geçmek
Bu konuda tavsiyelerinize açık ve muhtacım

I started at 324lbs almost 2 years ago. I was 177lbs this morning. I feel very fortunate this medication has worked for me, and that I have not suffered the worst side effects. (I always tell people who are considering Mounjaro, the side effects are no joke. take them seriously, there are figuratively no free lunches)

Now that I have hit my target weight, I went to my doctor Friday, and she said that we were basically just going to back off the dose until I start gaining again and then go with that dose moving forward. For some reason I thought she might have some alternative medications that might work in a maintenance type way. (I was on Phentermine for a bit)

So, for the past two years, I have not been eating at regular times and certainly not 'normal' amounts of food. A couple we know invited us for dinner last night. I turned it down because it makes me VERY uncomfortable to have food (in some cases multiple courses) served to me that I have no appetite for and, frankly really cannot comfortably eat. So my options are, make myself sick, or what seems like insult my host by sending all my food back.

I have no secrets; I have told everyone in my life about how food works with me now. But for other human beings alot of their life revolves around meals, and planning and where should we go, and lets talk about lunch, and, and and... I am not judging or angry, I just have no interest anymore. I am respectful others have to eat but even though they 'know' they still expect me to have enthusiasm or something.

I do miss food. I miss eating because I'm bored or sad or lonely. I miss getting really excited about eating out at my favorite place. I miss being part of that whole tribal energy that revolves around feeding.

But I will NOT gain this weight back again. Not ever. Under any circumstances.

So, after my Doc visit, now what I need to come to grips with, is this is how it's going to be permanently. I guess I am still understanding how to finally give this up, now that it is for sure final.

Any stories of experience, strength and hope out there? lol

thanks for listening, ST

Hello!

I've been in maintenance for some time - probably around 2 years. I started Mounjaro in September 2022 and it took about a year and a half to lose 95 pounds. I've reduced my injections to once monthly at this point (2.5mg), mostly because my insurance stopped covering the cost. I did have a stockpile and I bought a few off a friend that decided she didn't like it - at one injection a month I have a little less than a year stockpiled.

The longer I take it monthly, the more the food noise seems to creep back in. I started this journey at 220 pounds (I'm about 5'7"), my lowest was 124.5, and I held around 134 for a while. I'm okay at that weight, it puts me at a size 8-10. Maybe it's partly the last month was my birthday, Mother's day, etc but I jumped a few more pounds. I could tell before I even stepped on a scale.

I think I'm going to look into compounding when I get too low on supplies. Although, I've heard more than once (as I'm sure most have) that it's not meant to be a lifelong drug - of course this is said by people never have had to deal with weight issues or the weight doesn't bother them. But I plan to be able to take some form of it until I'm no longer able or its really no longer needed.

How has everyone else been in maintenance? How long have you been there?

My first experience drinking on Mounjaro (2.5mg) taught me something psychologically fascinating about addiction loops, reward systems, and learned behavior:

• This was my VERY FIRST time drinking alcohol on the medication, so I genuinely didn’t know what to expect. I basically approached the night the same way I always used to: same mindset, same pacing, same automatic behavioral script.
• Looking back now, I think that was the mistake. My brain and body were reacting completely differently, but psychologically I was still following the old loop out of habit.
• The strangest part: even after around 6 drinks, I never got the feeling I was actually looking for. No buzz that I so badly desired...
• Normally alcohol gives me a strong dopamine response: I become hyped up, extra social, emotionally excited, loud, stimulated, “the night is alive.”
• On Mounjaro, that entire reward loop felt muted.
• It felt like I was drinking non-alcoholic drinks psychologically. I kept waiting for the emotional payoff to arrive, but it never really came.
• The really dangerous part is that this can trick you into continuing to drink MORE because your brain keeps expecting the old reward to eventually kick in.
• And then something weird happened: the alcohol only really “hit” me physically hours later.
• But even then, it wasn’t the classic euphoric buzz I normally chase. It was mostly just my body being physically drunk: slower coordination, physical intoxication
• Mentally though? The dopamine high still wasn’t there.
• That distinction completely blew my mind: my BODY was drunk, but my BRAIN never really got rewarded.
• I think this may actually be part of why GLP-1s can help some people reduce drinking over time: they create disappointing reward experiences.
• The brain starts learning: “Wait… I drank a lot, didn’t really get the buzz I wanted, and STILL got the negative consequences.”
• In my case: delayed intoxication, poor sleep, physical hangover, dehydration, exhaustion… without the emotional payoff that normally reinforced the behavior.
• And psychologically, that changes the anticipation loop for future nights out.
• Because now my brain is questioning: “Do I even want to drink next time if I already know I may need 5-6 drinks just to feel something physically… and even then the mental reward still isn’t really there?”
• That feels very different from traditional dieting or “willpower.” It feels more like the reward-learning system itself is being disrupted.
• Psychologically, the learned script was still there: “keep going” “don’t let the night end” “maybe the next drink will finally create the feeling.”
• That’s when I understood: GLP-1s may reduce the biological reward, but they don’t automatically erase years of emotional conditioning and behavioral habits.
• Another huge thing: normally after a night like that, I spiral the next day: hangxiety → shame → compulsive behaviors → doom scrolling → porn → avoidance → self-hatred.
• This time the shame loop was dramatically quieter.
• It felt like there was finally SPACE between urge and reaction.
• And I think that space may be the real therapeutic power of these medications: not magic, not instant self-control, but enough quieting of the reward system to finally SEE the loops clearly while they’re happening.
• Biggest lesson for me: if alcohol suddenly feels less rewarding, fighting through that signal and continuing to drink harder is probably reinforcing the exact compulsive cycle I’m trying to escape.
• I’m still unsure how I want to move forward after this experience.
• Part of me thinks: “If the buzz is basically gone, what’s the point of drinking at all?”
• Even after multiple drinks, I mostly just felt physically drunk later on, but without the dopamine reward or emotional excitement I normally chase.
• Another part of me thinks maybe I should just socially have 1-2 drinks, then switch to non-alcoholic ones.

