Research

Hormonal

Long-term maintenance of clinically significant weight loss (≥5% reduction) is achievable in a real-world clinical setting through continuous use of anti-obesity medications (AOMs), with 65.3% of compliant patients maintaining loss over 2 years.

To maintain significant weight loss long-term, you likely need to stay on anti-obesity medication (AOMs) indefinitely, just like managing blood pressure. This study shows that about two-thirds of people who stick with their medication for two years keep the weight off. Don't drop out early; adherence is the biggest predictor of success. If cost is a barrier, ask your doctor about off-label options like metformin, which is cheap, safe, and effective for many.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Long-term weight loss maintenance was achieved by 65.3% of patients... Almost all (96.2%) were on ≥1 AOM at 2 years
Beverly G. Tchang et al. · Obesity Science & Practice · 2021

Why this rating

Retrospective observational cohort study; high real-world relevance but lacks randomization and control group.

Source

Long‐term weight loss maintenance with obesity pharmacotherapy: A retrospective cohort study

Beverly G. Tchang et al. · Obesity Science & Practice · 2021

DOI 10.1002/osp4.575

cohort · n=421Cited 17×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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