Semaglutide dosing chart in units: reading the schedule correctly

The misconception: that a dosing chart gives you a personal plan

The most common misunderstanding about the semaglutide dose schedule is that it's a timetable you simply follow, week one, this dose; week five, the next. In reality, the chart describes the licensed escalation pattern. It tells you the order of steps and the minimum time at each one. It doesn't tell you whether this week is the right week for you to move up.

Side effects, particularly nausea, vomiting and fatigue, are most noticeable after a dose increase. The four-week window at each step exists partly because that's usually enough time for those effects to ease. But if they haven't eased, staying at the current dose a little longer is often the right call, and that call belongs to your prescriber, not to a calendar. A chart printed on a page can't know how you're feeling. Your prescribing team can. That distinction matters more than people sometimes realise when they're keen to progress quickly.

The semaglutide medicine overview on this site covers what the medicine is and how it works; this page focuses specifically on what the dose steps mean and how to read them.

The injection schedule in units: 0.25 mg to 2.4 mg

For Wegovy as a weekly injection, the licensed schedule published on the NHS semaglutide medicines page runs as follows. Weeks one to four: 0.25 mg. Weeks five to eight: 0.5 mg. Weeks nine to twelve: 1.0 mg. Weeks thirteen to sixteen: 1.7 mg. Week seventeen onwards: 2.4 mg as the standard maintenance dose.

The 0.25 mg starting dose is purely a tolerability measure. Its job is to settle your system, not to produce meaningful weight loss. The therapeutic effect of semaglutide builds progressively as the dose climbs, most of the weight-loss evidence comes from the maintenance level. If gastrointestinal side effects are persistent, a prescriber may extend the time at a lower step rather than pushing to the next. That's normal and appropriate, not a failure.

There is also now a licensed 7.2 mg dose, a higher maintenance option approved by the MHRA in January 2026, for which a dedicated single-dose pen received approval in April 2026. This higher dose is reserved for adults with a BMI of 30 or above and is titrated to by a prescriber following the same principle of gradual escalation. You can read more about the injection format and its dose options on the Wegovy overview page.

The tablet schedule in units: 1.5 mg to 25 mg

Wegovy tablets (the first oral GLP-1 medicine licensed for weight management in the UK, approved by the MHRA in June 2026) follow a different schedule entirely. The steps are 1.5 mg, 4 mg, 9 mg, and 25 mg daily, each held for at least one month. The 25 mg tablet is the maintenance dose.

It's worth being clear about something that causes genuine confusion: the tablet strengths 3 mg, 7 mg and 14 mg belong to Rybelsus, which is oral semaglutide licensed for type 2 diabetes. Those strengths have nothing to do with the Wegovy weight-loss tablet schedule and should never be treated as intermediate steps. The two products are distinct, different doses, different licences, different indications. If you've seen a dosing chart online that includes 3 mg or 7 mg tablets in a weight-loss context, it is referring to a diabetes medicine, not to Wegovy.

The tablet requires a specific routine: taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with a small amount of plain water, with at least thirty minutes before any food, coffee or other oral medicines. This isn't fussiness, it's how the absorption mechanism works. Details like this, and the exact storage requirements, are in the Patient Information Leaflet that comes with your supply.

If you're curious about what the tablet option costs compared with the injection, the Wegovy pricing page sets out what to expect from private treatment.

What a prescriber reviews before moving your dose up

If you're waiting for a dose increase and wondering whether you're progressing at the right pace, it's a question our prescribers hear often. The honest answer is that the right pace varies from person to person, and tolerability is the primary guide. Before any dose progression at nume, a prescriber reviews your current side-effect experience, your weight trajectory and your overall health picture, not just the number of weeks elapsed.

There's a further detail that surprises some people: the highest tolerated dose, not necessarily the maximum licensed dose, is usually the clinical target. Someone who responds well and tolerates 1.7 mg, but experiences persistent nausea at 2.4 mg, may be better served staying at 1.7 mg. That individual calibration is the whole point of having a prescriber involved at every repeat, and it can't be read off a chart. If you use an insulin-style syringe rather than a pre-filled pen, our semaglutide units chart translates each milligram dose into the unit markings you'll actually see on the barrel. For the clinical perspective on how NICE frames semaglutide treatment decisions, the NICE technology appraisal TA875 is the reference document UK clinicians work from.

For a side-by-side look at how the semaglutide dose steps compare with the tirzepatide schedule, the Wegovy dosing chart page covers that in more detail. And if you want a practical walkthrough of how each milligram figure translates into what you actually draw up and inject, the page on semaglutide dosing in units explains the conversion step by step. If you'd like to understand the full weight-loss treatment options available at nume (including how to start) the weight-loss treatment overview is a good place to orient yourself before booking a consultation.