Wetin we call dis foto, Ellen and Tanya both lose weight with GLP-1 drugs, but dem get very different experience wen e come to stopping di medicationArticle InformationAuthor, Ruth Clegg , Role, Health and wellbeing reporter,
22 December 2025
Read am in 7 mins
“E be like switch wey dem on, and sharp-sharp hunger go just catch you.”
Tanya Hall don try stop di weight loss medicine plenty times. But anytime wey she stop di injections, di food noise dey come back loud well well.
Weight loss injections, or GLP-1s, don do for many pipo wetin diet never fit do. Di constant feeling wey dey tell dem make dem chop even wen dem don full, di drugs don switch am off.
Di medicine don give pipo wey never believe say dem fit lose weight a new bodi shape, new way to tink, and for plenty cases, a completely different life.
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But di question be say, you fit continue to take dem forever? Or you no fit? Well, na one of di big issues be dat nobodi really sure.
Na new drugs, dem be dem dey copy GLP-1, one natural hormone wey dey control hunger and di long-term side effects of using dem never clear well yet, na now-now dem dey start show.
And wit about 1.5 million pipo for UK wey dey pay for di injections wit dia own money, staying on di drugs for long time no cheap at all.
So wetin dey hapun wen pesin try stop?
Two women, with two very different stories but di same goal – to lose weight and keep am off – tell us wetin dia experience don be like.
Wia dis foto come from, Tanya Hall
Wetin we call dis foto, Tanya tok say her hair “dey fall out” wen she first start to take di drug
“E be like say sometin open for my mind come tok say: ‘Chop everytin, no hold back, you deserve am bicos you don stay long witout food.'”
Tanya, wey be sales manager for one big fitness company, first start to take Wegovy just to prove point. She dey overweight, she dey feel like “imposter”, and she believe say pipo for her industry no dey value her opinion sake of her bodi size.
She ask herself say: dem go take me serious if I slim?
At di end, she tok say her fear come true. Afta she start to use di injections, pipo begin come meet her dey congratulate her for her weight loss. She feel say dem begin treat her wit more respect.
But for di first few months of di treatment, Tanya no fit sleep well, she dey feel sick all di time, she get headache, and she even begin lose hair. Dis one fit no be directly from di drug, but e fit hapun wen pesin lose weight fast.
“My hair dey fall out well-well,” she remember. But for weight side, di result dey come as she want. “I don lose about three and half stone.”
Now, more dan 18 months later, wetin start as small experiment don turn big life change. She don lose six stone (38kg) and she don try stop Wegovy plenty times.
But evri time, just witin few days, she say she dey chop plenty food reach point wey she dey “completely horrified”.
So now di question be say, make she continue to take di drug and live wit all di side effects, or make she stop and enter di unknown?
Wegovy company wey be Novo Nordisk tok say treatment decision suppose come from discussion between patient and healthcare provider, and say dem suppose consider side effects for inside di decision.
Lifestyle GP, Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi, tok say stopping weight-loss drugs fit feel like “pesin just jump comot cliff”.
“I dey always see patients wey go stop di drug wen dem reach di highest dose bicos dem don reach dia target weight, den dem go just stop,” im tok.
According to Dr Al-Zubaidi, dat kain stop fit be like “avalanche or tsunami” hit pesin. Di food noise go come back sharp-sharp, sometimes from di next day.
E say di evidence wey dey now show say between one to three years afta pesin stop di drug, plenty pipo go add weight back.
“About 60 to 80 percent of di weight wey you lose go come back,” im tok.
Ellen Ogley don decide say she no go make dat one hapun to her. She start to take weight-loss medication afta she reach one “turning point” for her life. She dey so overweight reach point wey she sign paper say she fit no survive one important operation.
She say starting Mounjaro na her “last chance to get am right”.
“I be emotional binge eater,” she tok.
“If I happy, I go binge. If I sad, I go still binge. E no mata wetin I dey feel, I no get control at all.”
But wen she start to use di injections, “all dat just switch off.”
Wetin we call dis foto, Ellen say she change her whole relationship wit food while she dey on weight-loss drugs
Life witout food noise give Ellen chance to change how she dey see food. She begin read about nutrition and plan better diet wey go help her body get strength.
She take di medication for 16 weeks bifor she begin reduce am small-small, cut am down witin six weeks. Altogether, she lose 3 stone 7 pounds (22kg).
As di weight dey go down, she notice say she fit exercise more. Any time wey she dey feel “low”, instead of “going to di cupboard go fill my face with food”, she go comot go run.
But wen Ellen stop to take Mounjaro, she begin see di weight dey come back small-small, and she say e “scata her head small”.
Na why correct support important well-well, Dr Al-Zubaidi tok, for UK, di medicine watchdog, NICE, don recommend say patients suppose get at least one year of follow-up advice and personal action plans after dem stop treatment. Di aim na to help dem change dia lifestyle so dem fit keep di weight off and most importantly, remain healthy.
But for pipo wey dey pay for di drugs by demsef, like Tanya and Ellen, dis kain support no always dey guaranteed.
For di past few months, Tanya weight no really change, and she feel say di drug no dey work like bifor. But she tok say she no go stop am.
She don finally reach weight wey she dey comfortable wit, and evri time wey she try stop, di fear of adding weight back dey too much, so she go always find reason to return to di medication.
“For di first 38 years of my life, I dey overweight now I don lose six stone (38kg),” Tanya tok.
“So part of me dey feel like say e don turn addiction to continue am, bicos e dey make me feel good, e dey make me feel like say I get control.”
She pause small as she reason. Maybe na di oda way round, she tink say maybe na di drug dey control her.
Wia dis foto come from, Ellen
Wetin we call dis foto, Ellen don continue to lose weight even afta she stop to take weight-loss medication
“Na all about getting exit plan,” Dr Al-Zubaidi explain. “Di question be say: wetin be pipo experience once dem stop di injection?”
E dey worry say if no extra support for pipo wey dey try move comot from di drug, society unhealthy relationship wit food mean say notin much go change.
“Di environment wey pipo dey live for suppose promote good health, no be weight gain.
“Obesity no be GLP-1 deficiency,” im tok.
For some ways, plenty pipo dey enter one kind weight-loss roulette wen e come to stop weight-loss drugs. Tins like lifestyle, support, mindset and timing dey affect how life go be after GLP-1 drugs.
Tanya decide say she go remain on di medication and she well-well sabi di good and bad side of dat decision.
But for Ellen, she feel say dat chapter don close. She don lose more dan eight stone (51kg).
“I want make pipo know say life afta Mounjaro fit still work well,” she tok.
Eli Lilly, di company wey dey make Mounjaro, tok say “patient safety na our number one priority”, and say dem dey actively monitor, check and report information to regulators and doctors.