What happens to your body when you stop taking weight-loss drugs l GMA

our series weight loss Revolution all week we've looked at medications like ozepik and wagovi addressing side effects and the costs and this morning Becky Worley takes a look at what happens when you stop taking the drugs it's a weight loss movement that has millions shedding pounds ozempic and Manjaro belong to a class of drugs originally developed to treat diabetes but now many turning to social media to praise the drugs for weight loss and that includes Teresa Shepherd of Tampa Florida who took compounded semaglitide an off-brand version of these drugs that's available at some pharmacies I was on it about like seven to eight months and I lost 90 pounds after about eight months Teresa says she decided to stop when she reached her weight goal but a 2002 NIH study says once patients go off the medication their average weight gain rebound is about two-thirds of the total weight that they lost trying to stomp a medicine like this can result in weight regain and an increase in appetite and Dr Louis aroney of wild Cornell says no mystery here that's how most medication Works no one should be surprised by that that's exactly what we would expect would happen if you stopped a blood pressure medicine your blood pressure would go up one other issue for those who saw significant weight loss on the drugs is a loss of muscle mass while it's comparable with traditional diets the speed of weight loss on drugs like ozempic and wigovi can be an issue we don't recommend that people lose weight too rapidly rapid weight loss has been shown to cause excess muscle mass loss experience is vary but for Teresa recent months and says that she's holding her weight it fluctuates Norma up down five pounds but I haven't gained any waiters like that so it's been a good experience since I've been since I've come off but even people who regain weight may see health benefits and to Buck the trend of rebound weight gain Teresa says she's adopted much healthier habits I started working out at least five days a week you have to be mindful of staying with what you've done and not slipping back in Old Habits for sure but absolutely people can get off of it and I wouldn't be scared to get off of it for Good Morning America Becky Worley ABC News Oakland California all right our thanks to Becky Worley for that doctors also tell us this type of rapid weight loss can cause a decline in muscle mass which is a major factor when it comes to keeping the weight off so if you are taking these drugs or you're thinking about taking them talk to your doctor about keeping up your strength training and protein consumption and of course we have our own doctor our wonderful Dr Jen Ashton our medical correspondent here to break this all down you are managing patients who are on these medications right now so talk about that concern what do people need to know when they get off these drugs well first of all because I'm board certified in obesity medicine and I think this is getting kind of a bad wrap in our lay public because people think it's a trend or it's a Fed we've known that this class of medication along with other FDA approved weight loss medications has worked very very well and it's been used off label for almost a decade if not longer as we heard in the piece by Dr Louis aroney this is not candy this is not like treating strep throat so when people come off a medication that they need to treat a chronic condition which the conditions of overweight and obesity are of course rebound weight gain is possible if not likely so while this isn't a a standard algorithm or protocol if you will for doctors managing patients like this what we'll often say is let's try to get you to your target healthy goal weight and then basic principle of pharmacology the best dose is the lowest dose of the medication that works and if you need to drop the dose and then expand the frequency to taking it maybe once a month once every other week the key is keeping you at that healthy weight in the safest most efficacious way we can do it almost like touch-ups how long should someone expect to be on the drug in the first place well remember these conditions are chronic so potentially in some way shape or form indefinitely but we know that the phenomenon is set in the brain to restore your weight to its heaviest level so this is not a matter of willpower it's not a matter of eating less and moving more behavior is always important but you have to let the pharmacology work such important points always a pleasure Dr Jen Ashton thanks so much well hey there GMA fans Robin Roberts here thanks for checking out our YouTube channel lots of great stuff here so go on click the Subscribe button right over right over here to get more of Awesome videos and content from GMA every day anytime we thank you for watching and we'll see you in the morning on GMA

Channel: Good Morning America

Views: 197,011

Keywords: ABC, America, Drugs, GMA, Good, Health, Loss, Morning, News, Ozempic, Weight, Wellness, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-99451395, weight loss drugs, weight loss injections, covered by insurance, side effects, muscle mass, health news, ozempic side effects, Mounjaro, trulicity, is ozempic harmful, good morning america

Id: C1OqHKOvFCc

Length: 4min 41sec (281 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023