Wegovy – what to expect on your weight loss journey

What happens when you take Wegovy, a GLP-1 medication for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity?

You might have heard about the average weight loss that was seen in the clinical study, or maybe you’ve seen changes in a friend or family member. But how do you get there, from that first injection to achieving your weight loss goals?

What does the ‘end’ of the weight loss journey look like?

Let’s start with where you want to get to. If we’re thinking about what the journey looks like, then it’s good to know where you are headed.

You might think of hitting a particular weight loss goal, or just overall health improvement, but when it comes to overweight and obesity, we need to rethink the way these conditions are managed – we should not expect a quick fix with a long-term effect, but instead we should focus on creating a lifelong strategy, whether that is with medication or without. So, when a weight loss or health goal is achieved, the journey shifts to focus on weight maintenance.

And we know that many people struggle in this phase, often regaining the weight lost.

But holistic changes made to habits and behaviours – in areas of nutrition, movement, sleep, stress and more – mean that maintaining weight loss becomes less of a task and more of a natural extension of your daily life; it’s just the new normal – a healthier way to live.

But you are reading this to find out what weight loss looks like on Wegovy – how does it happen, and how long does it take? So, let’s take a look.

Weight losses seen in clinical studies – what does it mean?

One Wegovy clinical study for people with overweight or obesity included people taking Wegovy 2.5 mg (or the highest dose they could use without problematic side effects). During the study, diets were restricted, and exercise levels were increased.

After 68 weeks (1 year and 4 months), the average weight loss was ~15% of bodyweight. That’s ~15 kg loss for someone whose starting weight was 100kg.

People in the study who were taking a placebo injection – with the same diet restrictions and increased exercise levels – lost 2.4% of body weight.

Let’s break that down a bit more in terms of what you can expect.

Firstly, those numbers are averages. For every 10 people in the trial, approximately:

• Five lost 15% of bodyweight, or more
  • Three of these lost 20% bodyweight, or more
• Five lost less than 15% of bodyweight
  • Three of these lost less than 10% of their bodyweight 

Average body weight-loss on Wegovy

Another Wegovy clinical study looked at a higher dose of 7.2 mg in people with obesity. In this study, people who took the 7.2 mg dose had an average weight loss after 72 weeks (1 year and 5 months) of almost 19% of bodyweight. Just like the other study, this is an average, and some people lost more, while others lost less weight.

So, you can see the results really do vary, and there are no guarantees; you don’t know if you’ll lose more or less weight than the average.

When do these weight loss changes happen?

One thing you can expect when taking Wegovy is for your weight loss to be gradual. And this is always the healthiest way to lose weight.

Wegovy won’t give you instant weight loss. You might start to feel the effects of the medication – reducing your appetite – quite quickly, but it takes a little longer to see the results in terms of weight loss.

Wegovy is started on a low dose and built up, as needed, to a maintenance dose over several weeks to reduce the likelihood of problematic side effects. However, you don’t need to have reached the maintenance dose to start losing weight.

A clinical study showed there was some weight loss after the first 4 weeks of treatment with the lowest starting dose, and weight loss continued throughout the trial, as doses were increased.

In the first 20 weeks of treatment, average weight loss was around 2% of body weight every 4 weeks.

But it’s okay if your weight loss journey looks different from the average; every weight loss journey is different – some months you’ll lose more, some you’ll lose less. Focusing on the long-term changes you are making to build healthier habits can help you see the bigger picture.

What else can you expect to see?

The numbers on the scales can often be the focus when it comes to weight loss, but there is more to this journey.

The first few weeks of starting treatment with Wegovy are all about adjustment, finding out what works for you, and building new, healthier habits for the future:

• Side effects of the digestive system are relatively common when using Wegovy, especially when first starting treatment or when increasing your dose, but they tend to reduce. If you have side effects, try to work out how you can best manage these, or if you are part of the Genwell weight care programme, you could reach out to your wellbeing coach for advice, to help you feel well throughout your journey
• Changes to appetite might mean you start feeling fuller after meals or have less hunger and fewer cravings. This can help you take control of your appetite and eating habits, giving you space to eat the way you want to and focus on nourishing your body
• If regular exercise isn’t something you’ve been doing already, when you feel ready, you can start to introduce more movement into your daily routines and build in some resistance training too

After these early stages of adjustment, the focus shifts to making steady progress at a healthy pace, creating lasting changes for a healthy future:

• Explore what truly nourishes your body and build healthy eating habits
• Find ways of moving that feel enjoyable and realistic, so activity becomes a natural part of your everyday life
• Explore other factors that could affect your health and wellbeing, as well as your weight loss progress – including sleep habits, stress management, hormone balance and more

Key messages

• Weight loss journeys on Wegovy are different for everyone – focus on building healthy habits and let the journey take its course
• In clinical studies, some initial weight loss was seen within the first 4 weeks of treatment, but then continued steadily as the dose increased
• Side effects of the digestive system may occur, particularly when you first start treatment or increase the dose
• Changes to appetite can allow you to take control of eating habits – with a healthier approach, weight loss can follow

Genwell reflections

Wegovy is an effective treatment to help people with overweight or obese lose weight. But every weight loss journey is different – because everyone is unique.

If you are prescribed Wegovy and are part of the Genwell care programme, we will be with you every step of your journey, not only helping you reach your weight loss goals but helping you achieve a healthier future, built on long-lasting healthy habits.