When you’ve been looking for new methods to advance your weight reduction efforts, you’ve in all probability heard about incretin mimetic medicine like Mounjaro, Ozempic, Rybelsus, Wegovy, and Zepbound. Many individuals have reported dramatic weight reduction by taking these kinds of medicines.
However what occurs once you cease taking incretin mimetics for weight reduction? Do you achieve weight again after quitting, or do you need to take them without end to keep up your outcomes?
Brief reply: Whenever you cease taking incretin mimetics, you’ll doubtless regain many 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 worth of about $1,000 for a month’s provide. Out-of-pocket prices will fluctuate 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 price range without end.
These medicines are additionally comparatively new to the scene, which implies their long-term results might not be totally understood. It’s necessary to weigh all of the potential dangers and rewards earlier than deciding whether or not incretin mimetics are best for you. And, in fact, it’s best to at all times discuss to your physician earlier than beginning (or stopping!) any treatment.
When you’re contemplating incretin mimetics or their kin for weight reduction, right here’s what you have to know.
How Do Mounjaro and Ozempic Work?
Mounjaro, Zepbound, Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy work by mimicking metabolic hormones known as incretins. Therefore, these medicine are known as incretin mimetics.
This hormonal mimicry enhances the physique’s capacity to keep up wholesome blood sugar ranges. It additionally helps cut back urge for food and meals consumption by making you’re feeling full sooner and for longer after consuming. Because of this, many individuals expertise weight reduction as a secondary impact.
Whereas these medicine all work in comparatively related methods, there are a number of key variations in terms of their mechanisms of motion and meant use.
Semaglutide mechanism of motion
These three medicines are manufactured by Novo Nordisk and comprise the identical lively 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 (tablet kind) are each FDA-approved as first-line remedies for kind 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, docs 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 obese adults with no less than one weight-related well being situation.
Tirzepatide mechanism of motion
The lively 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 ends in 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 fairly 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 treatment, whereas Zepbound is accepted for weight administration in adults with weight problems, or obese 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 may also help with weight administration whilst you’re taking them. However once you cease taking these medicine, your metabolic operate will revert again to its pre-medication state, and the quantity on the size will doubtless comply with go well with.
Listed below are a number of frequent unwanted side effects of stopping Mounjaro, Ozempic, and the like:
1. Your urge for food will make a comeback
“[Incretin mimetics’] main impact for weight reduction is to suppress the urge for food and sluggish the emptying of the abdomen,” Ali says. “As soon as the treatment is stopped, the urge for food returns to its earlier state and the abdomen resumes emptying on the regular price. These processes can result in an individual desirous to eat extra.”
2. You’ll doubtless regain a lot of the burden you misplaced
As soon as your urge for food is again in full swing, you’ll must hold a detailed eye in your calorie consumption. “If the affected person isn’t cautious, they will begin regaining weight,” Ali says.
One medical trial discovered that, a yr after stopping incretin mimetics, contributors had regained a mean of two-thirds of the burden they’d initially misplaced. Their cardiometabolic enhancements went again to baseline, too.
3. Your blood sugar could rise
Whenever 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 current peer-reviewed examine, researchers divided contributors into 4 teams. Three teams took tirzepatide in various doses, whereas the fourth group was given the sort 2 diabetes drug dulaglutide.
One yr later, all three tirzepatide teams had better 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 achieve.
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 medicine 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 “speedy rebound” in blood glucose ranges and weight achieve after stopping incretin mimetics. These results “will not be 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 doable to cease taking semaglutide and tirzepatide with out regaining a lot weight. However you’ll must be ready to make use of the next life-style methods:
“If a affected person is ready to make vital, long-term dietary and life-style modifications, then they’ve a greater likelihood of holding the burden off when the medicines are stopped,” Ali says.
As at all times, you will need to bear in mind it’s best to at all times seek the advice of a healthcare supplier earlier than stopping and restarting Mounjaro, Ozempic, or some other such treatment.
Ought to You Think about Taking Weight Loss Medicine?
Incretin mimetics could also be getting plenty of hype, however it’s necessary to notice that they’re meant to be long-term remedies for persistent well being points — not only a fast option to lose a number of cussed kilos.
“These medicines are designed for sufferers categorised as overweight with a physique mass index over 30, or over 27 with different co-morbid circumstances,” Ali says.
Even for individuals who meet the medical standards, a weight reduction drug is not any substitute for a balanced food plan and common train. Consuming nutrient-dense meals remains to be one of the best ways to get the nutritional vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants you want. And a weight reduction treatment can’t stand in for train in terms 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 response to the Meals and Drug Administration, the half-life of tirzepatide is about 5 days. Meaning once you cease taking these medicine, 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 medicine, it could keep in your system for roughly 5 weeks after the final dose.
Nevertheless, to keep up their effectiveness, semaglutides and tirzepatides are prescribed for weekly use, and so they’re meant for use indefinitely. “Weight problems is being considered a persistent illness, equivalent to diabetes or hypertension, so sufferers could must be on these medicines long-term,” Ali says.
