If you’ve just started, or are thinking about starting, a course of weight loss injections, you may have come across the term “maintenance dose”, but aren’t sure what it actually means. If so, you’ve come to the right place.
Taking a maintenance dose after you have completed your initial course of injections will help you maintain your weight loss. You’ll likely have been working to find a regular exercise schedule and balanced diet that works for you during your injection treatment, and taking your maintenance dose alongside your new routine is key to helping you keep it up long term.
The amount and duration you’ll take your maintenance dose for is based on a few factors, so your dose may be different from another person taking the same medication. Let’s get down to specifics.
What is a maintenance dose?
Simply put, a maintenance dose is the highest dose of your weight loss medication you’ll take and it’s the dose you’ll stay on for the rest of your treatment.
You'll be on a lower dose when you start Mounjaro, Wegovy, or Saxenda so your body can get used to the medicine and work through any initial side effects. This dose increases every four weeks until you reach your final one. Then, you’re moved on to a maintenance dose.
Because people respond differently to medications, clinicians don’t take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to maintenance doses. The maintenance dose you’ll be advised to take depends on how you’ve responded to your weight loss treatment; what side effects you’ve experienced, and their severity, or how much weight you’ve lost overall.
It’s important that you stick to the maintenance dose schedule prescribed by your clinician to see the benefits of your weight loss treatment in the long run. Keeping up with your maintenance dose will continue to reduce your cravings and hunger with fewer side effects, as well as keeping your energy up to continue with regular exercise.
Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) maintenance doses and initial dosing schedule
Mounjaro initial dosing schedule
The initial Mounjaro dosing schedule begins at 2.5mg (the lowest dose), and then increases by 2.5mg every four weeks, like so:
- 2.5mg dose: Week 1 to 4
- 5mg dose: Week 5 to 8
- 7.5mg dose: Week 9 to 12
- 10mg dose: Week 13 to 16
- 12.5mg dose: Week 17 to 20
- 15mg dose: Week 21 to 24
Generally, the higher the dose, the stronger the effect—although this isn’t to say that lower doses don’t work! As long as you don’t experience any severe side effects, you should be able to up your dose as scheduled if you’d like.
Mounjaro maintenance doses
Your maintenance dose will be the dosage of medication that provides the intended results (weight loss) but without strong side effects. It all depends on how you react to the medication, and how close you are to reaching your weight loss goal.
One trial showed that participants who took a maintenance dose of 5mg of tirezepatide (the main ingredient in Mounjaro) lost up to 15% of body weight after 72 weeks (around one year and four months). The participants taking 10mg as a maintenance dose lost up to 19.5% of their body weight, and those taking 15mg (the highest dose available) lost up to 20.9%. All participants received diet and lifestyle interventions too.
If you’re on less than 15mg of Mounjaro, you can change your maintenance dose if you’re not experiencing any serious side effects. You just need to wait four weeks before you can increase your dose, and make sure you’ve discussed it and signed off with your clinician first.
What should I do if I miss a Mounjaro dose?
If you miss a dose of Mounjaro and it’s within four days of your missed dose, you should take it as soon as you remember. If it’s been longer than four days simply wait until your next injection day to take your usual dose as required—do not double up on any doses that you’ve missed.
Wegovy (Semaglutide) maintenance doses and initial dosing schedule
Wegovy initial dosing schedule
Your Wegovy dose starts at 0.25mg, then increases by this amount every four weeks until you and your clinician find a dose that works for you, which will become your Wegovy maintenance dose. For example:
- 0.25mg dose: Week 1 to 4
- 0.5mg dose: Week 5 to 8
- 1mg dose: Week 9 to 12
Then, your clinician will advise that you can either stay at 1mg as your maintenance dose or increase your medication to:
- 1.7mg dose: Week 13 to 16
- 2.4mg dose: Week 17 to 20
Wegovy maintenance doses
2.4mg is the maximum Wegovy maintenance dose you can take. However if you’re happy with the results you’re seeing at 1mg with no serious side effects, you can choose this as your maintenance dose.
What should I do if I miss a Wegovy dose?
