Enormous attention goes into starting weight loss injections and almost none into stopping them. Yet the transition off medication is where long-term outcomes are actually determined — and most people go through it with no plan at all.
"Weight loss injections" and "weight loss jabs" generally refer to a group of medications that act on gut hormone signalling:
They differ in strength, dosing and licensing, but they share a mechanism: they reduce appetite. That shared mechanism is why they share the same problem on the way out.
These medications work substantially by suppressing appetite — slowing gastric emptying, and changing how the brain regulates hunger and fullness. That effect is pharmacological, and it stops when the drug does.
Over the weeks following your last dose, most people experience appetite returning, food noise starting up again, portions gradually increasing, and weight beginning to move. Follow-up studies of people who discontinue these medications have generally found substantial regain over the following year.
We've written in more detail about the specific medications:
The near-universal interpretation of post-medication regain is personal failure. People conclude the medication was masking a character flaw that has now reasserted itself.
That interpretation is both wrong and unhelpful.
Regain after medication isn't a lack of discipline — it's an unmanaged transition.
While you were medicated, the drug was doing significant work. Whatever eating patterns you had were built on top of that support and never had to withstand real hunger. They were never load-bearing — they didn't need to be.
Remove the medication and those same patterns have to hold under conditions they were never designed for. Most don't. That's a structural problem, and structural problems have solutions in a way that character flaws don't.
Rebuilding satiety through food structure, protein and meal timing, so physical fullness does the work medication was doing. This is the foundation and it is not optional.
Weight lost on these medications includes lean mass as well as fat. Resistance training through the transition preserves muscle, which protects metabolic rate — and metabolic rate is a major determinant of how hard maintenance feels afterwards.
The two most reliable drivers of appetite dysregulation, and the two most consistently ignored. They are appetite variables, not separate lifestyle concerns.
Support that continues past the last dose. Most support structures end exactly when the prescription does, which is precisely when they're most needed.
The best time to build all of this is while you are still on medication.
That feels counterintuitive, because nothing is wrong yet. Appetite is quiet, eating feels easy, and deliberately constructing habits seems like solving a problem you don't have.
But that is exactly what makes it the right moment. Habits built while appetite is suppressed are already routine by the time appetite returns. Habits attempted after the noise comes back are being built in the hardest possible conditions — which is why so few of them survive.
If you've already stopped, that's not a lost cause and it isn't starting from zero. The work is identical; it's just harder-won. Plenty of people begin here.
Before you stop, these are worth raising with the clinician responsible for your care:
Perdura is a coaching programme, not a medical service. This guide is general information and not medical advice.
Never start, stop or change the dose of any medication based on something you have read here. Those decisions belong with your prescriber or the clinician responsible for your care, and we will always ask you to keep them involved.
All of the medications named here are prescription-only. For clinical information, see NHS.uk or speak to your GP or pharmacist.
A structured twelve-week programme for people coming off GLP-1 medication — built to rebuild appetite regulation rather than rely on willpower. It works whether you're currently taking medication, tapering, or have already stopped.