Educational only — not medical advice. This page explains how GLP-1 dose schedules work and how the three companion tools fit together. It does not prescribe, recommend or change any dose. Dosing changes only with the prescribing clinician. Medically reviewed by Dr. Taimoor Asghar. Label statements here were checked against the current FDA labels on DailyMed on 24 October 2026; labels change, so always check the current label for your exact product.
Use them in that order: first understand the schedule, then work out what one pen covers, then budget for it. Keep the clinical decision and the budget decision separate — the medicine is decided with your clinician first, and only then costed.
GLP-1 medicines mimic gut hormones that help regulate appetite and blood sugar. Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) acts on the GLP-1 receptor. Tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) acts on two receptors, GIP and GLP-1 — it is a dual agonist, not simply a stronger version of semaglutide. That difference is why the two molecules have entirely different dose numbers: semaglutide weekly doses run from 0.25 mg up to 2 mg (Ozempic) or 2.4 mg as the recommended maintenance dose (Wegovy injection), while tirzepatide weekly doses run from 2.5 mg up to 15 mg. A milligram is a unit of mass, not a unit of effect, and mass cannot be compared across different molecules. There is no conversion table between semaglutide milligrams and tirzepatide milligrams on any label, and any page that offers one is inventing it. The same applies within semaglutide: injection milligrams and tablet milligrams are not interchangeable either — Wegovy tablets (1.5 mg, then 4 mg, then 9 mg, then 25 mg once daily) follow a different route and a different schedule from Wegovy injections, and this suite covers injections.
Titration is the gradual climb from a low starting dose to a maintenance dose. On every label in this suite, each step lasts at least 4 weeks. Ozempic starts at 0.25 mg once weekly for 4 weeks — a dose the label says is intended for treatment initiation and is not effective for glycaemic control — then moves to 0.5 mg, then to 1 mg and then to 2 mg, each step only if additional control is needed after at least 4 weeks on the previous dose. Wegovy injection climbs 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg, then 2.4 mg (recommended maintenance; 1.7 mg is the alternative maintenance dose), each step lasting 4 weeks. Tirzepatide starts at 2.5 mg once weekly for 4 weeks — initiation only, not a maintenance dose — then 5 mg, then increases of 2.5 mg after at least 4 weeks on the current dose, to an adult maximum of 15 mg. For Zepbound, the maintenance doses for weight reduction are 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg, and for obstructive sleep apnoea 10 mg or 15 mg; the 7.5 mg and 12.5 mg steps are rungs on the ladder, not maintenance destinations.
The reason for the slow climb is tolerability. The most common adverse reactions on these labels are gastrointestinal — nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal pain, decreased appetite and indigestion — and they cluster around starting and dose increases. A 4-week step gives the body time to adjust before the next increase, and the labels build in escape valves: Wegovy's label says to consider delaying escalation by 4 weeks if a dose is not tolerated, and the tirzepatide labels say to consider a lower maintenance dose if a maintenance dose is not tolerated. Reaching the maximum dose is never the goal in itself. The goal is the lowest dose that achieves the clinical aim with tolerable side effects, and many people stay at a middle dose long-term. That is also why a planner that only shows the fastest possible climb must be labelled as such: the earliest dates are a calendar, not a prescription, and a delayed step is a clinical decision, not a delay to be “caught up” by doubling a dose.
Once titration is complete, the maintenance dose is the dose taken week after week. It is worth separating three ideas that are often blurred. The starting dose is for initiation only and is not a treatment dose in its own right. The escalation doses are temporary steps. The maintenance dose is the long-term dose, and the maximum dose is a ceiling the label sets, not a target. For Ozempic, maintenance is 0.5 mg, 1 mg or 2 mg once weekly by glycaemic control. For Wegovy injection in adults, maintenance for weight reduction or cardiovascular risk reduction is 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg (recommended) once weekly, with a further clinician-directed maximum of 7.2 mg (Wegovy HD) once weekly for adult weight reduction in patients who tolerate 2.4 mg for at least 4 weeks and need additional weight reduction — the titration planner deliberately does not invent dated steps between 2.4 mg and 7.2 mg, because the verified label sections do not set them out. For Mounjaro in adults, any step can in principle become the staying dose, because escalation happens only if additional glycaemic control is needed. For Zepbound, only 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg are maintenance doses for weight reduction. If you remember one sentence from this page, make it this: staying at a lower dose that works and is tolerated is a successful outcome, not an incomplete titration.
