My Strategic Weight Loss Journey: Twenty Weeks on Mounjaro

This blog isn't my usual kind of thing, but at the beginning of April I embarked on what I like to call a strategic weight loss journey, and twenty weeks on, I want to tell you the whole story.

How I Got Here

In my forties, I started exercising consistently and genuinely felt good on it. Then 2020 happened, and we all know what that did. The gyms closed. Exercise went out the window, bar the daily walk and food became a much bigger part of daily life than it had ever been.

I had to close my treatment room for five months, which was pretty hellish, but I kept myself as busy as I could shopping for neighbours and anything else useful I could find to do (the flat had never been so clean!).

But despite my best efforts, my weight ballooned, because it was the perfect storm. Perimenopause symptoms were ramping up at exactly the same time as my daily movement decreased and my treatment room remained shut.

So I've pretty much spent the years since trying to shift the additional weight. I know eighty percent of weight loss starts in the kitchen, and I was doing the work there too, but nothing was really shifting. Eventually I just bit the bullet and decided to try Mounjaro.

The First Injection

At the beginning of April, I did my first injection, starting on 2.5mg, the recommended starting dose. Within twenty four hours it was already taking effect. I just wasn't hungry.

At mealtimes I felt a little nauseated, but I knew I needed the calories to function, so I ate anyway, and I actually felt better for it. That told me clearly enough that I was genuinely hungry. I just wasn't recognising the nausea as a hunger signal. That was an education in itself.

That first week, I lost two kilos. It was rapid. By the end of the first month, I'd lost around five or six kilos, and the loss, though consistent, had slowed, so I moved up to 5mg. The side effects on that dose weren't too bad, just a very mild nausea which abated after a couple of weeks, and week on week after that I was losing a kilo consistently, around 2.2 pounds.

The Injection Itself

For anyone wondering what's actually involved, the process is very straightforward. The needle is so thin you barely feel it going in. My one tip: let the pen come to room temperature before you inject. If it's straight out of the fridge, it can sting momentarily, but it really isn't a big deal either way.

What I Actually Changed

Alongside the medication, I cut out the two pieces of 90% dark chocolate I'd been having most nights, and I pushed myself properly with my running, and did some weight training too.

I'd always trained sporadically, on and off, rather than following any real structure, but I fell in love with running, whether that was a quick circuit of the park or pushing for a 5k, and my cardiovascular strength improved drastically. It made me feel good mentally, really good.

I carried on eating pretty much what I'd always eaten, just without the treats and cake that had crept in three or four times a week. I swapped white rice for brown, roasted potatoes for boiled, and only ate sourdough instead of any other processed bread. Those were genuinely the only changes I made to my food.

The Sober Summer

In June I decided to have a month off the booze. That turned into a sober July, and as I write this toward the end of August, it's been a sober August too. I'm sure that's helped. Anyone who knows me knows I love my wine, but Mounjaro quietened the should-I-shouldn't-I chatter about an evening glass. I just haven't had one, and I honestly haven't missed it. Let's see if this new found sobriety continues - separate blog coming about that!

The Comments

It was around eight to ten weeks in that I really started to notice visual changes, and people around me started noticing them too. When that came from people I was openly sharing the journey with, it felt great. They championed me the whole way, and it kept me going with the healthy lifestyle I was building.

Not everyone earned that same access though. A few people decided they had the right to comment on my physique and my changing body, people I didn't know well enough to be discussing something so personal, and at times that was highly inappropriate. If you're on a journey like this yourself, be aware you may get unsolicited comments, and they may well be unwelcome.

The Cheating Question

Some people regard taking a GLP-1 medication as cheating. Cheating what, exactly? It drives me a bit mad that some people think you have to go to the absolute limits of pain and discomfort before you've earned the right to be congratulated for losing weight.

Close to four in ten people using these medications report being judged for it, and most of those are told they've taken the easy way out [1]. If a particular approach hasn't worked for you, try something else. There's more than one way to skin a cat, as they say (Please note I have 3 cats and their skin is intact!). And quite frankly, it's nobody else's business. Your health is yours. My health is mine. The "it's cheating" opinionistas can go get right back in their box.

The Unexpected Bonus

One genuine bonus of losing this much weight is that nothing fits anymore. I've bought a few new bits for the wardrobe, which has been a treat, since I rarely do any clothes shopping normally.

Twenty Weeks on Mounjaro. Last Jab

A week or so ago I did my final injection after 20 weeks on Mounjaro. My weight loss was consistent throughout, around a kilo a week, so I never needed to increase the dose past 5mg, and I don't think I'd have tolerated much higher anyway.

My total weight loss across the full twenty weeks was 20.5kg, which is remarkable in itself. But the metric I was actually tracking was my body fat percentage, which went from 39.4% down to 30.8%, well within the normal range. I was really, really delighted with that.

Since Stopping

A couple of weeks off the injections now, and I realise on reflection, it did make me feel a bit tired, nothing drastic but it was noticeable. I'm feeling properly perky these days though, so I think the Mounjaro was behind that low-level lack of energy at points in the day. The bounce back happens fairly quickly, about a week or so after stopping. Fair warning though, your appetite bounces back with it!

The Bit I'd Do Differently

Despite the running, and the weight training I was doing sporadically throughout, I did lose muscle mass, around six kilos of it according to my smart scales (most noticeably from my 🍑), because I wasn't taking on enough calories to keep rebuilding it while I was training, albeit inconsistently.

In hindsight, strength training needed to be a properly structured, concerted effort from day one, not something I fitted in when I had the energy. UK physical activity guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity at least twice a week, and it's the piece I'd do differently if I felt the need to try this medication again [2].

My training focus has shifted because of the muscle loss. I was running five or six times a week with light weights fitted in when I could, but now I'm moving to focus on weight training three times a week and running three times a week, with one long run at the weekend. I say long...10k for me is like a marathon!

Rebuilding that muscle is the priority now, with a proper, concerted effort behind it this time.

What Comes Next

The plan now is normal portion sizes and carrying on with the healthy diet and lifestyle I've built. I'm not looking to lose any more weight or body fat. If anything, I'll probably put a bit of weight on, because I'm properly focused on building muscle. I'm keeping the running, but weight training is now the main event rather than an add-on. I'll check back in on where I'm at in another three to six months.

If You're Thinking About This

If you're considering Mounjaro or any of the GLP-1 medications, I hope this gives you a genuine sense of what to expect if you make lifestyle adjustments alongside it. It can be pretty drastic. If you've got questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Wherever you are on your own health and wellbeing journey, know that it's yours and yours alone. Try not to compare yourself to anybody else's experience.

There's no doubt that shifting this weight has been a game changer for me, in more ways than the obvious one. It's changed my mindset around keeping myself as well as possible for as long as possible. I'm enjoying exercise relatively pain free these days, because I'm lighter, and because I'm lighter, I've got better mobility too.

Be well, my friends. Take good care of you.

With Love. Alex x

References

[1] Chemist4U, Life After Weight Loss Injections Survey, 2025

[2] NHS, Physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64, nhs.uk

My Strategic Weight Loss Journey: Twenty Weeks on Mounjaro.

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