Reaching your target weight loss is an incredible accomplishment. The next crucial step is shifting your focus to maintaining your new weight long-term.
At Phlo Clinic, we’re here to support you with expert advice, tailored medication plans, and resources to help you sustain your success. Here’s what you need to know about what happens when you're at this stage and how we help support you.
What happens when you reach your weight loss goal with Mounjaro?
Achieving your goal weight is a major milestone, but it’s not the finish line. Maintaining weight loss requires a combination of ongoing behavioural habits, possible medication titration guidance, and ongoing support with diet & lifestyle changes.
The current research shows that while medications like Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) play an essential role in maintaining weight loss, behavioural change remains the cornerstone of long-term success. In one study, those who made the most significant behavioural improvements had the highest success in maintaining weight loss—even without GLP-1 medication.
At Phlo Clinic, our approach is equipping you with the right tools and strategies you need to sustain your achievements. Whether it’s adjusting your medication, providing education around diet, food choices and exercise, we’re here for you every step of the way.
How we help maintain your weight loss
When you’re ready to shift focus to weight maintenance, you will have your usual monthly check-in with our clinical team below. Here you can discuss with someone from our team what is best for you going forward.
Here are just several ways how we can help:
Tailored Mounjaro maintenance dose for weight loss
Mounjaro is licensed for the maintenance of weight loss. This means you can continue to use Mounjaro once you’ve reached your target weight, and we will prescribe it if it remains suitable for you to help maintain your new weight.
Generally, our clinical team will work with you to adjust your medication dosage once you've reached your target weight. Typically, we recommend reducing your Mounjaro dose gradually to suit your body’s needs, whilst you continue to make amendments to your diet and lifestyle (including exercise) which are sustainable for you long-term.
We remain dynamic and can amend the dosage for you according to how you respond. For example, if you do experience rebound weight regain, we may adjust your dosage or recommend continued use at a stable maintenance dose.
We recommend you continue to take your medication at the same time each week, as prescribed, to maintain stable effects on appetite and metabolism and we will also monitor any side effects you may experience during this time.
Weight loss behavioural guidance
Eating in a way that is enjoyable and sustainable in the long term, staying physically active, and focusing on your ability to cope with stress are all key behaviours of successful weight loss maintainers that improve your chances of long-term success.
We provide ongoing advice on key behaviours linked to weight maintenance, including balanced eating, regular physical activity, and stress management through our monthly patient-exclusive webinars. Hosted by our Obesity Specialist Dietitian, Hazel, we offer deeper insights into nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits to support long-term success. We also provide a full Nutrition Guide download to guide or support you.
Our advice to maintaining weight loss
Maintaining weight loss requires consistency, reflection, and implementing sustainable habits into your diet & lifestyle. Here are some of the principles we recommend:
1. Nutrition and Diet
Focus on a nutrient-rich diet that includes lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Continue using the T plate model from Phlo and ensure your meals include all three macronutrients—protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats.
2. Physical Activity
Regular exercise helps maintain your metabolism and overall health. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week and include strength training at least twice per week to preserve lean muscle mass. Be as active as you can each day and reduce time spent sitting.
3. Meal Planning
Eat three well balanced meals at consistent intervals throughout the day and plan your meals ahead. The key to sustaining your weight loss is providing your body with enough energy that you feel full and satisfied and not too much or too little. If you’re hungry in between meals, aim to have healthy snacks to hand.
4. Stress Management
Develop strategies to effectively manage stress, as it can significantly impact your ability to maintain healthy habits. Some examples are exercise, meditation, getting enough sleep, efficient time management, limiting caffeine and alcohol.
Beyond weight loss medication
While Mounjaro and other GLP-1 medications can help, they are just one tool in the weight maintenance toolkit.
It’s crucial to avoid black-and-white thinking, where food is categorised as either “good” or “bad,” or where you believe you need to follow one eating pattern to lose weight and another to maintain it. Many people think that once they reach the maintenance phase, they can either do something completely different or return to their old habits. However, research shows that our behaviours—the habits we consistently practice—are the real drivers of success (or failure) in maintaining weight loss.
The lifestyle habits you learned at the start of your weight loss journey at Phlo remain just as relevant now. It’s a good time to reflect on what’s working for you and what isn’t and consider how you can adjust these habits moving forward.
Remember, it’s not about perfection but about consistency. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
