What happens if you stop taking weight loss injections?

Two women smile into the camera. The one on the left, Ellen, has long blonde hair. The one on the right, Tanya, has long red hair. — caption, Ellen and Tanya both lost weight with GLP-1, but had very different experiences after taking the medication.

- Author, Ruth Clegg and Holly Jennings
- Author title, BBCNews
December 26, 2025
Reading time: 7 mins

“It’s like a switch is flipped and you immediately starve to death.”

Tanya Hall has tried several times to stop taking weight loss injections. But every time he does it, the sound of eating can be heard again, louder and louder.

Weight loss injections, or GLP-1, have done for many people what diets never did. The constant buzzing that told them to eat, even when they were full, was turned off.

Medication has given those who never thought they could lose weight a new body shape, a new perspective and, in many cases, a completely different life.

But you can’t keep using them forever, can you? Or yes? Well, that’s one of the problems, nobody knows for sure.

These are new drugs that mimic GLP-1, a natural hormone that regulates hunger, and the possible side effects of their long-term use are just beginning to emerge.

In the UK alone, 1.5 million people pay for the injections privately and they are not cheap, so continuing treatment over a longer period of time is not an easy task.

And what happens when you try to quit? Two women with very different stories but with the same goal – losing weight and keeping it off – tell us what it was like for them.

Three photos of Tanya at various stages of her weight loss. In the first photo on the left he is wearing a gray T-shirt; in the middle he is in the gym; and in the third picture she has lost weight, is wearing a white corset and is smiling at the camera. — caption, Tanya says her hair “fell out in clumps” when she started taking the medication.

“It was like something opened up in my head and told me, ‘Eat it all, go ahead, you deserve it because you haven’t eaten in a long time.'”

Tanya, a sales manager for a large fitness company, became interested in the Wegovy brand to make a statement. She was overweight, felt like an imposter, and believed that her opinion was not valued in her workplace because of her size.

Would they take her more seriously if she were thinner?

In the end he says his suspicions were confirmed. After she started the injection, people came up to her to congratulate her on her weight loss. She felt like she was being treated with more respect.

16 kilos less, but some problems

However, in the first few months of treatment, Tanya had difficulty sleeping, felt constantly unwell, had headaches, and even started losing her hair, which may not have been directly due to the medication but rather was a possible side effect of the rapid weight loss.

“My hair was falling out in clumps,” he remembers. But when it comes to weight, I got the results I expected. He had lost about 16 kilos.

Now, more than 18 months later, what started as a small experiment has turned into a total life changer. He lost 38 kg and tried to quit Wegovy several times.

But each time, she says, she eats so much within a few days that she is “completely horrified.”

Should I continue taking the medication and live with all the side effects that come with it, or plunge into the unknown?

A blue Ozempic injection pen and a black Wegovy. — caption, Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are the best known.

Wegovy’s maker, Novo Nordisk, said treatment decisions should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional and that “side effects should be taken into account.”

Stopping weight loss medications can feel like a “leap into the void,” says lifestyle general practitioner Dr. Hussain Al-Zubaidi.

“I often see patients stop when they take the highest dose because they have reached their goal.”

According to Al-Zubaidi, this can be compared to an “avalanche or a tsunami.” The dinner noise returns the next day.

It says evidence so far suggests people will regain a “significant proportion” of the weight they lost between one and three years after stopping the drug.

“Between 60 and 80% of the weight lost comes back.”

compulsive eater

Ellen Ogley is determined not to let that happen. He decided to start taking weight loss medication because he had reached a crucial turning point in his life.

He was so overweight that he had to sign a liability waiver stating that he might not survive life-saving surgery.

He says founding Mounjaro was his “last chance to do it right.”

“I was a compulsive emotional eater,” she says.

“If I was happy, I would throw a tantrum. If I was sad, I would throw a tantrum. It didn’t really matter, I had no filter.”

But when he started the medication, “everything went away.”

Ellen, a woman with long blonde hair, sits on a couch and smiles at the camera. — caption, Ellen says that taking weight loss medication completely changed her relationship with food.

A life without excessive appetite gave Ellen the space to reframe her relationship with food. He began reading about nutrition and developing a healthy diet to fuel his body.

He took the drug for 16 weeks before tapering it gradually over a six-week period. He lost 22 kg.

As she lost weight, she found she could exercise more, and when she felt depressed, instead of going to the pantry and stuffing her face, she went running.

But when Ellen stopped taking Mounjaro, she noticed weight gain, which she said left me “a little upset.”

That’s why it’s crucial to get the right support, says Al-Zubaidi.

Practical changes

The UK’s health regulator Nice has recommended that patients receive ongoing advice and personalized action plans for at least a year after completing treatment to help them make practical changes in their lives so they can maintain their weight and, most importantly, stay healthy.

But for those who pay for their medication privately, like Tanya and Ellen, this kind of support is not always guaranteed.

Over the last few months, Tanya has been able to maintain her weight and feels that the medication has had little effect on her. But he won’t stop taking it, he says.

She has finally reached a weight that she is comfortable with, and every time she tries to stop, the fear of gaining the weight again becomes too great and she finds an excuse to gain the weight again.

“I was overweight for the first 38 years of my life, but now I’m 38kg lighter,” says Tanya.

“So part of me feels like there’s an addiction because it makes me feel the way I feel, it makes me feel like I’m in control.”

He pauses for a second. Maybe it’s the other way around, he thinks. Maybe it’s the drug that controls it.

Three side-by-side photos of Ellen at various stages of her weight loss. In the photo on the far left she is heavier and is wearing a green dress; in the middle he is in the gym; and in the last photo she is thin, wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt. — caption, Ellen has continued to lose weight since she stopped taking weight loss medications.

“It’s about having an exit strategy,” explains Al-Zubaidi. “The question is: What experiences do these people have when they stop injecting?”

She fears that without additional support for those making the transition, society’s unhealthy relationship with food is unlikely to change. The environment in which people live should be one that promotes health, not weight gain.

“Obesity is not a GLP-1 deficiency,” he says.

In a sense, many people begin a game of weight loss roulette by stopping their medications. Factors such as lifestyle, support, mindset and timing influence how the future unfolds after stopping GLP-1.

Tanya continues the medication and is fully aware of the pros and cons of this decision.

Ellen feels like the chapter is now closed. He has lost more than 51 kg.

“I want people to know that life after Mounjaro can also be sustainable,” he says.

Eli Lilly, the company that makes Mounjaro, says that “patient safety is a top priority” and that it is “actively involved” in monitoring, evaluating and reporting to regulators and physicians.