A large 2026 analysis of more than 9,000 patients found that people who discontinued semaglutide or tirzepatide regained an average of nearly two pounds per month after stopping, according to a Stanford Medicine research summary. Separately, the STEP 1 trial extension -- which followed semaglutide patients for a year after discontinuation -- found participants had regained roughly two-thirds of their lost weight by the end of that year.
The pattern is consistent with earlier research on GLP-1 discontinuation: a systematic review and meta-regression published in eClinicalMedicine found that, on average, 60% of weight lost during treatment returned within a year of stopping, with modeled long-term regain plateauing at over 75% of the treatment-phase loss.
Stanford researchers noted the mechanism largely mirrors what's understood about weight regain broadly: GLP-1 drugs work partly by suppressing appetite signaling, and that effect fades once the medication is stopped, while the underlying behavioral and environmental drivers of weight gain typically remain unchanged.
The regain data has fed into an emerging clinical view that GLP-1 treatment functions more like an ongoing, long-term therapy for a chronic condition -- similar to blood pressure medication -- rather than a short-term intervention meant to "reset" weight before stopping.
Whether weight is lost through medication, diet, or both, the same core maintenance research applies afterward. Our Weight Loss Reality Simulator's regain module is calibrated to this style of published long-term follow-up data.
Sources: Stanford Medicine, eClinicalMedicine