ENहिन्दी soon
Home/India/Answers/Does the weight come back after stopping Ozempic?
INIndia Medicines

Does the weight come back after stopping Ozempic?

GLP Guidebook teamUpdated 5 Oct 202619 sourcesWritten from published sources
The short answer

Often, yes. People who stopped Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg) regained about two-thirds of their lost weight within a year in the STEP 1 extension. We found no stopping trial at the 0.25 to 1 mg doses of Ozempic (semaglutide) sold in India. Staying on treatment, or on a lower tirzepatide dose, meant less regain in trials.

Before you go further
  • GLP‑1 medicines are prescription-only in India, not sold over the counter.16
  • A government statement on 1 Apr 2026 said only endocrinologists, internal-medicine specialists and cardiologists can prescribe them.16 CDSCO expert-committee minutes attach a similar condition to some approvals (endocrinologist or internal-medicine specialist), but we found no rule covering every brand.17,18
  • The risks are in Guide 5: Side effects and risks.
  • Nothing here promises any result.

What do Ozempic's own label and trials say about stopping?

We found no trial that stopped Ozempic at India's 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg or 1 mg strengths and then tracked weight.3,5

Ozempic's EU leaflet says that if you stop, "your blood sugar levels may increase".2 Semaglutide stays in your blood for about 5 weeks after the last dose.1

A 2025 review pooled 4 small stopping trials (219 people) in type 2 diabetes. HbA1c (average blood sugar over 2 to 3 months) rose by 0.65 points.5 So 7.0% would become about 7.7%. Those trials used older medicines, liraglutide and exenatide, not semaglutide.5

How much weight came back after people stopped Wegovy?

About two-thirds of the lost weight came back within a year of stopping Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg) in the STEP 1 extension.6

Wegovy is the same medicine as Ozempic at a higher weekly dose, sold in India up to 2.4 mg.4 In the extension, 228 adults without diabetes on Wegovy had lost 17.3% of their weight over 68 weeks.6 A year after stopping, they had regained 11.6% of their starting weight, ending 5.6% below their start.6

For a 90 kg person, that is about 16 kg lost and about 10 kg back. Improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar mostly went back towards where they began.6

In STEP 4, 803 people reached Wegovy 2.4 mg over a 20-week run-in. Over the next 48 weeks, those switched to a dummy injection gained 6.9%. Those who stayed on it lost a further 7.9%.7

Does the same happen after stopping tirzepatide?

Yes. About half of the weight lost on tirzepatide, the medicine in Mounjaro, came back within a year of switching to a dummy injection.8,9

The trial, SURMOUNT-4, tested 10 or 15 mg for weight. Its results appear in the US label for Zepbound, tirzepatide's US weight brand.9,10 The 670 adults in it had first lost 20.9% over 36 weeks. Those switched to the dummy injection gained 14.0%, ending 9.9% below their start.9

A 2026 BMJ review of 37 studies found about 0.8 kg a month came back after stopping semaglutide or tirzepatide.11 It projected a return to starting weight in about 1.5 years. Follow-up for these two medicines ended at 1 year.11 The WHO's December 2025 guideline made no recommendation on stopping, for lack of evidence.14

Thinking about stopping?

Build a list of questions to ask your doctor. Free, no sign-up.

Make my list

What do studies say helps keep the weight off?

Staying on treatment or a lower dose meant less regain in trials. Exercise evidence is weaker, and none of it used Ozempic's doses.7,9,12,13

In SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN, 378 US adults were randomised after 60 weeks on tirzepatide. At 112 weeks, the full dose left them 21.9% below their start, 5 mg 16.6%, a dummy injection 9.9%.12

In Denmark, 195 people had liraglutide 3.0 mg, supervised exercise, both or a dummy injection for a year. Then all treatment stopped. A year on, 109 were weighed. Exercise plus liraglutide meant 2.5 kg less regain than liraglutide alone, a gap that could be chance.13

A much-cited 2024 congress abstract on tapering (slowly lowering the dose) is by staff of Embla, a Danish online clinic. Of 2,246 users, 353 tapered, but only 85 were weighed 26 weeks after stopping. Their estimated average change, −1.5%, could be anywhere from −6.4% to +3.3%. Of 240 who stopped fully, 46 restarted. It was not randomised.19 The first randomised tapering trial had not started by August 2026.15 Guide 9 covers the cost of staying on; our post on stopping has more.

RisksThe risks, in brief

Staying on treatment means staying on its side effects. Bands are from the EU Ozempic label.

