Less than two years after stopping obesity drugs, weight and health issues return, study finds

By Admin

09 Jan, 2026

Less than two years after discontinuing weight-loss medications, many patients experience a return of both weight and associated health risks, according to a major new analysis of existing research. The findings highlight a growing challenge in obesity treatment: maintaining long-term benefits after drug therapy ends.

Weight Regain Happens Faster Than Expected

According to the analysis, patients who stopped taking obesity drugs regained weight steadily and predictably. Researchers reviewed data from 9,341 overweight or obese patients across 37 studies involving 18 different weight-loss medications. On average, patients regained nearly one pound (0.4 kg) per month after stopping treatment. Based on this rate, most were projected to return to their pre-treatment weight within about 1.7 years.

Health Benefits Also Fade Over Time

The impact was not limited to body weight. Improvements in heart-related risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels also diminished. The study projected that these cardiovascular benefits would return to pre-treatment levels within approximately 1.4 years after stopping medication, on average. The findings were reported in The BMJ, a leading peer-reviewed medical journal.

GLP-1 Drugs Show Faster Regain After Stopping

Roughly half of the patients in the analysis had taken GLP-1 receptor agonists, a newer class of obesity drugs. These included semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk, and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound by Eli Lilly.

Patients who stopped these newer drugs regained weight more quickly nearly 1.8 pounds (0.8 kg) per month. However, because they lost more weight initially, their return to baseline weight occurred around the same time as with older drugs.

Why Everyone Returns to Baseline

“But because people on semaglutide or tirzepatide lose more weight in the first place, they all end up returning to baseline at approximately the same time,” said Dimitrios Koutoukidis of Oxford University, the study’s senior researcher. He noted that this timeline was roughly 1.5 years after stopping newer drugs, compared with 1.7 years after stopping any weight-loss medication.

Drugs vs Behavioral Programs

The researchers also found that weight regain occurred faster after stopping medications than after ending behavioral weight-management programs, regardless of how much weight was initially lost. This suggests that while drugs can be highly effective in the short term, long-term weight maintenance may require sustained lifestyle or behavioral support.

The Unanswered Question in Weight-Loss Research

Because the study was retrospective, it could not identify which patients might be more successful at keeping weight off after stopping treatment. “Understanding who does well and who does not is a bit of a ‘holy grail’ question in weight-loss research,” Koutoukidis said, adding that no clear answer exists yet.

What This Means Going Forward

The findings reinforce the idea that obesity is a chronic condition rather than a short-term problem. While modern weight-loss drugs can deliver significant benefits, stopping treatment often leads to a gradual reversal. For patients and clinicians alike, the challenge now lies in developing long-term strategies that combine medication, lifestyle changes, and ongoing support to sustain healthier outcomes over time.