This is normally because those diets are unsustainable, or not sustained at any rate. If you change your habits such that you start introducing more calories, it's not a question of "if" you'll gain back weight, but when.
It's only fairly recently that we seem to have a better grip on what makes caloric restriction more sustainable, and accounting for effects like metabolic adaptation. Even then that information doesn't seem to reach most people.
Also understated is the impact of one's environment, and social support systems. It's much harder if you break from what your family and friends are doing. Some habits, I've seen with my own two eyes, can be regarded as an obligation.
I really believe the odds can turn around for a larger demographic, with a more optimal approach. Let's not forget that we've had far more invasive procedures than ozempic available to help facilitate weight-loss (like gastric bypass), and people still gain back weight on those, if they refuse to change their habits. Drinks, junk foods, and deep fried foods are not satiating compared to their caloric density, and that remains true regardless of surgery and pills. Nothing changes until it's internalized that binging has a price.
It does remain true, that's the entire point. With GLP-1 you can be more full than without, but that doesn't mean that a baked potato and french fries grant equivalent satiety! Your body also adapts somewhat to the medication.
If you factor in metabolic adaptation, then re-introduction of surplus calories will lead to regaining weight, even if they weren't as many calories as before.
For the reports of mediated cravings, also: some people don't just overeat from physical cravings, but for emotional satisfaction. A binge session on comfort food has almost nothing to do with hunger. This is something addressed through therapy, not pills.
I wouldn't argue for a strict equivalence, but research shows (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5073929) that people who go on GLP-1 drugs shift their food habits to decrease consumption of calorie-dense processed foods. It's hard to 100% prove this is causal (or that "calorie-dense processed" means low satiety), but it matches widely reported anecdotes (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/magazine/ozempic-junk-foo...) that GLP-1s cause hyperpalatable junk food to be unappealing. For me personally, I can't even eat a full slice of cake anymore.
I'd hold out for stronger evidence, because my own anecdotal experience is that those on GLP-1 periodically feel sick but otherwise still seek out the same foods they always had. Also they are very much still capable of binging, on days they don't feel particularly sick.
It's only fairly recently that we seem to have a better grip on what makes caloric restriction more sustainable, and accounting for effects like metabolic adaptation. Even then that information doesn't seem to reach most people.
Also understated is the impact of one's environment, and social support systems. It's much harder if you break from what your family and friends are doing. Some habits, I've seen with my own two eyes, can be regarded as an obligation.
I really believe the odds can turn around for a larger demographic, with a more optimal approach. Let's not forget that we've had far more invasive procedures than ozempic available to help facilitate weight-loss (like gastric bypass), and people still gain back weight on those, if they refuse to change their habits. Drinks, junk foods, and deep fried foods are not satiating compared to their caloric density, and that remains true regardless of surgery and pills. Nothing changes until it's internalized that binging has a price.