What happens when you stop weight loss injections?
Reviewed by Dr Mitra Dutt
This article will explain what weight loss injections are, how they work, and what happens when people stop taking them.
What are weight loss injections?
Weight loss injections are injectable medicines designed to help people lose weight. If you’ve been prescribed medicated weight loss, it is important that you make healthy lifestyle changes alongside taking your treatment. For example, an improved diet and more exercise. The weight loss injections available at LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor include Mounjaro® and Wegovy®. They are both weekly injections and can be injected under the skin of your stomach, thighs, or upper arms. Find out more about how to use weight loss injections here.
How do weight loss injections work?
Weight loss injections work by mimicking natural hormones found in the body. When the hormones are mimicked:
- Your appetite is suppressed
- Blood sugar is better regulated
- Food leaves the stomach more slowly
What’s the difference between Mounjaro® and Wegovy®?
Although Mounjaro® and Wegovy® work in similar ways, they are not the same.
The main differences include the dosage, the active ingredient, and the manufacturer. Mounjaro® is also more effective than Wegovy® when looking at clinical trial data. You can read more about the key differences.
You might have heard of Ozempic too. Ozempic shares the same active ingredient as Wegovy® (semaglutide), but the two drugs are branded differently to be used by two different groups of people. Ozempic is licenced for people with type two diabetes to use, whereas Wegovy® is a weight loss drug. Learn more about Ozempic in our article: “Is Wegovy® the same as Ozempic?”
Why do people stop taking medicated weight loss injections?
After some time on the treatment, you might consider stopping weight loss injections for several reasons, for example:
- You might struggle with side effects – if you’re finding side effects difficult, ask your prescriber for advice
- Read about Mounjaro®’s side effects and how to manage them
- Read about Wegovy®’s side effects and how to manage them
- The cost involved
- A lot of people taking weight loss injections will be paying for them each month
- You might be able to get Wegovy® for free on the NHS - your BMI must be at least 35, or 30 if you meet the criteria for specialist weight management services
- You might not see results
- Although most people can expect to lose some weight with weight loss injections, they don’t work for everyone
- Talk to your doctor about alternatives if you want to try something else (if you’re a LloydsPharmacy Online Doctor patient, you can message us in your Patient Record)
What happens when you stop taking weight loss injections?
If you stop treatment, it’s likely you will notice that your appetite returns in full within a week or so. Because of this, many people put weight back on.
To combat this, recognise that weight loss injections are not supposed to be a quick fix. During your time on the treatment, if you’ve managed to make some healthy lifestyle changes too, it will be far easier to keep the weight off.
After some weight loss, it might be easier to exercise, so it’s worth making it part of your new routine if you stop treatment.
Our healthy lifestyle advice hub
Our lifestyle hub is packed full of advice to help you kickstart healthy lifestyle changes. You might be interested in:
- How much exercise should you do each week?
- How to read a food label
- How many calories in alcohol?
- Non-scale signs of weight loss
- Can you feel good about your body while trying to lose weight?
