The Jab Gets the Weight Off – What Keeps It Off?
Stratford, UK, 6 November 2026. As an estimated 1.6 million people in Great Britain use weight loss injections such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, a growing body of research is asking what happens when they stop. A University of Oxford review published in The BMJ in January found that, on average, people regained weight after stopping and were projected to return to their starting weight within about a year and a half to two years. [1]
Darren Tebbenham, a weight loss coach and former university lecturer in sport and exercise psychology, says the findings point to a problem the injections were never designed to solve.
“The jab can be a real help in getting weight off, and I’d never criticise anyone for using it,” he said. “But it quiets the hunger. It doesn’t change the pattern. When you stop, the hunger comes back, and so do all the habits and stories that were there before. Most people are never shown how to deal with those.”
The issue matters most for women. Research from the Health Foundation published in February found that nearly four in five private prescriptions for weight loss drugs went to women, with uptake highest between the ages of 30 and 49. [2]
Why the weight comes back
The Oxford researchers described obesity as “a chronic, relapsing condition, not a short-term problem with a quick fix”, and suggested people on the drugs may not build the practical habits needed to keep weight off. [1]
Tebbenham, who has coached people through weight loss for 25 years, believes the habits are
only half of it.
“Most of the women I work with have lost weight before. Usually more than once,” he said. “Knowing what to eat was never their problem. The problem was the moment life got in the way: a stressful week, a birthday, a few bad nights’ sleep. That’s when an old pattern takes over. ‘I’ve blown it now.’ ‘I deserve this.’ ‘I’ll start again on Monday.’ I call it stopping, and it’s the real reason weight keeps coming back.”
He argues that injections can make this harder to spot, not easier. “When the drug is doing the work, those moments don’t bite in the same way. So nobody practises getting through them. Then the drug stops, the hunger returns, and the pattern is exactly where it was.”
He also points to a second factor for women over 40. “Your body has changed. We lose muscle as we age unless we work to keep it, and the hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause affect appetite, sleep, and where the body stores fat. Researchers have also raised concerns about muscle loss during drug-assisted weight loss. That makes strength training and proper nutrition more important, not less.”
Tebbenham already works with a local pharmacy in Stratford, where he has run World Menopause Day and wellbeing day events alongside the pharmacy team. “Pharmacists are often the first people someone talks to about weight loss medication,” he said. “Working together means the conversation doesn’t stop at the prescription. It carries on to what happens around it, and what happens after it.”
Advice for anyone coming off the jabs
Tebbenham’s advice is to plan for the day you stop well before it arrives, and to make that decision with your GP or prescriber. He suggests three starting points:
Notice the story. “Next time you feel the pull to give up for the day, write down the exact sentence in your head. ‘I’ve blown it now’ loses a lot of its power once you see it on paper.”
Build meals that keep you full. “Proper meals built around protein and real food, rather than the ‘healthy’ snacks that leave you hungry an hour later. You’ll need that when your appetite comes back.”
Plan the bounce back, not the perfect week. “You will have a bad day. Decide now what you’ll do after it: one normal meal, one walk, one early night. The skill isn’t slipping. It’s making the slip short.”
“Done properly, it’s done once,” he said. “Whether you’ve used an injection or not, the question is the same: when life gets in the way, what happens next? Answer that, and you stop starting again.”
Anyone considering starting or stopping weight loss medication should speak to their GP or prescriber. NHS England advises people coming off the injections to eat a balanced diet and stay physically active to help prevent weight gain. [3]
Media contact
Darren Tebbenham
About Darren Tebbenham
Darren Tebbenham (BSc, MSc) is a weight loss coach, speaker and Executive Contributor to Brainz Magazine. A former university lecturer in sport and exercise psychology, he has spent 25 years helping people change their behaviour for good, and is the author of The Psychology of Weight Loss and The Biology of Weight Loss. His Inside Out Method helps women over 40 lose weight for good by dealing with the pattern first, then the plate. He coaches one-on-one and in small groups, online and at the Gloo Fitness studio, with a new eight-week small group starting in January 2027. His free 14-minute training, Why We Keep Stopping, is here.
References:
[1] University of Oxford, “New study finds stopping weight loss drugs linked to faster regain than ending diet programmes”, 8 January 2026 (review published in The BMJ). The 1.6 million figure is a UCL estimate published in BMC Medicine, January 2026.
[2] Health Foundation research with Voy, published 18 February 2026, as reported.
[3] British Heart Foundation, “Coming off Mounjaro”, December 2025.