  • Feeling sick and diarrhoea are very common (more than 1 in 10).2
  • Gallstones are common (1 in 10 to 1 in 100).2
  • Pancreatitis (a swollen pancreas) is uncommon (1 in 100 to 1 in 1,000).2
  • Kidney injury can follow dehydration from vomiting or diarrhoea (US label).1
  • Low blood sugar is more likely with insulin or a sulfonylurea such as glimepiride (US label).1
  • Thyroid warning. Not for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2 (US label).1
Full detail in Guide 5: Side effects and risks →
Get help now: call 112 for stomach pain that is severe or won't go away, sometimes spreading to your back, with or without vomiting.1

Read the full picture

Related questions

Can you stop Ozempic or Mounjaro suddenly? How long does Ozempic take to work? Is Ozempic safe? What should you do if you miss a dose of Ozempic or Mounjaro?
Did this answer your question?

Sources

  1. Novo Nordisk. Ozempic (semaglutide) US prescribing information and Medication Guide, revised 05/2026. US label, not the Indian one: we found no public Indian label. Boxed warning; sections 1, 4, 5.2, 5.5, 5.6, 12.3; Medication Guide. novo-pi.com
  2. European Medicines Agency. Ozempic (semaglutide) product information: summary of product characteristics section 4.8, Table 1, and package leaflet section 3. EU label. ema.europa.eu
  3. Business Standard. As generics wave builds up, Novo Nordisk slashes Ozempic, Wegovy prices, 31 Mar 2026. business-standard.com
  4. Deccan Herald (PTI). Novo Nordisk launches anti-obesity drug Wegovy in India, 24 Jun 2025. deccanherald.com
  5. Tzang CC et al. Metabolic rebound after GLP-1 receptor agonist discontinuation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine 2025;90:103680. Tables 1 and 2. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103680 · PMID 41399474
  6. Wilding JPH et al. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: the STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes Obes Metab 2022;24(8):1553-64. doi:10.1111/dom.14725 · PMID 35441470
  7. Rubino D et al. Effect of continued weekly subcutaneous semaglutide vs placebo on weight loss maintenance (STEP 4). JAMA 2021;325(14):1414-25. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.3224 · PMID 33755728
  8. Eli Lilly. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) US prescribing information, revised 08/2026. US label, not the Indian one. pi.lilly.com
  9. Aronne LJ et al. Continued treatment with tirzepatide for maintenance of weight reduction in adults with obesity (SURMOUNT-4). JAMA 2024;331(1):38-48. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.24945 · PMID 38078870
  10. Eli Lilly. Zepbound (tirzepatide) US prescribing information, revised 08/2026, section 14 (Study 4, Table 6). US label. pi.lilly.com
  11. West S et al. Weight regain after cessation of medication for weight management: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2026;392:e085304. Semaglutide and tirzepatide data: 10 trial arms, 1,776 people. doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-085304
  12. Horn DB et al. Tirzepatide for maintenance of bodyweight reduction in people with obesity in the USA (SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN). Lancet 2026. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00656-2 · PMID 42119587
  13. Jensen SBK et al. Healthy weight loss maintenance with exercise, GLP-1 receptor agonist, or both combined followed by one year without treatment: a post-treatment analysis of a randomised placebo-controlled trial. eClinicalMedicine 2024;69:102475. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102475
  14. World Health Organization. Guideline on the use and indications of GLP-1 therapies for the treatment of obesity in adults, version 1.0, 1 Dec 2025 (MAGICapp PDF); summary: Celletti F et al. JAMA 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.24288 · PMID 41324410
  15. ClinicalTrials.gov. A randomized controlled study of dose-tapering regimen of semaglutide for weight-loss maintenance (NCT07783854), Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College. Not yet recruiting; status verified Aug 2026. clinicaltrials.gov
  16. PIB Research Unit. GLP-1 drugs: use, risks and regulation (government backgrounder), 1 Apr 2026. static.pib.gov.in (PDF)
  17. CDSCO. Recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (Endocrinology & Metabolism), 100th meeting, 20–21 Apr 2023, item 1 (tirzepatide, Eli Lilly). Committee minutes, not the final permission. cdsco.gov.in (PDF) · archived copy
  18. CDSCO. Recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (Endocrinology & Metabolism), 13–14 Feb 2024, items 3–4 (semaglutide, Novo Nordisk). Committee minutes for two named products. cdsco.gov.in (PDF) · archived copy
  19. Seier S et al. Tapering semaglutide to the most effective dose: real-world evidence from a digital weight management programme (TAILGATE). European Congress on Obesity 2024, abstract 164. Observational cohort, not randomised; authors from Embla, the clinic running the programme. abstract (PDF) · EASO press release, 11 May 2024

Last checked 5 Oct 2026 · Next review due 5 Oct 2027 · Report an error

How this answer was made. Written by the GLP Guidebook team from the sources above. It's general information, not medical advice. Talk to a qualified doctor before starting, stopping or changing any medicine. How we write