When I was completing my post-doc at Uniformed Services University, I reviewed data on weight regain after stopping a diet. This was called weight cycling and was a very common phenomenon due to biological, psychological, behavioral, and environmental factors. Today GLP medications are a powerful tool for weight loss, but an important clinical question remains: what happens when these medications are stopped? Does the weight cycling phenomenon that I reviewed exist with GLP users? Spoiler alert….yes, it does.

For many people, starting a GLP-1 medication feels like the first time their body and brain are finally working with them instead of against them. Relief!

The constant food noise quiets. Cravings decrease. Hunger feels manageable. Weight begins to shift in ways that years of dieting, tracking, restricting, and “trying harder” never seemed to accomplish. And then comes the question that almost everyone eventually asks:

“What happens if/when I stop?”

This is where the conversation often becomes oversimplified.

If you’re in your 40s and wondering why your motivation, mood, and stress tolerance seem to have changed, you’re not alone. Perimenopause, the years or even decade, leading up to menopause is a period of powerful hormonal transitions that don’t just affect your reproductive system. They influence your brain chemistry, energy, and emotional regulation.

In recent years, there has been a paradigm shift in healthcare, with an increasing emphasis on lifestyle interventions as a cornerstone for managing various health conditions. One area where this approach is particularly promising is in the management of autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and multiple sclerosis, occur when the body's immune system responds in an aberrant way, leading to chronic inflammation and tissue damage.