I’m really curious about the psychological side of this.

Did alcohol simply stop giving you that euphoric buzz or rewarding feeling, so you naturally lost interest in drinking? Or was it something deeper than that?

What was the actual “switch” for you after starting the medication?

Was it:

• less craving?
• less obsession/thoughts about alcohol?
• feeling full or sick more quickly?
• alcohol feeling emotionally flat or unrewarding?
• reduced impulsivity?
• less desire to escape or “let loose”?
• stronger self-control around other people drinking?

I’d really love to understand what specifically changed in your mind and body that made you stop drinking or cut down so much.

Here is my predicament...I'm 5'2 on a good day. Started at 250# currently at 120. I have always had a bigger rib cage and smaller boobs. At my largest I was wearing around a 40B. Now I am so so so so incredibly flat, deflated and saggy!! Literally nothing left but hanging skin. I don't really care about wearing bras except for the nipple coverage and if I happen to run a quick little trot with my dog at the park or something, I'm a flapping. Problem is my ribs are still like a 36 band with nothing to fill a full cup. I've even looked into girls training bras but they are small around the ribs. I despise pullover bras cuz I get too sweaty in the summer. Anyone have advice or shopping direction for me?? Thanks!!

I’m taking both and my weight loss has doubled. Anyone else?

I’ve been on mounjaro for a bit now. Been taking the 15mg steady. The one thing that hasn’t gone away is sometimes my stomach will absolutely flip on me like it’s nothing. Bloated and queasy. For those who still deal with that, what do you do to help? I’ll also mention that I take metformin as well.

I've been in maintenance for about 3 months now, and on MJ for a little over 18 months. Overall my family has been supportive, but of course there had been some concerns due to the side effects I experienced and they also wanted me to stay at a bit of a heavier weight. Despite that, it's been like 99% positive.

Since I've gotten to maintenance however, my wife in particular has been pushing for me to jump off. This has only been exacerbated by one of her siblings losing a bunch of weight on MJ and having plans of getting off soon as she reaches her goal weight. They don't understand why I would want to stay on, despite me highlighting my concerns of gaining the weight back.

The reasons behind my wife wanting me to get off them aren't without good reason of course. I had pretty bad side effects during titration and even now I get randomly hit by them once in a while and when I'm feeling unwell I of course can't help around the house as much as when I'm well and that puts a burden on her.

Then there's of course the cost of the meds. I'm the sole breadwinner, working 2 jobs and while we're fine and not struggling, this is a lot of money I'm spending that we could put into savings. She hasn't voiced this explicitly, but I know it's gotta be on her mind. I know I struggle with feeling selfish spending our money on myself like this.

Combine that with the more pseudoscientific reasons she doesn't like me being on them (e.g. tiktok horror stories) and there's a constant pressure over this.

Again, overall she and the rest of my family and friends are supportive and the reasons for me jumping off aren't completely unjustified but it still feels a bit tiring with the slow grinding down over this. Not even really sure what I wanted to say or do, more of a vent I guess.

I have been on Mounjaro since November 2023 and achieved normal BMI after 12 months. Prior to starting I was on medication for high blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis and within two weeks of commencing MJ my BP normalised and has stayed that way and I also was able to to come of methotrexate after about 6 weeks as I no longer had joint swelling or pain. I recently decided that I’d have a trial of coming right off MJ purely because of the cost and I am at around the two week mark since my last injection and the joint pain I experiencing has me barely able to move, similar to the original RA flairs. I have tried to extend the between my doses a few times before and the same thing has happened… I get to about day 12 and the joint pain becomes noticeable and by week 2-3 it becomes almost unbearable and I need strong pain killers. The MJ has been far superior for managing the RA to any other medication I have been on (hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate), neither of which I have needed for the last few years since I started MJ. Has anybody else experienced this?