You didn’t really think weight loss jabs would fix everything, surely? ...Middle East

So what do you know? In the least surprising item of breaking news so far in 2026, it turns out that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I use this metaphor advisedly, because I am referring to the discovery that slimming drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro are not, in fact, the shortcut to long-term weight loss.

An Oxford University study has concluded that users of these drugs will regain all the weight they lost within 18 months of stopping their regime of jabs unless they make permanent changes in lifestyle. In response to this discovery, an NHS spokesperson said these treatments are “not a magic fix”, while the head of the UK’s Pharmacy Association warned they are “not a silver bullet”.

And so, for a million or so Britons who have bought the get-slim-quick fix, the discovery that magic doesn’t actually exist must come as something of a disappointment. While we still don’t know enough about the enduring effects of these drugs, the instant results are nothing short of astonishing.

No faddy diets, no need to pump iron, and forget about summoning up reserves of willpower. A simple, painless jab in your thigh or stomach once a week and – boom – the body you’ve always wanted can be yours in weeks. It is as close to sorcery as modern medicine can get.

If it’s a trick, it’s a pretty good one. The year just gone has undoubtedly been the Year of Vanishing Flesh. From celebrities to our next-door neighbours, we’ve had to get used to people who look different, and, in most cases, feel differently. Instead of telling people “You look well”, we just say: “Are you on the jab?” And in this way, the story of a modern-day miracle is forged.

But are we just cheating ourselves? It is possible that the freedom from years of dieting, of self-reproach and shame, might now be replaced by another form of captivity?

This news that kicking the habit will result in a commensurately speedy return to your old, podgy self indicates the drugs could result in a long-term dependence on the drugs, of which the results are unknown. (We already know that doctors will not prescribe Wegovy for more than two years.)

None of this should be a total surprise, because obesity is not just a metabolic or medical condition. It is psychological and environmental, too. The weight-loss drugs treat one dimension of what makes us overweight – the suppression of appetite – but clearly they cannot address the emotional drivers – stress, trauma, sleep deprivation, and the availability (and heavy marketing) of ultra-processed food.

So there is a physiological and psychological paradox here: losing weight is easy, but keeping it off is difficult. And if you don’t sign up for both aspects, you might as well stay as you are, because that’s how you’ll end up anyway, only thousands of pounds (money, not weight) lighter.

It is just too soon to evaluate the psychological effects of long-term dependency, because these treatments were only officially recommended for weight management in the UK in 2023. We can assume that most people, when they start jabbing, do not believe that it’s a programme for the rest of their lives.

And, like most medical treatments, there is an arbitrage between the risks (dependency, the danger of developing pancreatitis or gastrointestinal issues) and the beneficial effects (improving all aspects of physical and mental health), and it’s down to individuals to, if you like, weigh up these factors for themselves.

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The reason there has been a stampede for these drugs is that they landed in a society already obsessed with body image, and, particularly, with being thin, and into a culture which demands quick answers to complex questions. Wegovy and its equivalents fulfil these demands.

But no one can seriously have thought they were indeed a panacea, and you don’t have to be a fully paid-up sceptic or anti-vax nutcase to believe that the Oxford study will only presage further findings into the long-term effects of weight-loss jabs.

And who knows? Maybe, in time, we will find that, like most things in life that appear too good to be true, they are just too good to be true.

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