{"id":19996,"date":"2025-04-14T19:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19996\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T19:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T19:30:11","slug":"how-to-come-off-ozempic-without-gaining-weight-according-to-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19996\/","title":{"rendered":"How to come off Ozempic without gaining weight, according to experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"STYLE\"<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt about it: GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic<\/a>, have been nothing short of revolutionary. Those that take them lose an average of 15 to 20 per cent of their body weight \u2014 levels previously only seen with bariatric surgery (such as a gastric band). For many people living with obesity, these weight loss drugs have provided the answer they were searching for.<\/p>\n

But many people don\u2019t want to continue taking them forever \u2014 especially once they\u2019ve achieved their desired level of weight loss. This can be for multiple reasons: cost is at the forefront for many (these drugs aren\u2019t widely available on the NHS and can set you back \u00a3300 a month privately); unpleasant side\u2014effects<\/a> can put others off; and for some it\u2019s about wanting to enjoy food again \u2013 it\u2019s common for people to report losing the pleasure they used to derive from eating, a key part of all our lives.<\/p>\n

In the simplest terms, GLP\u20141 drugs work by making you less hungry so you eat less<\/a> and lose weight. \u201cThey affect the brain in a way which increases satiety whilst also slowing gastric emptying which also sends signals to the brain to say you\u2019re full,\u201d explains one of the world\u2019s foremost experts in obesity and weight management, Dr James Hill. <\/p>\n

These drugs create an artificial situation but when you stop, boom, you\u2019re back to the way you were before<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also reduce what people term \u2018food noise<\/a>\u2019. It\u2019s like magic; people who used to think about food all the time suddenly don\u2019t. All of this means you get full on far less food,\u201d Dr Hill explains.<\/p>\n

This works incredibly effectively \u2013 while you\u2019re on them. \u201cWhen you stop taking them all of these effects go away,\u201d says Dr Hill. \u201cThese drugs create an artificial situation but when you stop, boom, you\u2019re back to the way you were before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, this doesn\u2019t have to mean inevitable weight regain. There are plenty of things you can do to keep the weight off for good while also improving your general health \u2014 win, win.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to do it according to the experts.<\/p>\n

Build new habits before coming off the drug<\/p>\n

Leading obesity expert Dr Giles Yeo says the most crucial thing to do if you want to come off GLP\u20141 drugs is plan for it. \u201cWhile you\u2019re on the drug you need to retrain yourself and build different habits. If you go back to however you were eating before the weight will come back. Luckily, it\u2019s clear that habits are buildable,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Practically this means things like taking the stairs instead of the lift every single time you have the opportunity, until that\u2019s a routine that your brain defaults to.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Climbing stairs is associated with a longer life, researchers say (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

Alamy\/PA<\/p>\n

It also means adopting a healthier diet<\/a>. \u201cThe drug will make you eat less of whatever you were already eating \u2013 if you ate chips and Oreos you\u2019ll eat less chips and Oreos but that\u2019s not a healthy diet and won\u2019t help when you come off the drug,\u201d says Dr Yeo?<\/p>\n

Dr Yeo believes the drugs should be prescribed with wraparound care, including dietary and exercise intervention so that lasting changes can be made.<\/p>\n

Focus on fibre and protein<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Replacing grains with quinoa boosts protein intake <\/p>\n

Pixabay<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a healthy diet? Simply put, a healthy diet is a balanced one with an abundance and variety of plant foods. Focusing on eating fibre and protein can particularly help when coming off weight\u2014loss drugs. <\/p>\n

They help to trigger satiety hormones \u2013 just like the drugs do \u2013 and keep you fuller for longer. Dr Emily Leeming, gut microbiome scientist, says: \u201cChoose proteins like chicken, fish, eggs and cottage cheese, and pair with fibre rich foods like veggies, quinoa, wild rice and add toasted mixed seeds for an added fibre boost.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to spend a lot of money \u2013 humble beans (particularly black beans and kidney beans) are one of the best sources of fibre out there. Even frozen peas are a great source.<\/p>\n

Portion size and physical activity<\/p>\n

If you want to lose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit, says Dr Yeo. \u201cThere\u2019s no way around it. It\u2019s physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to maintain weight loss you have to adapt to a new normal \u2013 instead of going back to the amount of food you used to eat. <\/p>\n

Calories are really hard to measure so instead it\u2019s better to think about portion size, says dietician Priya Tew. \u201cTake time to get to know what a standard portion is and how to judge this in the context of the meals you enjoy. Also, if you are not normally very active, add in movement that you enjoy to your day, so that you are being more active and this becomes a normal part of your lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Hill says that physical activity is really helpful for weight maintenance. \u201cWe’ve worked with a project called the National Weight Control Registry for decades now, where we follow people that have been very successful at long term weight loss. <\/p>\n

