Weight Regain After Stopping Zepbound

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you did was take a shot and sit on the couch, then yes the weight is going to come back. If you used to shot as a tool and made lifestyle changes while you were on it, you may be ok

If the “lifestyle changes” are eating less — which is what most women in their 40s and 50s need to do to lose weight — that becomes a lot harder to do when you’re hungry again.

I am a person who does a ton of strength training and eats healthy food already. But I’m eating too much of it to lose weight. If a GLP1 makes me less hungry, I will eat less and lose weight. But if I go off and the hunger comes back, I likely won’t be able to maintain.

When I say lifestyle change I mean the women who still eat crap (like a small piece of their homemade lasagna with mozzarella, ricotta, and béchamel instead of two pieces.

[Anonymous]

I took it and lost 30 / 35 pounds. I stopped and only have regained about 5/7 since in approximately 8 months.

It taught me that sadly, you can hardly eat if you are a woman in your 50's. to lose you have to barely eat. So now I just eat a whole bunch less. I liked that it made me not feel hungry. I miss that part

[Anonymous]

I was starved - like desperate savage PMS hunger. It passed and then my eating habits became the same as pre-Zepbound. I gained half the weight back.

[Anonymous]

I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you did was take a shot and sit on the couch, then yes the weight is going to come back. If you used to shot as a tool and made lifestyle changes while you were on it, you may be ok

If the “lifestyle changes” are eating less — which is what most women in their 40s and 50s need to do to lose weight — that becomes a lot harder to do when you’re hungry again.

I am a person who does a ton of strength training and eats healthy food already. But I’m eating too much of it to lose weight. If a GLP1 makes me less hungry, I will eat less and lose weight. But if I go off and the hunger comes back, I likely won’t be able to maintain.

This has been exactly my experience - I strength train and eat healthily, but start to gain weight from quantity. I have been able to stretch the doses though to maintain my weight loss. I start to get ravenously hungry around week 3-4 after an injection, and that’s around when I take it again for a single dose. If I have to inject myself once a month for the rest of my life I’m ok with that. The benefits to my health are worth it.

What level dose are you on that you able to take once per month only?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

When I was on it I ate less because I just wasn't hungry. I could eat dinner and stop halfway through because I was full. When I went off I was hungry again those small portions did not satisfy me. It is a constant struggle to stop eating even when I am still hungry. My food compulsions came back- picking on food while making dinner, eating more than just the small portion I put on my plate. I am not someone with terrible habits. I exercise and overall eat a healthy balanced diet, I just eat too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you must change your eating habits and be in a calorie deficit forever. The only weight loss regiment is gastric bypass that is long term.

I know two people who regained the weight after gastric bypass. And another two who just replaced food with alcohol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

I thought the same and that your stomach would “shrink” to adjust to the much smaller amounts of food eaten while on GLP. While I think it’s true that it very much opened my eyes to how very little food I need to maintain weight and I was far better about how much I should put on my plate, sticking to zero snacking etc, I can tell you that I didn’t feel satisfied with the amount of food that I was eating after I went off the GLP. This led to some weight gain and I constantly hungry. I decided to see if I could find the lowest dose/least frequent dosing option to walk the fine line between satisfied and not satisfied. For me, that ended up being 2.5mg Zepbound every 3-4 weeks and I’ve maintained the weight and dosing schedule for 14 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

Nope. Lost 50 pounds, regained 35 pounds before feeling ashamed went back to my doc to go back on the shot. Lost the 35, and am staying on low dose forever. Worth it.

And, my cholesterol is no longer "borderline" and my blood pressure is in the normal range for the first time in decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you did was take a shot and sit on the couch, then yes the weight is going to come back. If you used to shot as a tool and made lifestyle changes while you were on it, you may be ok

If the “lifestyle changes” are eating less — which is what most women in their 40s and 50s need to do to lose weight — that becomes a lot harder to do when you’re hungry again.

I am a person who does a ton of strength training and eats healthy food already. But I’m eating too much of it to lose weight. If a GLP1 makes me less hungry, I will eat less and lose weight. But if I go off and the hunger comes back, I likely won’t be able to maintain.

When I say lifestyle change I mean the women who still eat crap (like a small piece of their homemade lasagna with mozzarella, ricotta, and béchamel instead of two pieces.

While not universally the issue, this a huge part of it. If people learned to eat high volume nutrient but not calorie dense food, the body mostly self regulates. But most people don’t want to do that, which is why they ended up eating and craving the opposite for so long. And snacking (totally unnecessary) and treat yourself (daily).

[Anonymous]

Some people will, and some people won’t.

The people that will gain back we go to the doctor and microdose.

It’s no different than being on insulin for the rest of your life, except it’s healthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

Not really bc the meds reduce appetite a lot so once off you are hungry again, it’s not just a matter of habits but cues as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you must change your eating habits and be in a calorie deficit forever. The only weight loss regiment is gastric bypass that is long term.

and you can eventually override that, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought eating less became an ingrained good habit if you do it enough. (as in, stay on the drug long enough for a good habit to root in place)

I don't think that's it, I do however, think that if you are doing it the right way (e.g, working with a dietician to learn healthy habits), then that is what makes it a good habit. I understand portion sizes a lot better now than I used to. I understand how to snack in a healthy way now. I know what foods I should and should not have in the house. I have not gained any weight back - in fact, I lost 10 lbs and then had to make sure I was eating more so I wouldn't lose any more. I am definitely hungrier than I was while on Zepbound, but I am also really, really motivated to keep the weight off. I see how much better I am treated now than when I was 60lbs heavier and I don't want people to treat me like shit anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not Zepbound but I took another rGLP1 and yes, you will regain the weight when you stop. If you were unable to control your hunger and cravings before taking the medication you will also struggle after. Everyone thinks losing weight is the hard part, but maintaining weight loss is more difficult.

Now are there some people who are successful in maintaining, sure, but they are the exception, not the norm and research backs this up. I think the ones who maintain are people who never really struggled with their weight, but rather gained a few extra pounds due to things like pregnancy or an injury so had ok eating habits to begin with.

I lost 30 pounds on ozempic in 4 months and have kept it off for 7. DH lost 100 pounds on ozempic and has kept it off for over a year. It requires a lifestyle adjustment but you’re not doomed to regain if you don’t want to be.