If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?

[IwishIwasacaterpillar]

If you have come off them, have you gained weight very quickly?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/07/weight-loss-jabs-regain-two-years-health-study

I'm on wegovy, switched from mounjaro when the prices went crazy, lost almost 5 stone since July last year.

I'm aware you have to manage on your own once you've lost the weight and not go back to bad habits, seen a few success stories keeping the weight off after so I think its possible

I've not used them but know people who have and the weight goes straight back on.

The problem is rarely do people use weightloss injections as part of a life overhaul. People aren't increasing exercise or implementing a healthy diet so as soon as the injections are stopped they go back to the same lifestyle that led them to gain weight in the first place.

Long term weightloss only happens with a commitment to changing lifestyle. Injections are a quick fix and without actual dietary change or exercise the weight will always go back on.

Same as any diet really. I guess even more so for weight loss injections as I see people eat very little on it as not hungry. That’s a lot to manage when you’re off them and the hunger returns. You’ll need a lot of willpower to resist over eating when hunger is back. I’m sure some manage it but like other dieting methods, once you stop actually dieting, often re-gain. I lost 2 stone during covid, regained. Now trying to lose it again (no WLI as have a pancreas disease).

Sadly it’s true . I am an educated person who took MJ for 8 months losing 3 3/4 stone. I thought I had made good habits. After a year of stopping I have regained 2 stone as all the habits have restarted - compulsive snacking etc. I have had to restart MJ this week.

I will think of the money I’ve spent and it will give me the incentive to keep it off!

Where is your evidence that people don't use the medication to change their diet and exercise habits?

Mounjaro is a medication that treats symptoms of a disease. When you stop the medication for most people the symptoms return. That means for a lot of people uncontrollable hunger and hormone driven food preoccupation. Maintaining weight loss in the face of those symptoms is extremely difficult, so it's not a surprise or a moral failing that a lot of people regain weight after stopping.

I get that hunger would return but surely your physical stomach requires less and is used to less?

I know someone in work who has and adopted a healthier lifestyle after them and is doing fine, no obvious weight gain. And she didn’t go extreme on the healthy if you know what I mean, so she changed from very unhealthy habits to much much healthier but not ‘I’ll never eat any calories/ carbs etc and I now live at the gym!’ I heard her say she’s relieved it’s all still going well for her

I think it’s like anything, are people overhauling their eating habits? I feel I have, I’ve learned to do some fasting alongside it so I can focus on 2 meals. I’d like to keep that up as it makes me feel good/healthy. I’ve cut portion sizes which was one of the problems.

I know plenty of people who swear by Slimming World (as an example), yet restart it every year. Is that much different?

I’ve lost 3 stone on them but always knew I would have to take them for life to keep it off - otherwise previous weight loss attempts would have worked!

The only surprise is that anyone thought that most people wouldn’t need them for life.

This is why its imperative that weightloss is treated psychologically as well as physically. I've said this before and I always get shouted down by those posters screeching 'it's not my fault, my metabolism is screwed' then citing a list of junk and high sugar foods that have done the damage 'the science says....'

Yes, your metabolism is screwed by eating the wrong things, but why are you eating them? Of course it's true that some foods are addictive and do change your metabolism over a long time of over consumption, no question - many of us are affected and have cravings, but what it is that makes some people continue to eat or drink them beyond reason and at the cost of their health? That's the nub of the problem.