“We studied over 10,000 people and found that only 8 per cent of those were maintaining their weight with very little physical activity, which means that the other 92 per cent were doing physical activity. The average amount of weight they’re keeping off is about 70 pounds (approx 32 kg), and they report, on average, about an hour a day of physical activity.”<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/p>\n

Best lifting straps for weightlifting<\/p>\n

Pexels<\/p>\n

Rapid weight loss \u2013 whether you do it through GLP-1s or another method normally results in muscle loss and it\u2019s important to try to mitigate this, says Rachael Sacerdoti, PT and weight loss expert. \u201cThe more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate is,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Muscle tissue is metabolically active \u2014 it uses energy even when you’re not doing anything \u2013 whereas fat tissue burns very little in comparison.<\/p>\n

This is why Sacerdoti is a huge advocate of strength training. \u201cIt\u2019ll protect your muscles while you\u2019re on the drug and help to increase your metabolic rate when you come off them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strength training is particularly important for women, says Rachael. \u201cIt\u2019s the holy grail for women about the age of 35. It enhances your quality of life and longevity and helps you get through the perimenopausal and menopausal years.\u201d She recommends three to five sessions per week.<\/p>\n

Rachael, who lost a huge amount of weight herself, says that staying strong is her number one priority now. \u201cI don\u2019t watch my body fat anymore, my main goal is to build up muscle so that I\u2019m going to age in the most healthy way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019ve been on weight loss drugs or not, strength training (and these other tips) will be beneficial.<\/p>\n

Forget an \u2018all or nothing\u2019 mindset<\/p>\n

Often weight loss gets stopped in its tracks due to an \u201call or nothing\u201d mindset. \u201cIt\u2019s the thinking that: I was doing really well but now that I\u2019ve had a cookie I should finish the whole bag,\u201d explains Rachael. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think if they\u2019re not doing 100 per cent, it\u2019s not worth them doing 20 per cent.\u201d This thinking is fundamentally wrong. You need to take small steps towards what you want, says Rachael. \u201cEven if you progress every day by just two per cent, that is going to add up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think forever, not short-term<\/p>\n

Dr Hill, who is the Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, expands on this point.<\/p>\n

Weight loss and weight maintenance are very different things, he explains. The former normally involves a temporary period of drastic measures which are unsustainable \u2013 missing dinners with your family, not going for drinks with your friends \u2013 but the latter requires a long\u2014term shift in your habits. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to live your life,\u201d says Dr Hill. \u201cIt\u2019s forever.\u201d He recommends three strategies for this: \u201cusing food as medicine, using exercise as medicine and using your mind as medicine\u201d. It\u2019s this three\u2014pronged approach that is critical, he says. \u201cOne isn\u2019t going to work alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the way you approach it mentally is perhaps the most important of all, he says. \u201cWith weight loss maintenance you\u2019re going to face challenges and set-backs and you need to have the right mental approach to help you stick to your new lifestyle. <\/p>\n

“One of the main things is, you\u2019ve got to enjoy it. If you\u2019re finding the lifestyle miserable and you just hate what you\u2019re eating and you hate the type of physical activity you\u2019re doing then you\u2019re not going to stick to it,\u201d adds Dr Hill. Find healthy food that you want to eat and forms of exercise you genuinely enjoy.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re finding things hard, Dr Hill recommends reframing it. \u201cIt\u2019s not hard, it\u2019s a journey; it\u2019s a voyage, it\u2019s a way of better understanding yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider finding a coach or joining a programme<\/p>\n

Support systems are extremely helpful for weight maintenance. Rachael says think about joining a group of others who are in the same position or getting a coach. They can offer moral support and keep you accountable. She also recommends celebrating \u201cnon-scale victories\u201d. <\/p>\n

While weighing yourself can be very helpful for some others hate it and the scale doesn\u2019t always tell the full story, says Rachael. Women\u2019s weight, in particular, can fluctuate a lot due to hormones and water levels, so instead it can be helpful to see how your clothes fit, take pictures of your body in the mirror for a reference point, and see how you feel. <\/p>\n

Stay on or go back on the drugs <\/p>\n

For some people staying on or going back on the drugs will be the right choice. Dr Yeo predicts a future where people will reduce their dose for maintenance. \u201cThere are clinical trials at the moment exploring what maintenance will look like. They\u2019re testing reducing the dose and increasing the period of time between doses. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to mean two things: it\u2019ll be cheaper and you\u2019ll get less side-effects because you\u2019re using less. It may be that in the future people just go for top up jabs twice a year. I think that would be far more palatable for people and for the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no doubt about it: GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, have been nothing short of revolutionary. Those that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[12985,105,4326,370,16,15,734,1156],"class_list":{"0":"post-19996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-dieting","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-medication","11":"tag-ozempic","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-weight-loss","15":"tag-weight-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114337980404209571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}