Many people who successfully lost weight on Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonist drugs are having trouble weaning themselves off the injectables, according to the BBC, because the hunger for food comes roaring back with a vengeance — and hence the pounds start creeping up again, hinting that patients are likely to develop life-long dependencies on the substances.
“For the first 38 years of my life, I was overweight — now I’m six stone (38kg) [83 pounds] lighter,” Tanya Hall, a Wegovy user who can’t get off the drug, told the news organization. “Therefore, there’s part of me that feels like there’s an addiction to keep it going because it makes me feel the way that I feel, it makes me feel in control.”
This is borne out by research that found patients who stop using these medications often gain much of their weight back. That’s why you have celebrities like Oprah, who told People Magazine last month that she plans to stay on it indefinitely. The implication: many users will have to treat their obesity as a chronic condition and will need to stay on these drugs for the rest of their lives.
“It’s going to be a lifetime thing,” Oprah said. “I’m on high blood pressure medication, and if I go off the high blood pressure medication, my blood pressure is going to go up. The same thing is true now, I realize, with these medications. I’ve proven to myself I need it.”
For patients who do get off the drugs, they tend to gain two thirds of their lost weight back, according to research by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk. Physician Hussain Al-Zubaidi told the BBC that he’s seen patients gain 60 to 80 percent back of the weight they lost.
It might seem hopeless task, but all is not lost, according to Al-Zubaidi. He said patients should have an “exit strategy” in which they have made healthier lifestyle changes while on the injectables; the lifestyle changes can sustain the weight loss once they are completely off the drugs.
That’s what happened to Ellen Ogley, who told the BBC that she lost 48.5 pounds while on Eli Lily’s GLP-1 drug Mounjaro. While on the medication, she established healthier eating habits and incorporated excerise into her routine. Even off the drugs for some time, she’s been able to maintain her weight loss.
“I want people to know that life after Mounjaro can be sustainable as well,” she said.
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