When you’ve been trying to find new methods to advance your weight reduction efforts, you’ve most likely heard about incretin mimetic medication like Mounjaro, Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Zepbound. Many individuals have reported dramatic weight reduction by taking most of these medicines.
However what occurs once you cease taking incretin mimetics for weight reduction? Do you acquire weight again after quitting, or do you need to take them endlessly to take care of your outcomes?
Quick reply: Once you cease taking incretin mimetics, you’ll probably regain a lot of the weight you misplaced.
That may be discouraging when you think about the downsides of long-term use. For starters, there’s the fee — each Mounjaro and Ozempic have a listing value of about $1,000 for a month’s provide. Out-of-pocket prices will range based mostly in your insurance coverage plan, however they will add up rapidly, particularly if you need to issue them into your month-to-month funds endlessly.
These medicines are additionally comparatively new to the scene, which implies their long-term results might not be totally understood. It’s essential to weigh all of the potential dangers and rewards earlier than deciding whether or not incretin mimetics are best for you. And, after all, it is best to all the time speak to your physician earlier than beginning (or stopping!) any medicine.
When you’re contemplating incretin mimetics or their kin for weight reduction, right here’s what you’ll want to know.
How Do Mounjaro and Ozempic Work?
Mounjaro, Zepbound, Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy work by mimicking metabolic hormones referred to as incretins. Therefore, these medication are known as incretin mimetics.
This hormonal mimicry enhances the physique’s capacity to take care of wholesome blood sugar ranges. It additionally helps cut back urge for food and meals consumption by making you are feeling full sooner and for longer after consuming. Consequently, many individuals expertise weight reduction as a secondary impact.
Whereas these medication all work in comparatively comparable methods, there are a number of key variations in the case of their mechanisms of motion and meant use.
Semaglutide mechanism of motion
These three medicines are manufactured by Novo Nordisk and include the identical energetic ingredient, semaglutide. Semaglutide mimics the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which helps to advertise insulin manufacturing, sluggish digestion, and suppress urge for food.
Ozempic (injectable) and Rybelsus (capsule type) are each FDA-approved as first-line therapies for kind 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, medical doctors will generally prescribe these medicines off-label — i.e., not as directed — for weight reduction.
Wegovy, alternatively, is an FDA-approved, injectable model of semaglutide formulated particularly for weight administration. It’s meant for adults with weight problems or chubby adults with no less than one weight-related well being situation.
Tirzepatide mechanism of motion
The energetic ingredient in each Mounjaro and Zepbound is tirzepatide. Like semaglutide, tirzepatide mimics the GLP-1 hormone and will increase insulin sensitivity. However tirzepatide’s mechanism of motion additionally mimics the gastric inhibitory peptide hormone (GIP), which helps to advertise insulin secretion and regulate urge for food and satiety.
“There have been research that present that tirzepatide leads to extra weight reduction than semaglutide,” says Mir Ali, MD, bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Heart at Orange Coast Medical Heart in Fountain Valley, CA. “This has been attributed to affecting two receptors relatively than one.”
Mounjaro and Zepbound, that are each administered through once-weekly injections, are manufactured by Eli Lilly. Mounjaro is FDA-approved as a diabetes medicine, whereas Zepbound is authorised for weight administration in adults with weight problems, or chubby adults with no less than one weight-related well being situation. (Sound acquainted?)
Like Ozempic and Rybelsus, Mounjaro could also be prescribed off-label for weight reduction.
What Occurs When You Cease Taking GLP-1 Medicine for Weight Loss?
Incretin mimetics can assist with weight administration whilst you’re taking them. However once you cease taking these medication, your metabolic perform will revert again to its pre-medication state, and the quantity on the size will probably comply with swimsuit.
Listed here are a number of frequent negative effects of stopping Mounjaro, Ozempic, and the like:
1. Your urge for food will make a comeback
“[Incretin mimetics’] major impact for weight reduction is to suppress the urge for food and sluggish the emptying of the abdomen,” Ali says. “As soon as the medicine is stopped, the urge for food returns to its earlier state and the abdomen resumes emptying on the regular fee. These processes can result in an individual eager to eat extra.”
