How Quickly You’ll Regain Weight After Stopping Drugs Like Ozempic, Researchers Say
We know Ozempic, Wegovy, and other similar weight-loss injections have gotten a bad rap for their controversial side effects (and rightfully so), but there’s no denying the global good this classification of drugs has done for people with obesity. However, as with any weight-loss method, maintenance is key to keeping the weight off. This is especially true for Ozempic patients, who are at increased risk of regaining weight after discontinuation.
RELATED: Doctors Warn That Drugs Like Ozempic Are Making You “Skinny Fat.”
Research shows that post-Ozempic weight gain statistically starts around the eight-week mark. To arrive at these findings, experts analyzed 2,500 health records from 11 previously published clinical trials. They found that a majority of GLP-1 patients regained lost weight within two months of stopping medication use. Their meta-analysis appears in the journal BMC Medicine.
Across all 11 clinical trials, GLP-1 medications were used to treat obesity in patients. (These types of drugs are primarily used to manage Type 2 diabetes; however, some GLP-1 agonists, like Wegovy, are now FDA-approved for weight loss.)
Six of the interventions reviewed the weight outcomes of semaglutide, an active ingredient found in Ozempic and Wegovy. The remaining studies looked at the active ingredients tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) and liraglutide (Saxenda).
Upon discontinuation of medication, researchers recorded patients’ body weight and BMI over the course of three months to track weight changes. They accounted for variables such as medications, changes in diet and/or exercise, and indication of diabetes.
The researchers observed “significant” weight regain at eight, 12, and 20 weeks after discontinuation. They deduced that most patients gain back the weight they initially lost for an average of 20 weeks—at which point, the scale usually plateaus—once they stop using Ozempic and similar drugs.
“According to the trajectory of weight re-gain, body weight continued to decrease within four weeks after treatment discontinuation and then started to show a gradually increasing trend after eight weeks,” wrote the authors. “After 26 weeks of treatment discontinuation, the trajectory of weight re-gain leveled off, which implied that significant weight re-gain might happen at the first six months after discontinuation of AOMs [anti-obesity medication].”
RELATED: Pharmacist Says This One Side Effect Makes the Most People Quit Ozempic and Mounjaro.
However, regaining weight after stopping drugs like Ozempic doesn’t mean the medications didn’t work as intended. In truth, this incident is a reflection of how your body responded while on the drugs, and perhaps more importantly, the lack of maintenance after discontinuation.
“What happens after stopping an obesity medication is exactly what happens after stopping a diabetes, cholesterol-lowering, or a blood pressure medication,” physician Louis J. Aronne, MD, founder and former chairman of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, told ABC News. “The effect of the medicine goes away, and people tend to go back to where they started.”
Think about it: If you’re consistently hitting the gym and eating healthy, you might gain muscle definition and increased energy levels. Additionally, your clothes might start to fit differently. However, falling off track could cause your progression to slip away. It’s the same cause-and-effect method as taking medications.
“You wouldn’t stop insulin and expect a person’s blood sugar to stay low,” added Aronne.