Wegovy is a once-weekly injectable prescription medication used for long-term weight management. It contains semaglutide, which mimics a natural gut hormone to reduce appetite and help people feel full sooner. The FDA approves it for adults with obesity (BMI of 30 or higher) or adults with overweight (BMI of 27 to 29.9) who also have at least one weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol. It’s also approved for adolescents aged 12 and older with obesity.
How Wegovy Works in Your Body
Semaglutide is a synthetic version of GLP-1, a hormone your gut naturally releases after eating. When you inject Wegovy, it activates GLP-1 receptors throughout your body in ways that attack hunger from multiple angles at once.
In your brain’s appetite center, semaglutide increases the release of chemicals that suppress hunger while dialing down chemicals that drive it. It also lowers levels of ghrelin, sometimes called the “hunger hormone.” The net effect is that you genuinely feel less interested in food, not just more disciplined about it. Separately, semaglutide acts on brain regions involved in reward processing, which can reduce the pleasure you get from eating. Many people on the medication report that cravings, especially for calorie-dense foods, simply quiet down.
In your digestive system, Wegovy slows the rate at which your stomach empties. Food sits in your stomach longer, which extends that “comfortably full” feeling after meals. Your gut also releases more satiety-signaling hormones, reinforcing the message to your brain that you’ve had enough.
The Dosing Schedule
Wegovy uses a gradual dose increase over 16 weeks to help your body adjust and minimize side effects. The schedule looks like this:
- Weeks 1 through 4: 0.25 mg once weekly
- Weeks 5 through 8: 0.5 mg once weekly
- Weeks 9 through 12: 1 mg once weekly
- Weeks 13 through 16: 1.7 mg once weekly
- Week 17 onward: 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg once weekly (maintenance dose)
You inject Wegovy yourself using a prefilled pen, typically in the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm. You can take it on any day of the week, with or without food, as long as you keep roughly seven days between doses. If 2.4 mg causes side effects you can’t tolerate, your prescriber may keep you at 1.7 mg as your maintenance dose.
How Much Weight People Typically Lose
In the pivotal 68-week clinical trial of nearly 2,000 adults with obesity or overweight, participants using Wegovy alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity lost a meaningful amount of weight compared to those on placebo. It’s prescribed as a complement to lifestyle changes, not a replacement for them.
A separate 68-week trial specifically studied people with type 2 diabetes and a BMI of 27 or above, confirming the medication’s effectiveness in that population as well. A trial in adolescents aged 12 and older with obesity (BMI at or above the 95th percentile for their age and sex) also demonstrated significant weight reduction over 68 weeks.
What Happens When You Stop
Weight regain after stopping Wegovy is one of the most important things to understand before starting. A 2025 systematic review published in The BMJ analyzed what happens when people discontinue newer, more effective medications in this class, including semaglutide. On average, people who had lost about 14.7 kg (roughly 32 pounds) while on the medication regained approximately 9.9 kg (about 22 pounds) within the first year after stopping. The rate works out to roughly 0.8 kg (nearly 2 pounds) per month.
The projections are sobering: the researchers estimated that people would return to their pre-treatment weight within about 1.5 years of stopping the medication. This doesn’t mean the drug “failed.” It reflects the fact that obesity involves persistent biological changes in hunger signaling and metabolism. For most people, Wegovy is designed as an ongoing treatment rather than a short-term fix, much like blood pressure medication.
Side Effects and Safety Warnings
The most common side effects are gastrointestinal: nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation. These tend to be worst during the dose-escalation phase and often improve as your body adjusts. The gradual titration schedule exists specifically to make these side effects more manageable.
Wegovy carries an FDA boxed warning, the agency’s most serious label, related to thyroid tumors. In animal studies, semaglutide caused thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents. There is currently no evidence that it causes these tumors in humans, but the FDA advises caution until more is known. If you or a close family member has a history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or if genetic testing has identified you as at risk for it, the medication is not recommended for you.
Other risks to be aware of include pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), gallbladder problems, and, in people with diabetes, low blood sugar when combined with other glucose-lowering medications. Kidney injury has also been reported, typically in the context of severe nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.
Cost and Insurance Coverage
Wegovy’s retail price is approximately $1,349 per month, though exact costs vary by pharmacy and region. Without insurance, this adds up to over $16,000 per year, which is a significant barrier for many people.
Private insurance coverage varies widely. Some plans cover Wegovy with prior authorization, while others exclude weight management medications entirely. Your out-of-pocket cost depends heavily on your specific plan’s formulary and any copay assistance programs you may qualify for through the manufacturer.
Medicare coverage has a complicated history with this medication. Federal law prohibits Medicare from covering drugs used specifically for obesity. However, the FDA’s newer approval of Wegovy to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in people with established cardiovascular disease (meaning a prior heart attack, prior stroke, or peripheral arterial disease) who are also overweight or obese opened a door. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance that Medicare Part D plans can now add Wegovy to their formularies for this cardiovascular indication. Coverage comes through Part D, the outpatient prescription drug benefit, since Wegovy is a self-administered injection. That said, Part D plans are not required to cover it, and many apply prior authorization or step therapy requirements that can delay or limit access.
Supply and Availability
Wegovy experienced a prolonged shortage that began in March 2022, making it difficult for many patients to fill prescriptions or stay on a consistent dose. As of February 2025, the FDA formally declared that the shortage of all semaglutide injection products, including every Wegovy pen strength from 0.25 mg through 2.4 mg, has been resolved. This also means that compounding pharmacies, which were permitted to produce copies of semaglutide during the shortage, face new restrictions on doing so.
Who Should Not Take It
Beyond the thyroid cancer concern, Wegovy is not appropriate for everyone. It should not be used alongside other semaglutide-containing products (such as Ozempic, which is the same active ingredient prescribed for type 2 diabetes) or other GLP-1 receptor agonist medications. It has not been studied in people with a history of pancreatitis, and caution is warranted in that group. It is also not approved for use in children under 12.
If you’re considering Wegovy, the most practical step is understanding whether your insurance covers it and whether your health profile matches the FDA’s approved uses. The medication works best when paired with sustainable dietary and activity changes, and current evidence strongly suggests it’s a long-term commitment rather than a temporary intervention.