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What is the success rate of Wegovy?

Robbie Puddick
Written by

Robbie Puddick

Medically reviewed by

Fiona Moncrieff

4 min read
Last updated October 2024
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Jump to: How much weight can I lose in a month on Wegovy? | How quickly do you see weight loss with Wegovy? | How much weight do people typically lose with Wegovy? | Do you gain weight after stopping Wegovy? | Is Wegovy worth it for weight loss?

A recent paper published in The Lancet showed that 87% of patients on Wegovy lose more than 10% of their body weight, around 10% lose between 1-10%, and less than 5% gain weight.

In comparison, nearly 20% of participants in lifestyle interventions without medications gain weight, around 40% lose between 1-10% of their body weight, and just 13% lose more than 10%.

So, 47% more people lose more than 10% of body weight on lifestyle interventions with semaglutide compared to lifestyle interventions alone.

How much weight can I lose in a month on Wegovy?

Based on data from randomised controlled trials, you can expect to lose up to 5% of your weight in a month on Wegovy. After two months on Wegovy, you could lose up to 8%.

Interestingly, this initial weight loss is no different to other weight loss treatments or the impact of diet interventions on weight loss. The real effect of semaglutide is seen beyond 3 months.

Wegovy is a long-acting medication that’s started at a lower dose to reduce the number and severity of side effects as it’s built up to a higher maintenance dose.

Wegovy can take 4-5 weeks to reach a level in the body we call a steady state. A steady state is when the drug’s levels in the body remain consistent rather than spiking and falling.

Medication-assisted weight loss with a future focus

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How quickly do you see weight loss with Wegovy?

According to randomised controlled trials, you start losing weight almost immediately after taking Wegovy (semaglutide). Patients on semaglutide lose an average of around 5% of body weight after one month and 8% after two months.

Semaglutide reduces appetite and hunger, helping you eat fewer calories; this effect is almost immediate.

However, you might notice the effect of lower hunger wearing off after 4-5 days post-injection in the first month of taking Wegovy due to the time it takes to reach its steady state that we described above.

How much weight do people typically lose with Wegovy?

Research has shown that semaglutide (semaglutide 2.4 mg) can lead to a weight loss of around 16% of your body weight, or 16-17 kg, after 68 weeks.

Most of this weight loss occurs in the first 32 weeks (9 months) and plateaus as the body adapts to the medication and patients find a sustainable way of eating.

Do you gain weight after stopping Wegovy?

Weight regain is significant after you stop taking semaglutide. The greater the initial weight loss, the more significant the weight regained.

However, those who lose more weight initially maintain more significant weight loss compared to baseline than those who lose less before the medication is withdrawn.

In this post-analysis of 327 participants, the average weight loss after 68 weeks was 17.3% with semaglutide and 2% with placebo.

After 52 weeks of follow-up, after the medication was withdrawn, the average weight loss was 5.6% with semaglutide and 0.1% with placebo.

A weight regain of 11.6% in the semaglutide group and 1.9% in the placebo.

However, weight regain isn’t inevitable. Long-term sustainable weight loss can be achieved, but you need the proper support.

Is Wegovy worth it for weight loss?

Weight-loss injections are designed as additional tools for healthy lifestyle change and shouldn’t be considered as lifelong medications.

Instead, they should be used to help you kickstart your weight-loss journey whilst you focus on building new, healthy habits.

Consider the use of antidepressants for people living with depression. They’re not designed to cure the condition. Instead, they’re designed to allow room for therapy to treat the condition’s underlying cause.

Mounjaro and Wegovy are similar. These medications can help silence food-related thoughts and also give you a boost of confidence with more immediate weight-loss results.

This helps to buy you the time and headspace to understand why your body may have struggled to lose weight previously, and to build new long-term healthy habits.

The core focus of our medication programmes are to calm down the feeling of food noise, lower your cravings, and to allow you to build healthier habits to keep the weight off for good.

The ultimate goal is to make losing weight feel second nature.

Second Nature’s medication-supported programmes

Second Nature has two medication-supported programmes: a Wegovy weight-loss programme and a Mounjaro weight-loss programme.

If you’ve made the decision to try Wegovy or Mounjaro (assuming you’re eligible), why should you choose Second Nature over other medication providers?

For peace of mind.

Second Nature has worked with the NHS for over 6 years providing weight-loss programmes across the UK.

Whilst our Wegovy and Mounjaro weight-loss programmes are private and not currently used by the NHS, we’ve built the programmes with a focus on scientific evidence, patient safety, and data security.

We hope that our 6+ years of working with the NHS and building a track record of effective weight-loss results will give you peace of mind to give us a try.

Medication-assisted weight loss with a future focus

Start with Wegovy or Mounjaro, transition to habit-based health with our support

Mounjaro pen
Wegovy pen
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