What happens when you stop taking Ozempic or Mounjaro?

Many people will eventually stop taking tirzepatide or semaglutide, as they are expensive and in short supply.

Drugs like Ozempic are very effective in helping most people who take them lose weight. Semaglutide (sold as Wegovy and Ozempic) and tirzepatide (sold as Zepbound and Mounjaro) are the best-known of the class of drugs that mimic hormones to reduce feelings of hunger.

But will the weight come back when you stop using them? The short answer is yes. Stopping the use of tirzepatide and semaglutide will result in weight gain in most people.

So are these drugs simply another (expensive) form of yo-yo dieting? Let’s take a look at what the evidence shows so far.

It is a long-term treatment

If you have a bacterial infection, antibiotics will help your body fight the germs that cause the disease. Take the full medication and the infection goes away.

If you have obesity, taking tirzepatide or semaglutide can help your body get rid of fat. However, this does not eliminate the reasons why you gained weight, since obesity is a chronic and complex disease. When you stop the drugs, the weight returns.

Perhaps a more useful comparison is with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. Treatment of hypertension is lifelong. The same happens with obesity. Drugs work, but only as long as you take them – Although obesity is more complicated than hypertension in that many different factors cause and perpetuate it.

Therefore several simultaneous approaches are needed; The use of medications can be an important part of effective management, but alone is often insufficient. And in an unwanted indirect effect, stopping medications can harm other weight loss strategies, such as eating less.

Why do people stop?

Research shows that between 6% and 13.5% of participants stop taking these medications, mostly due to side effects.

But these studies don’t take into account people forced to quit due to cost or widespread supply problems. We don’t know how many people have had to stop taking this drug in recent years for these reasons.

Therefore, it is important to understand what stopping does to the body.

So what happens when you stop?

When you stop using tirzepatide or semaglutide, it takes several days (or even a few weeks) to leave your system. When this happens, several things happen:

• You start to feel hungry again, because both your brain and your gut no longer have the medicine to make you feel full;

• Blood sugar levels rise because the medicine no longer works on the pancreas to help control this problem. If you have diabetes and obesity, you may need to take other medications to keep your sugar levels in an acceptable range. Regardless of whether you have diabetes or not, you may need to eat low-glycemic index foods to stabilize your blood sugar levels;

• In the long term, most people return to their previous blood pressure and cholesterol levels as their weight returns;

• Weight gain will be primarily in the form of fat, as it will be gained more rapidly than skeletal muscle.

While taking the drug, you will have lost proportionally less skeletal muscle than fat. Muscle loss is inevitable when losing weight, regardless of whether you use medications or not. The problem is, when you stop taking the drug, your body is likely to gain weight.

Is stopping and starting medications a problem?

People whose weight fluctuates on tirzepatide or semaglutide may experience some of the disadvantages of yo-yo dieting.

When you go on and off a diet, it’s like a roller coaster for your body. Every time you gain weight back, your body has to deal with spikes in blood pressure, heart rate, and how your body handles sugars and fats. This can stress the heart and cardiovascular system in general, as it must respond to larger-than-normal fluctuations.

Interestingly, the risk to the body from weight fluctuations is greater for people who are not obese. This should be a wake-up call to those who are not obese but still use tirzepatide or semaglutide to try to lose unwanted weight.

How to avoid weight gain during the break?

The fear of gaining weight again when you stop taking these medications is valid and should be addressed directly. Because obesity has many causes and perpetuating factors, many evidence-based approaches are needed to reduce weight gain. This can include:

• Have quality sleep;

• Exercise to build and maintain muscles. While taking the drug, you will likely lose muscle and fat, although this is not inevitable, especially if you exercise regularly while taking the drug.

Address the emotional and cultural aspects of life that contribute to overeating and/or eating unhealthy foods and the way you view your body. Stigma and shame regarding body shape and size are not cured using this medication. Even if you have a healthy relationship with food, we live in a culture that is fatphobic and discriminates against people with larger bodies.

Many people will eventually stop taking tirzepatide or semaglutide, as they are expensive and in short supply. When this happens, it’s important to understand what will happen and what you can do to avoid the consequences. It is also important to have regular check-ups with your doctor.

Source: The Conversation

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.