How long do you take Wegovy for weight loss?

We spoke with Dr. Felix Gussone, MD about Wegovy and how long the medication is typically prescribed for weight loss.

Wegovy is a drug prescribed to treat obesity, which is a chronic health condition. That means that the medication is intended to be taken long-term or even lifelong. As long as you tolerate it well and your healthcare provider thinks it’s the right choice for your weight management journey, there’s no limit to how long you can take Wegovy. 

You may be surprised to hear that you’ll need to stay on Wegovy long-term (or lifelong) to keep seeing its weight management benefits, but the same is true for all weight loss treatments or medications for many chronic conditions (like high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol). 

Someone who has successfully lost weight through a healthy diet and exercise regimen will continue to see weight management results as long as they maintain those lifestyle interventions. But once they return to a sedentary lifestyle and stop watching what they eat, they’ll likely regain some or all of that weight.

When you stop taking Wegovy, you’ll also stop losing weight (and will likely regain at least some of the weight you’ve lost). One study looked at people a year after stopping semaglutide and lifestyle intervention and showed they regained two-thirds of the weight they’d lost on the drug.

When you start treatment with Wegovy for weight loss, your healthcare provider will adjust your dose each month to maximize weight loss while minimizing the chance of possible side effects. Eventually, you may reach a point in your weight management journey where your provider puts you on a maintenance dose (which may be lower) to maintain your weight. 

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Every article on Health Guide goes through rigorous fact-checking by our team of medical reviewers. Our reviewers are trained medical professionals who ensure each article contains the most up-to-date information, and that medical details have been correctly interpreted by the writer.

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Current version

September 05, 2023

Written by

Felix Gussone, MD

Fact checked by

Yael Cooperman, MD

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About the medical reviewer

Yael Cooperman, MD

Yael Cooperman, MD, is a physician and an experienced medical and science writer.