I have lost 20kg so far on mounjaro and debating whether to lose an extra stone or not. So considering maintenance and probably microdosing.
i agree with the Dr cited in this article: He added: “This isn’t a failing of the medicines – it reflects the nature of obesity as a chronic, relapsing condition.
when he talks about participants regaining 0.4kg every months. This is what happened to me, every year since forever, i have steadily gained weight 2-3kg extras…. Of course there has been pregnancies and ups and downs but every year, despite my best efforts, i would see an upward trend…. 2kg each year for the past 15years: 30gs extra.
so yes it is a chronic condition, it is not me pigging out on junk food, it is my body doing its thing.
i dont agree with the article when they talk about fast food and the unhealthy environment. I mean it is true but it is not the whole picture, it is also a physical health thing.

i am hoping to microdose for as long as i can. I feel good today yet my BMI is 27 (firmly overweight). Should i lose more weight so i have a healthy BMI but then i risk making maintenance harder for myself, also im 50yo so a BMI of 24 might make me look too skinny maybe?
a discussion needs to happen about the BMI as a measurement. Maybe if we all stopped where we felt comfortable rather than at a healthy bmi, then it might be easier to maintain?

Long term weightloss only happens with a commitment to changing lifestyle.

Long term weight loss rarely happens, full stop. No matter what method people use to lose weight, once a person becomes obese then metabolic changes take place and they are extremely unlikely to maintain any significant weight loss. Whether you do Slimming World, Weightwatchers, low-carb, vlcd, anything that calls itself 'not a diet but a lifestyle change', even surgery - look at the studies and the data and you will see that the vast majority of people regain the weight. Almost no one keeps it off past 1-5 years.

I see this claim about people not following healthy habits on the jabs, well all i know is that i see from the threads I've joined on here over the two years I've been on MJ is that people are very carefully planning their food and exercise, just like other weight loss threads. The jabs make it achievable, but the outcome of users overhauling their habits is the same on the injection threads as the other diet threads. .

I will be on GLP-1s for life, or else I'll be obese again. I know that as an absolute fact, and I have over thirty years of yo-yo dieting experience to back it up. Like most people, like most weight loss methods, if I come off this medication then I will gain weight. So I hope that I never have to.

In a nutshell and beautifully explained.

From research, I thinki I will be on weight loss injections for the long term. To maintain the weight I've lost as the injections treat the symptoms (food noise for me). My plan once I reach target is to tridate down the doses and stay on a dose that helps me maintain my weight and keep to it.

I’ve always been aware I would take them for life on a maintain dose so it not news for myself and no real surprise either given how they work

It's a long term meditation. I'm in maintenance and still use injections but just less of them. The article is a waste of ink. Everyone knows it's hard to maintain weight loss and incredibly rare however you lose it. The miracle is weight loss injections will support it but yes, you need to stay on them.

I lost 3 stone on them but didn’t change my lifestyle, I still ate unhealthy but less because I wasn’t hungry and didn’t do any exercise.

When I reached my goal and stopped taking them I put it all back on.

I’ve been eating healthy and going to the gym for the last few months and have lost weight again, hoping this time I will be able to keep it off but I’m very aware I will need to continue eating healthy and going to the gym.

The tablet form will be available soon. It will become a cheaper and more accessible drug.

Its like any diet some people will change habits and keep the weight of others will slip back into old habits.

People who've not struggled with obesity/disordered eating/yo-yo dieting don't realize that GLP1s work because they target the causes of obesity as well as the main symptom (ie being fat).

I knew from the first week I'd ideally be on Mounjaro for life. I've lost almost 4.5 stone and been in maintenance for 6 months. I "microdose" by taking approximately one third to one half of a 2.5mg dose. I vary it depending on how I'm feeling/my cycle. I'm on the second week of a full 2.5mg dose at the minute though as I definitely overindulged at Christmas and gained about 5lb. Mostly water weight I think as I've lost it again already and will cut my dose back next week.

Mounjaro is a bloody revelation and I hope I'll always be able to access it.

Well, if this article is right, and the WLI’s may need to be taken for life, as weight is gained quickly after stopping them, it’s going to work out to be very expensive for those who have to buy them.

https://news.sky.com/story/mounjaro-and-wegovy-may-need-to-be-continued-for-life-new-research-suggests-13491633

Agree with this.

Something like Slimpod that focuses on the psychological aspects seems a sensible addition to help tackle this for the longer term.