‘I lost four stone on Mounjaro – but piled weight back on when I couldn't afford to keep taking it'
Darren Ratcliffe weighed 22-and-a-half stone when he started an online monthly subscription for Mounjaro, which has become increasingly popular in the UK since it was licensed for sale, and is now available on NHS prescription.
He lost four stone in six months, but when the 47-year-old had to stop over the £270-a-month cost, he said the 'food noise' returned and he quickly put a stone in weight back on.
Mr Ratcliffe, an e-commerce agency owner from Greater Manchester, said he has instead had to reassert control over his eating habits in other ways, as well as exercising regularly and cutting out alcohol.
He is one of an estimated 1.5 million people taking weight loss jabs, including Wegovy, in the UK, with most paying for them privately.
Mr Ratcliffe warned: 'Think about Mounjaro like getting a mushroom or a star on Mario Kart - it works really well, and then once you stop, you're back to normal, no superpowers.'
'People shouldn't just come off it and expect life to have been changed, because it hasn't.'
The warning comes after health watchdog National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said this week that many people regain weight after stopping treatment if they were not supported.
Mr Ratcliffe started on Mounjaro after slowly regaining around 10 stone in weight following a successful Weight Watchers programme a decade before. It had become harder to lose weight as he got older, and the drug appeared to be an 'easy fix', he said.
He began on a low dosage for £99 a month, before increasing to 13mg a week for £270 a month.
'It was great, I lost weight quickly,' he said.
'Food noise is a big thing for me, and it just went away. I was wanting a little for breakfast, then getting to 1pm and like 'I don't think I want anything, I'll just pick out a bit of fruit, and then you have a decent evening meal.
'But taking the drug got expensive, and I just couldn't justify the cost anymore. I thought, well, I'm going to have to come off it at some time, and so I stopped.
'But I then put back on about 25 per cent of that weight again fairly quickly because nothing was blocking out the food noise anymore. I always tell myself I'm still hungry, and coming off the jab was like 'I remember what this feels like, and I don't like it'.
'It was really difficult and the weight came back on.'
Mr Ratcliffe said his previous experience of losing weight and being on strict calorie-control diets helped him lose weight again after coming off Mounjaro.
Exercising regularly and eating healthy food, he said his weight had now dropped to 18-and-half-stone. His aim is to reach 16 stone.
'People need to know that they [weight-loss jabs] are a quick fix, that it's not going to change them long-term,' he said. 'If they choose to take it, they need to start preparing for the point they stop by fixing old habits, improving what they eat and drink, because you can't take it forever.
'And the scary thing is, some people feel trapped on them.'
Mr Ratcliffe is backing calls from Nice for people coming off jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro to receive check-ups for at least a year afterwards to make sure they don't put the weight back on.
The guidance from the health watchdog to the NHS is for people offered the weight loss treatments through the NHS, and so those who buy the drugs privately would not be eligible for the 'structured advice and follow-up support'.
Around 240,000 people with 'greatest need' are expected to receive Mounjaro through the NHS via GPs over the next three years. They can be prescribed to severely obese people who also suffer from a range of other health complications.
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