Joy Kong, MDRegenerative Medicine Physician, Educator, and Entrepreneur

90% Of Women Gain Back Weight After Quitting GLP-1s

12 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In a brief dialogue, two clinicians discuss their observations that about 90% of women who discontinue GLP-1 weight‑loss medications regain 20–30 lb within months. The weight rebound is attributed to a lack of changes in training and nutrition, not the medication itself. They note that GLP-1s slow gut motility, leading to constipation, and alter leptin and ghrelin signaling, reducing hunger but not improving food quality. In perimenopausal women, accelerated muscle loss and potential nutrient deficiencies are further concerns. The speakers argue that GLP-1s should be considered a last‑resort tool, emphasizing that solid foundations—adequate nutrition, strength training, and metabolic support—are essential for sustainable weight management.

I see a good 90% of women— I'm seeing more and more often them coming to me on them and already like in a worse place a few months in. They're gaining 20, 30 pounds back because they're not changing their training, they're not looking at their nutrition.
Wait, you're seeing her on GLP-1s?
They gotten off and gained all the weight back.
Oh yeah.
So GLP-1s slow down the gut motility, so now they're dealing with constipation and gut issues. And GLP-1s work on your leptin and your ghrelin, so your hunger and satiety cues. So you're eating less food, you're having less cravings, but it doesn't change your food quality. It doesn't change the fact you're in perimenopause and losing muscle at a faster rate. If we're not doing things to actually make sure we're getting all of our nutrition in, we're going to get nutrient deficiencies. If we're not doing the strength training and the proper food to actually keep our metabolism high, keep the gut motility working, then a lot of it's backfiring. So it's like, to me, those are more of like last resort versus that immediate— we need to set all the foundations.