Myth: Gain Back What You Lost After Weight Loss Medications

A study conducted by Epic Researched assessed the weight of individuals a year after stopping semaglutide or liraglutide. Here are some key takeaways from the study findings on weight loss medications that you can use to promote their use:

More than half of patients maintain weight loss a year after discontinuing semaglutide or liraglutide. This is a significant finding because it shows that these medications can have long-term benefits for weight management, even after people stop taking them.

Patients using the recommended weight loss dose of semaglutide for 60 weeks achieved weight loss of 8-11% of their initial body weight. This demonstrates the effectiveness of semaglutide in helping people achieve clinically significant weight loss.

The study was conducted using data from Cosmos, a collaboration of 236 Epic health systems representing more than 227 million patient records.3 This large and diverse dataset strengthens the generalizability of the study’s findings, suggesting that the results are likely applicable to a wide range of patients.

Two independent teams of clinicians and research scientists came to similar conclusions. This adds further credibility to the study findings, indicating that the results are robust and not influenced by bias.

While some patients experience weight regain after stopping these medications, the fact that a majority are able to maintain a significant portion of their weight loss highlights the potential of these medications as valuable tools for long-term weight management.

It is incredibility important to keep in mind that weight loss medications are a tool in the toolbox, and not a singular solution or “cheat code” to weight loss. Please be mindful of long-term effects of poor diet and exercise habits.