How to do the Wegovy shot, step by step

Picture this: pen in hand, no idea where to start

It's your first injection day. The pen has been sitting in the fridge since it arrived, and you're standing at the bathroom sink wondering whether to jab your stomach or your leg. That moment of uncertainty is completely normal, a question our prescribers hear from patients every week. The good news is that the Wegovy pen is designed to make technique as simple as possible.

Start by taking the pen out of the fridge around 30 minutes before you plan to inject. A cold pen isn't dangerous, but it is noticeably more uncomfortable against the skin. While you wait, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Check the liquid in the pen window: it should be clear to slightly yellow with no particles. If it looks cloudy or contains floating matter, do not use it, contact your prescriber or pharmacy.

Choose your injection site. The three options are the abdomen (at least 5 cm from your navel), the front of your thigh, or the outer upper arm. All three work equally well. The important habit to build from the very first shot is rotation, using a slightly different spot each week to prevent the skin thickening that can reduce absorption over time. A simple log on your phone, just the date and site, takes ten seconds and keeps you on track. If you'd like a visual walkthrough before your first injection, our step-by-step video guide covers the full technique.

The injection itself

Remove the pen cap and the needle cap in one smooth pull, do not recap or twist. Clean the chosen skin area with an alcohol swab and let it dry for a few seconds; wet skin stings more. Pinch the skin gently, hold the pen at a 90-degree angle to the surface, and press the pen firmly against the skin until you feel it click. Keep it pressed in place and count slowly to six before lifting away. The six-second hold gives the full dose time to deliver.

You do not need to dial a dose or push a plunger separately, the mechanism does it automatically when you press. After removing the pen, you may see a small drop of liquid or a tiny spot of blood at the site. Both are normal. A light press with a clean tissue for a few seconds is all that's needed; do not rub the area, as rubbing can cause irritation.

Replace the outer pen cap and drop the used pen straight into your sharps container. The NHS provides sharps bins through most GP surgeries and community pharmacies; if you're using a private service, your pharmacy will advise on disposal routes. Never put a used pen in a recycling bin or general waste, the needle poses an obvious risk, and the residual medicine shouldn't enter the environment.

For a more detailed breakdown of administration positions, the guide to giving the Wegovy shot covers site selection and injection angle in greater depth.

Timing, consistency, and what semaglutide is actually doing

Wegovy works because semaglutide mimics the GLP-1 hormone your gut releases after eating. It signals fullness to the brain, slows the rate at which food leaves the stomach, and reduces the appetite drive that makes calorie reduction so difficult to sustain. Understanding what the Wegovy shot does helps with the one discipline that matters most: taking it on the same day every week.

Pick a day you'll remember. Monday mornings work well for many people, the habit fits a weekly reset. If your prescription arrives just before a bank holiday or you're away, the dose can be taken up to five days early or late without losing its effectiveness, but try not to make that the norm. Missing a shot here and there isn't a catastrophe, but consistency is what produces the steady blood level that makes the medicine work well. If you do miss a dose, the guidance on missed Wegovy doses explains exactly how to handle it.

In the STEP 1 clinical trial (68 weeks, semaglutide 2.4 mg versus placebo) participants lost an average of around 15% of their body weight, as published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Those results were achieved alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased activity, which the weekly shot supports by making both significantly easier to sustain.

Common side effects are gastrointestinal: nausea, loose stools, constipation, or indigestion, particularly after starting or moving up a dose. They typically settle within a week or two as your body adjusts. Severe or persistent stomach pain that radiates to the back needs urgent medical attention, this can be a sign of pancreatitis, which the MHRA highlighted in a Drug Safety Update for GLP-1 medicines. For a broader picture of how semaglutide behaves in the body, the explainer on what happens when you take Wegovy goes into the mechanism in more detail.

Storing your pens and keeping the process sustainable

Unused Wegovy pens live in the fridge at 2–8°C, not in the freezer, and not against the back wall where some fridges run colder. The exact room-temperature window once you've removed a pen is specified in the Patient Information Leaflet that comes with your medication; always defer to that rather than any general figure quoted online, because the window can differ between pen formats.

If you are just starting out and weighing up whether Wegovy suits your situation, the Wegovy treatment overview covers eligibility and what to expect across the dose schedule. For context on private prescription costs, the guide to obtaining Wegovy in the UK explains what legitimate services include in their pricing. At nume, every treatment requires a clinical assessment (a real prescriber reviews your answers, not an automated system) and treatment is dispatched the same working day once approved, arriving by DPD the next working day in plain, unbranded packaging. Check your eligibility by starting a free consultation at our treatment page.