Quick answer: the semaglutide maintenance dose on the labels is 2.4 mg once a week for Wegovy (1.7 mg is an approved alternative, and up to 7.2 mg is allowed for some adults), 25 mg once a day for the Wegovy pill, and 0.5, 1 or 2 mg once a week for Ozempic.[1][2] In the main trials, stopping after reaching a goal led to regaining about two-thirds of the lost weight within a year.[4]
“Maintenance dose” means two different things. On the label, it is the dose you stay on after the step-up period ends. Many patients use it to mean the dose they keep taking after reaching their goal weight. This guide covers both. For the full step-up schedule, see our semaglutide dosage chart.
Wegovy maintenance dose on the label
After 16 weeks of step-ups, the Wegovy injection label sets the maintenance dose by indication.[1]
| Use | Maintenance dose |
|---|---|
| Weight reduction in adults | 2.4 mg weekly (recommended) or 1.7 mg; up to 7.2 mg if 2.4 mg is tolerated for 4+ weeks and more weight loss is needed |
| Heart risk reduction in adults | 2.4 mg weekly (recommended) or 1.7 mg |
| Weight reduction, ages 12 and up | 2.4 mg weekly (recommended) or 1.7 mg |
| MASH with liver fibrosis | 2.4 mg weekly, lowered to 1.7 mg if not tolerated |
| Wegovy pill (adults) | 25 mg daily |
The label also says to weigh treatment response and tolerability when choosing between doses.[1] In practice, 1.7 mg is the only lower maintenance dose with label support. People who can’t tolerate the 25 mg pill can switch to the 1.7 mg injection.[1]
Ozempic maintenance dose
Ozempic is a diabetes medicine, so its maintenance dose depends on blood sugar, not weight. The label lists 0.5 mg, 1 mg or 2 mg weekly, increased in 4-week steps only if more blood sugar control is needed. For type 2 diabetes with chronic kidney disease, it is 1 mg weekly.[2] Ozempic has no goal-weight maintenance dose because weight loss is not an approved use.
What the trials showed about stopping
Two trials tested what happens when people stop semaglutide 2.4 mg.
STEP 4. All 902 participants took semaglutide for a 20-week run-in and lost an average of 10.6% of their weight. The 803 who reached 2.4 mg were then randomly assigned to keep taking it or switch to placebo for 48 weeks. Those who continued lost another 7.9%. Those switched to placebo gained 6.9%.[3]
STEP 1 extension. In STEP 1, 68 weeks of semaglutide 2.4 mg led to an average 14.9% weight loss, compared with 2.4% on placebo.[5] At week 68, both the drug and the lifestyle program stopped. A subgroup of 327 people was followed for another year. The semaglutide group had lost 17.3% by week 68, then regained 11.6 percentage points by week 120, ending 5.6% below where they started. Blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol improvements mostly drifted back toward baseline.[4]
Lower-dose maintenance: what evidence exists
There are no large randomized trials testing semaglutide doses below 1.7 mg weekly for keeping weight off after reaching a goal. Here is what we found.
- Label-supported: dropping from 2.4 mg to 1.7 mg weekly, the lower approved maintenance dose.[1]
- Expert opinion: a 2026 review describes possible approaches including monitored dose reduction with set rules for stepping back up, switching to a pill, and reduced-frequency dosing. It says continuing the medication still has the strongest direct evidence, and that these other strategies need to be tested in prospective studies.[7]
- Not established: doses such as 0.5 mg or 1 mg weekly for weight maintenance. These amounts appear on the Ozempic label for diabetes, not as weight-maintenance doses.[2]
Every-other-week dosing
Some clinicians space doses out instead of lowering them. The evidence is thin.
The largest published report we found is a retrospective case series of 30 adults who had reached a weight plateau on weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide. They then kept the same dose but took it less often, usually every other week. Over an average of 36 weeks, their weight stayed stable and dipped slightly, from 74.1 kg to 72.4 kg on average.[6] A case series has no comparison group and only includes people the clinic chose to switch, so it can’t show that this works for most patients.
There are also practical concerns:
- Half-life. Semaglutide’s half-life is about 1 week, so blood levels fall noticeably by the second week. See how long semaglutide stays in your system.
- Side effects on restart. The Wegovy label says that if 2 or more doses in a row are missed, treatment should restart at a lower dose to reduce stomach side effects.[1] A planned every-other-week schedule is different from missed doses, but the label doesn’t address it.
- Pen design. Pens deliver fixed doses. Lower or split doses need a prescriber’s plan and the right product. Our microdosing GLP-1 guide covers this.
Talking to your clinician about maintenance
Useful questions to bring to your appointment:
- Is my goal to keep losing weight, hold steady, or protect my heart or liver? The label dose depends on the indication.
- Would 1.7 mg be enough, given how I’m tolerating 2.4 mg?
- If we try a lower dose or longer gaps, how will we track my weight, and at what point do we go back up?
- If I’m thinking of stopping, what’s the plan for diet, activity and follow-up? Our guide to stopping a GLP-1 covers this.
For the bigger picture, visit the semaglutide topic hub and our semaglutide profile.
