Doctor's warning to anyone considering stopping GLP-1s as he reveals what happens to your body within weeks
A doctor has revealed how much weight you may put back on after stopping taking weight loss medications.
Dr. Amir Khan is a well-known doctor in the UK, who frequently appears on TV shows like This Morning and Good Morning Britain, and has recently shared the shocking figure that many people go back to their starting weight within two years of stopping GLP-1 medications.
Speaking on his podcast No Appointment Necessary, he was asked whether somebody who has had success taking weight loss medications will bounce back when they stop.
"Yes is the answer, if they haven't done all the wraparound care in terms of getting their nutrition right," Dr. Amir replied.
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His podcast co-host Cherry Healy then posted the question of what happens to people who have overhauled their diets and made healthy choices while using GLP-1s and whether the 'voice' will come back – meaning the 'food noise' weight loss medications stop. The answer to this was also yes.
'Food noise' coming back
"What the studies show, and there have been studies on this, within four weeks your body reverts back in terms of the voices in your head, the hormones that have been changed by these drugs all revert back to what they were within four weeks," Dr. Amir explained.
"Then, within a year, studies suggest that you've put on 60 percent of the weight that you've lost, and within two years, a lot of people go back to the weight they started with before the drugs."
And it isn't just fat that people lose while taking these medications, it's lean weight too – something that studies have looked into as well.
Lean weight loss
Dr. Amir shared: "When we talk about lean weight, we're not just talking about muscle. That is one part of that. And actually, there is quite a significant loss in your lean weight loss as well as as alongside the fat."
It one specific study, people had lost between 20 to 40 percent of lean weight loss.
In terms of how long somebody can be taking these drugs for, Dr. Amir said it depends on a person's circumstances.
"If you're on it for type two diabetes, you can be on it for as long as you need to be on them, which can be forever because it's managing your long-term chronic condition," he stated.
Weight loss plateau
Anyone who has used GLP-1s might have experienced a plateau during their weight loss journey, and Dr. Amir says this is because your body 'starts to fight back'.
"All it knows is that you are taking in less calories and that puts it into starvation mode," he said.
"So, it will fight back. It will try and switch on your hunger hormones again. It will slow down your metabolism. So, you're not losing weight that rapidly. It will hold on to your fat and your storage much more aggressively than it would have done before."
Topics: Weight loss, Health, Podcast
Niamh Shackleton