Semaglutide dosing schedule
> Updated:
Dosage in humans
Semaglutide is administered subcutaneously once weekly. The following is a generalized reference drawn from published studies and clinical GLP-1 titration protocols.
This is a concise reference to regimens described for adults; it is not an individual prescription.
A semaglutide dosing schedule is usually what people are actually looking for: the week-by-week dose increase, not a single fixed number. The table below shows the approximate pace of that titration from published protocols.
| Period / condition | Dose | Escalation |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–4 | 0.25 mg weekly | Starting dose |
| Weeks 5–8 | 0.5 mg weekly | Increase if tolerated |
| Weeks 9–16 | 1.0–1.7 mg weekly | Gradual increase |
| From week 17 | 2.4 mg weekly | Maximum in this schedule |
Brand note: in the diabetes brand schedule (Ozempic) the maximum is usually 2 mg once weekly, while the weight-management protocol (Wegovy) continues titration to a maintenance 2.4 mg by about week 16-17.
Practical dosing and effect details
The slow dose increase for semaglutide, from 0.25 mg to 2.4 mg over 16 weeks, mirrors the design of a real clinical trial. In Wilding and colleagues' study (New England Journal of Medicine, 2021), 1,961 adults with obesity had their dose raised every 4 weeks along the same sequence. Over 68 weeks, participants lost an average of 14.9% of body weight versus 2.4% in the placebo group.
The gradual pace is not a cosmetic detail. A faster jump straight to high doses more often brings on nausea and other gastrointestinal reactions typical of GLP-1-class peptides, so the trial dose climbed step by step rather than in one jump.
The weekly, rather than daily, interval between doses connects to dosing too: semaglutide's elimination half-life in blood runs about a week, so one dose sustains the level until the next and extra frequency adds nothing.
This is a generalized reference from a published trial, not a medical recommendation and not instructions for self-administration.
This reference is research-use material. The information is not medical advice and is not intended for diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease.