Research
Hormonal
GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) are associated with significant weight regain after discontinuation, whereas non-GLP-1 related treatments did not show statistically significant regain in this meta-analysis.
If you are on a GLP-1 medication (like semaglutide or liraglutide), stopping it is likely to cause significant weight regain due to the loss of appetite suppression. Other drugs may not show this same statistical pattern of regain in this analysis, but individual responses vary.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Among the different subgroups of AOMs, significant weight regain after 12 weeks of drug discontinuation was observed only in studies with glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) related drugs. In addition, regarding to the non GLP-1 related weight management strategies, no significant weight regain was observed (WMD = 1.23 kg, 95% CI − 0.58 to 3.04, P = 0.18, I2 = 53%).
Why this rating
Subgroup analysis with limited number of studies for non-GLP-1 classes.
Source
Trajectory of the body weight after drug discontinuation in the treatment of anti-obesity medications
Han Wu et al. · BMC Medicine · 2025
DOI 10.1186/s12916-025-04200-0
Meta-analysis · 11 studiesCited 21×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Discontinuation of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) leads to significant weight regain starting at 8 weeks post-treatment, with the trajectory stabilizing by 26 weeks.Good
- Continuing lifestyle interventions (diet/exercise) after stopping AOMs does not prevent significant weight regain, as this subgroup also showed significant regain.Moderate
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
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