More like "just take these GLP-1 agonists for the rest of your life". Those seem to have an effect on addictions etc. But at least when it comes to weight, people seem to put it back on once they quit. Perhaps the GLP-1 agonist is lacking an epigenetic reset button ...
Fat cells only turn over about 20% per year. You basically need to maintain a reduced weight for 5 years before the fat cells "forget" the higher weight.
If you come off it before that 5 years are up, yeah, you are probably expected to bounce back somewhat.
You might not need to be on GLP-1 forever, but you might need to be on it longer than people currently think.
Weight / obesity management is basically managing a chronic condition, that's why time-limited interventions (workout camps, fasting, dieting, drug injections for a few months) don't work - you have to continuously manage the issue. The idea that you have an issue (obesity) and then make an intervention (loose weight) and therefore the issue is resolved (you are no longer obese) is just wrong. It needs to be managed from either the demand side (regular GLP-1 agonist injections to suppress hunger) or the supply side (eating less / better food). Hence: Dieting = never works. Building sustainable habits or continuous administering of GLP-1 = always works.
(Or you're one of the 5% or so of people with a rare gene variation that basically prevents major fat build-up in the body and there's just nothing to manage for you about that — this would've been a pretty disadvantageous adaption in the past, but it's fair to say that the other 95% are maladpated to the last couple thousand years of human life).
Obviously, but the 'obesogenic memory' that this article is about is a real problem. Calories don't manifest out of thin air but for a plethora of reasons they're much much easier to overconsume as a formerly fat person.