2. You’ll probably regain a lot of the burden you misplaced
As soon as your urge for food is again in full swing, you’ll have to maintain a detailed eye in your calorie consumption. “If the affected person isn’t cautious, they will begin regaining weight,” Ali says.
One scientific trial discovered that, a 12 months after stopping incretin mimetics, contributors had regained a median of two-thirds of the burden that they had initially misplaced. Their cardiometabolic enhancements went again to baseline, too.
3. Your blood sugar could rise
Once you cease taking incretin mimetics, Ali says, insulin secretion returns to its earlier state and it’s possible you’ll discover a rise in your blood glucose ranges. In a latest peer-reviewed examine, researchers divided contributors into 4 teams. Three teams took tirzepatide in various doses, whereas the fourth group was given the kind 2 diabetes drug dulaglutide.
One 12 months later, all three tirzepatide teams had larger enhancements in blood glucose ranges than the dulaglutide group. Nevertheless, two months after stopping therapy, all 4 teams had re-elevated blood glucose ranges — and the tirzepatide teams had been already experiencing rebound weight acquire.
The examine authors concluded that their findings “recommend a necessity for steady prescription or cautious follow-up when stopping.”
Can You Simply Cease Taking Mounjaro and Ozempic?
Given the extent to which long-term medication like semaglutide and tirzepatide have an effect on the physique, quitting chilly turkey isn’t suggested with out the steering of a doctor. That mentioned, there isn’t any compelling proof that discontinuing their use will trigger critical withdrawal signs.
There is a rising physique of analysis, nonetheless, suggesting that many individuals expertise a “fast rebound” in blood glucose ranges and weight acquire after stopping incretin mimetics. These results “should not thought-about withdrawal signs, however the return of the affected person’s prior physiology,” Ali says.
Preserving weight reduction after quitting incretin mimetics
When you’ve hit your weight reduction targets, it could be potential to cease taking semaglutide and tirzepatide with out regaining a lot weight. However you’ll have to be ready to make use of the next life-style methods:
“If a affected person is ready to make important, long-term dietary and life-style adjustments, then they’ve a greater likelihood of maintaining the burden off when the medicines are stopped,” Ali says.
As all the time, you will need to bear in mind it is best to all the time seek the advice of a healthcare supplier earlier than stopping and restarting Mounjaro, Ozempic, or another such medicine.
Ought to You Think about Taking Weight Loss Medicine?
Incretin mimetics could also be getting a whole lot of hype, but it surely’s essential to notice that they’re meant to be long-term therapies for continual well being points — not only a fast technique to lose a number of cussed kilos.
“These medicines are designed for sufferers labeled as overweight with a physique mass index over 30, or over 27 with different co-morbid situations,” Ali says.
Even for individuals who meet the scientific standards, a weight reduction drug isn’t any substitute for a balanced weight-reduction plan and common train. Consuming nutrient-dense meals continues to be one of the best ways to get the nutritional vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants you want. And a weight reduction medicine can’t stand in for train in the case of bettering power, cardio capability, coronary heart well being, bone well being, and extra.
How Lengthy Do GLP-1 Medicine Keep in Your System?
In keeping with the Meals and Drug Administration, the half-life of tirzepatide is about 5 days. Which means once you cease taking these medication, it could take round a month for the drug to be utterly gone out of your physique.
The half-life of semaglutide is round seven days, so once you cease taking these medication, it could keep in your system for roughly 5 weeks after the final dose.
Nevertheless, to take care of their effectiveness, semaglutides and tirzepatides are prescribed for weekly use, and so they’re meant for use indefinitely. “Weight problems is being regarded as a continual illness, resembling diabetes or hypertension, so sufferers could have to be on these medicines long-term,” Ali says.