What happens if I just stop?

Answer

The withdrawal trials are consistent: most of the loss comes back within about a year.

In more detail

In the STEP 1 extension, participants regained roughly two thirds of the weight they had lost within a year of stopping. STEP 4's placebo-switched arm regained 6.9% while the continuing arm lost a further 7.9%. SURMOUNT-4's placebo-switched arm regained about 14% while the continuing arm lost another 5.5%. The pattern is the same across compounds. That is not a moral statement about willpower; it is what the trials measured, and it is why the maintenance conversation exists at all.

Source

STEP 1 extension; Rubino 2021 (PMID 33755728); Aronne 2024 (PMID 38078870).

Educational use only, never medical advice. No doses.