If you miss a dose of Wegogy, take it as soon as possible within five days of your missed dose. If it’s been longer than five days, wait until your usual scheduled day to take your next dose. Don’t double up on your missed dose.
Saxenda (liraglutide) maintenance doses and initial dosing schedule
Saxenda initial dosing schedule
Saxenda’s dosing schedule is different from Mounjaro and Wegovy. Instead of injecting it weekly, you need to inject it daily. The doses are smaller but still increase slightly each week.
Week 1 (starting dose):
Take 0.6mg of Saxenda once a day for the first 7 days
Week 2:
Increase your dosage to 1.2mg once a day
Week 3:
Increase your dosage to 1.8mg once a day
Week 4:
Increase your dose to 2.4mg once a day
Week 5:
Increase your dose to the maximum dose of 3mg once a day.
Saxenda maintenance doses
The maximum maintenance dose you can take of Saxenda is 3mg a day, but just as with other weight loss injections, you can choose to have a lower maintenance dose if you are happy with the effects.
Because Saxenda is injected daily, it’s important to factor in your schedule and lifestyle before choosing this medication, as you’ll need to keep up with your maintenance doses in the long term to see the benefits.
What factors determine your maintenance dose?
Whether you take the maximum maintenance dose of your weight loss medication or a lower maintenance dose is something you’ll discuss with your clinician at your regular check-ins. It’s dependent on things like:
- How well you respond to the medication (are you steadily losing weight, or is it taking longer?)
- How well you tolerate the medication (are you experiencing severe side effects?)
- Your individual weight loss goals (are you far from reaching your goal at the end of your initial dosage schedule, or are you close but still on a lower dose?)
You’ll be able to work closely with your clinician to determine what works best for you.
Potential side effects of maintenance doses on weight loss medicines
Starting on a lower dose of medication and increasing it gradually is to help your body adjust to your medication and lower the possibility of side effects.
By the time you reach your maintenance dose, hopefully any annoying side effects will have subsided as most people experience them during increases in dosage. However, you might still experience side effects like:
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Constipation
- Indigestion
- Stomach Pain
If you do, they should be minimal and easy to manage, and go away over time. But if they’re disrupting your day-to-day or causing you distress, talk to your clinician and they can help you adjust your maintenance dose.
How long can I take weight loss medication for?
Because Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Saxenda are relatively new weight loss drugs, we don’t have lots of information on long-term use and risks yet.
The NHS recommends that Wegovy is only taken for two years. Wegovy and Mounjaro are only recommended for a maximum of two years according to the NHS and current NICE guidelines respectively. You should only continue using Saxenda if you have lost at least 5% of your initial body weight or 4% of your BMI after 12 weeks on the maximum maintenance dose.
Your wight loss yourney
Weight loss medication isn’t a quick fix, it’s best used as part of a long-term weight loss plan alongside regular exercise and a balanced diet. Maintenance doses are an important part of weight loss injection treatment, keeping them up will help you reach your weight loss goals and build healthy habits.
You’ll work closely with your clinician to make sure that you’re on medication for as long as necessary for you. Once you’ve built up your exercise and dietary habits, and you’re close to reaching your weight loss goal (or have reached it already) you’ll be able to continue your weight loss journey without the help of medication.
Want to find out if weight management medication could be a good option for you? Take our weight loss quiz to kickstart your journey.
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June 2024, www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta1026/documents/draft-guidance-2.
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³Jastreboff, Ania M., et al. “Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 387, no. 3, 4 June 2022, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2206038, https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2206038.
⁴“Mounjaro Side Effects You Need to Be Aware Of.” Drugs.com, 2024, www.drugs.com/medical-answers/mounjaro-side-effects-you-need-aware-3576835/.
⁵“Tirzepatide: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects & Warnings.” Drugs.com, www.drugs.com/tirzepatide.html#dosage.
⁶“Treatment - Obesity.” NHS. www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/treatment. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
⁷“Package Leaflet: Information for the Patient Saxenda® 6 Mg/Ml Solution for Injection in Pre-Filled Pen Liraglutide.” Medicines.org.uk, www.medicines.org.uk/emc/files/pil.2313.pdf.
