What Happens When You Stop Taking Mounjaro?

Weight loss injections like Mounjaro, are highly effective treatments for weight loss. The majority of Mounjaro users lose at least 5% or more of their initial body weights. However, this is not the only method to help lose weight. 

With exercising and implementing a healthy diet or using other weight loss drugs, such as Orlistat or Wegovy, there is no one way to help lose and control body weight. This article will have a closer look at what will happen if you decide to switch to another method to help manage weight loss and stop taking Mounjaro.

Do You Gain Weight Back After Stopping Mounjaro?

To better understand how and why your weight fluctuates once you stop taking Mounjaro, it helps to understand how Mounjaro works and how it helps you lose weight.

Mounjaro is a type of medication known as incretin mimetic. Incretins are hormones that are found in the gut and play a role in digestion of the food that we have eaten. Mounjaro, which contains the active ingredient, tirzepatide, works to increase the levels of two incretin hormones; gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). 

Both GIP and GLP-1 have similar effects on digestion when released by the gut. They increase insulin levels to help with the changes in blood sugar levels after eating. The hormones also slow down digestion and decrease your appetite, therefore making you feel fuller for longer. All these actions allow Mounjaro to decrease your weight alongside increased exercise and a healthy diet. 

When you stop Mounjaro or other GLP-1 receptor agonists, it is likely that you will gain the weight that you had previously lost, back. A randomised clinical trial was carried out to see the effect of continuing to take Mounjaro on maintaining weight loss. 

After 36 weeks of taking Mounjaro, two groups were then formed; one who continued Mounjaro and the other which received a placebo that had no drug. The Mounjaro group had a further weight reduction of 5.5% on week 52 of the trial whilst the placebo group experienced a 14% increase in weight. 

There are a few reasons that are understood for this weight regain. One of which is due to the action of Mounjaro itself. Mounjaro raises the levels of GIP and GLP-1. So, if you stop taking Mounjaro, the levels of both hormones will reduce. 

This will result in an increase in your appetite, making you feel less full and more hungry which may cause an increase in food intake and therefore, weight. 

Another reason can be lifestyle. You can be at increased risk of gaining weight back if you return to an unbalanced diet and reduce your activity levels. It is important to try and maintain a positive and healthy lifestyle to help lose weight and keep that weight off. 

What to Expect After Stopping Mounjaro?

There are other effects, alongside weight regain, that some people experience when stopping the medication. However, it is important to note that the following effects are anecdotal which have not been proven by research yet.

Some people may notice a change in the way that food tastes after stopping Mounjaro. How we perceive the flavour of food and how it tastes is controlled by our brains. The hormone, GLP-1 can affect different areas in our brain which can alter taste. 

One example is taste sensitivity. This is seen in obesity, over time, the receptors that are responsible for responding to taste, begin to dull which results in increased craving for overly salty and sweet food. 

However, GLP-1 increases taste sensitivity, therefore reducing the need to eat overly sweet or salty foods which can lead to weight loss. So, stopping Mounjaro will reduce GLP-1 levels and then may have an effect on the way food tastes.

Your mood may also change when taking Mounjaro and when you stop taking it. Now, these mood changes are not necessarily negative, it can also lead to positive changes. The link between Mounjaro and mood is not very well understood, but some think that Mounjaro may have an effect on chemicals in the brain, like dopamine. 

In turn, this could change your mood – it is important to monitor your mood and contact a healthcare professional if you experience low mood after you have stopped Mounjaro. 

If you experienced side effects that affected your gut like nausea or vomiting, then there is an increased chance that you may experience similar symptoms if you decide to stop Mounjaro. It takes a bit of time to allow your body to adjust to the absence of the medication. It is not exactly known how long this period of time takes, but it has been said that if your symptoms persist after 30 days from your last weekly injection, then you should contact a healthcare professional. 

To find out more about other people’s experience of taking Mounjaro and how they felt about deciding whether it was the correct option to help them lose weight, please read our Mounjaro reviews here.