How much comes back, and how fast
Three trials followed people who had lost weight on semaglutide or tirzepatide after the drug was stopped. The pattern was the same in all three: once the drug was gone, weight came back. In the two trials that kept some people on the drug for comparison, those people held their loss or kept losing.
| Study | Lost on the drug | The year after stopping | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semaglutide, 68 weeks, then stopped | 17.3% of body weight | 11.6 points back, net 5.6% below start | Semaglutide extension, 2022 |
| Semaglutide, 20 weeks, then placebo | 10.6% of body weight | Up 6.9% over the next 48 weeks | Semaglutide withdrawal trial, 2021 |
| Tirzepatide, 36 weeks, then placebo | 20.9% of body weight | Up 14.0% over the next 52 weeks | Tirzepatide withdrawal trial, 2024 |
In the longest one, people had lost 17.3 percent of their weight over 68 weeks on semaglutide. A year after stopping they'd regained 11.6 percentage points, which the researchers summed up as about two-thirds of the loss back, leaving them 5.6 percent below where they began. In the tirzepatide trial, about one in six people who stopped kept most of their loss, against about nine in ten who stayed on it.
The two placebo trials kept diet and activity counseling going for both groups, so the regain happened with that support still in place. A 2026 review pooling 37 studies put the pace at about 1.8 pounds a month after semaglutide or tirzepatide (our tirzepatide explainer goes into that drug's stopping trial), and found regain after weight-loss drugs in general ran faster than after diet programs end. If your feed is full of people saying the weight came straight back, the trials agree with them about the direction, and the numbers say it's a large share of the loss rather than all of it, at least in the first year.
What about retatrutide?
No one has published what happens to weight after people stop retatrutide. Its maintenance trial gives everyone the drug for 80 weeks, then switches some to placebo for 36 weeks, and the trial registry lists April 2028 for its main results. Until then, the semaglutide and tirzepatide numbers are the closest guide, and retatrutide's larger average losses mean there's more weight that could come back.
What to plan for before you stop
Muscle comes first, because some of the weight that comes off on these drugs is lean mass, and our guide on how to keep muscle on a GLP-1 lays out the strength work and weekly plan. Protein sits beside it, and how much protein on a GLP-1 has the ranges the guidance lists. The rest is habits: the meal sizes, the walks and the grocery list that took shape while the drug was keeping appetite low.
None of the stopping trials tested these habits on their own, so nobody has measured how much regain they prevent. The researchers behind the semaglutide study concluded that holding the results takes ongoing treatment, and some people decide to stay on for that reason. Our pages on semaglutide and tirzepatide cover how each one works, and semaglutide vs tirzepatide puts the two side by side.
Semaglutide and tirzepatide have a label and a prescriber behind them, retatrutide has neither, and any vial of these bought online is sold for research. You knew that, it's why you're reading this and not the label.
Questions people ask
How fast do you gain weight back after stopping GLP-1?
A 2026 review that pooled 37 studies found weight came back at about 1.8 pounds a month after semaglutide or tirzepatide were stopped. At that pace it projected a return to starting weight about a year and a half later, a projection rather than something the studies followed people long enough to see.
Do you gain all the weight back after stopping tirzepatide?
Not within the first year. In the tirzepatide stopping trial, people switched to placebo were still about 10 percent lighter than when they started, 88 weeks in, compared with about 25 percent lighter for those who stayed on it.
What happens to blood pressure and blood sugar after stopping a GLP-1?
In the year after people stopped semaglutide, most of the heart and blood sugar markers that had improved drifted back toward where they started. The 2026 pooled review projected those markers back to baseline within about 1.4 years of stopping.
What happens when you stop a GLP-1 cold turkey?
The stopping trials switched people straight to placebo, so the regain figures come from stopping all at once. The semaglutide and tirzepatide labels don't set a taper schedule, and these trials didn't compare a slower stop.
Will I regain weight after stopping retatrutide?
Nobody has published stopping data for retatrutide yet. Its maintenance trial switches some people to placebo after 80 weeks on the drug, and the trial registry expects its main results in April 2028.