Missed-dose rules differ by product, and borrowing one product's rule for another is a real error. The table below is taken from the labels; it is educational information, not a personal instruction, and if you have missed several doses, ask your prescriber rather than improvising.
| Product | If you miss a dose | Changing the weekly day |
|---|---|---|
| Ozempic | Take it as soon as possible within 5 days after the missed dose; if more than 5 days have passed, skip it and take the next dose on the regularly scheduled day. | Allowed as long as at least 2 days (more than 48 hours) separate two doses. |
| Wegovy injection | One missed dose: take it as soon as possible if the next scheduled dose is more than 2 days (48 hours) away; if less than 2 days away, do not take it — resume on the regularly scheduled day. Two or more consecutive missed doses: the current label says to reinitiate dose escalation at a lower dose to reduce gastrointestinal reactions. | Injection day and time of day can be changed without a dose change (per label administration instructions); confirm spacing with your prescriber if you have missed doses. |
| Mounjaro | Take it as soon as possible within 4 days (96 hours) after the missed dose; if more than 4 days have passed, skip it and take the next dose on the regularly scheduled day. | Allowed as long as at least 3 days (72 hours) separate two doses. |
| Zepbound | Take it as soon as possible within 4 days (96 hours) after the missed dose; if more than 4 days have passed, skip it and take the next dose on the regularly scheduled day. | Allowed as long as at least 3 days (72 hours) separate two doses. |
Two rules hold across all four: never take two doses close together to make up for a missed one unless your prescriber specifically tells you to, and after a missed dose, resume the regular weekly schedule rather than shifting every future dose. Wegovy tablets have a different missed-dose rule again (skip the missed tablet and take the next one the following day) — one more reason never to transfer a rule between presentations.
This page gives label-based safety information, not home treatment advice. The labels for all four products carry a boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumours: in rodents, these medicines caused dose-dependent, treatment-duration-dependent thyroid C-cell tumours at clinically relevant exposures, and it is unknown whether they cause such tumours, including medullary thyroid carcinoma, in humans. They are contraindicated in people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2), and in people with a prior serious hypersensitivity reaction to the medicine or its ingredients. The labels counsel patients to report symptoms of thyroid tumours — a mass in the neck, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, or persistent hoarseness. Other label warnings include pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, acute kidney injury (especially when severe gastrointestinal reactions cause dehydration), serious hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis and angioedema, and low blood sugar when used with insulin or insulin secretagogues. Because these medicines delay gastric emptying, they may affect the absorption of oral medicines, which is why a full medicines list belongs in every prescribing conversation.
What to do about side effects follows the label, not folklore. If a dose is not tolerated, the label route is to delay escalation or consider a lower maintenance dose — a prescriber's decision. If side effects are severe or persistent, contact the prescribing clinician promptly. Seek urgent care for worrying symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, inability to keep fluids down, signs of an allergic reaction (swelling, difficulty breathing, rash), or the thyroid symptoms listed above. Do not try to “treat through” severe symptoms with over-the-counter remedies as a substitute for contacting your clinician, and do not stop or restart treatment on your own after a long gap without asking — particularly for Wegovy, where the label addresses reinitiation after missed doses. If you think you have taken too much, follow your product's medication guide: contact your prescriber or local poison service or seek emergency care promptly.
Every pen page needs this warning, because it is the most consequential confusion in this area. The number printed largest on a pen is often its total content, not the dose per injection. Ozempic multi-dose pens contain 2 mg/3 mL (delivering 0.25 mg or 0.5 mg per injection), 4 mg/3 mL (1 mg per injection) or 8 mg/3 mL (2 mg per injection). Wegovy single-dose pens deliver one dose each (0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.7, 2.4 or 7.2 mg), while the Wegovy FlexTouch pen delivers 2.4 mg per injection from a 9.6 mg/3 mL pen — 4 doses per pen. Tirzepatide single-dose pens deliver one dose each. The pen duration calculator exists for exactly this: enter total content and dose per injection separately, and it divides, rounds down to whole injections, reports any leftover smaller than one dose, and converts injections into days at your injection frequency. Never share a pen, even with a new needle; rotate injection sites; and follow the instructions for use for your exact presentation, including in-use storage limits, which can end a pen's usable life before the arithmetic runs out.
The monthly cost comparison uses only prices you enter, because no honest page can print a “current” GLP-1 price: prices vary by pharmacy, insurer, dose, pack size and country, and change over time. Its formula is cost per injection (pack price divided by injections per pack), times injections per week, times 52 divided by 12 for a calendar month (about 4.333 weeks). It deliberately excludes consultation fees, needles, travel, tests and insurance or discount programmes, and it compares medicine costs only. Two cautions complete the picture. First, compare like with like: the same product at the same dose, or two pack sizes of the same product — never a cost per milligram across different molecules. Second, a lower price is not a medical recommendation, and compounded products are not a like-for-like cheaper alternative: compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide are not FDA-approved, are not reviewed by the FDA for safety, quality or effectiveness, and have no FDA-approved schedule. This suite carries no affiliate links, no seller links and no telehealth sign-up links for compounded products, and the author reports no financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies.
Imagine a prescriber has discussed a maintenance dose with a patient, and the patient wants to plan refills and budget. First, the titration planner shows the label schedule and the earliest dates for each step, making clear that any step may be delayed and that the maintenance dose may be lower than the maximum. Second, once the maintenance dose is known, the pen duration calculator turns the pen carton numbers into days supplied and pens per 4 weeks, so refills can be ordered before running out. Third, the cost comparison turns pharmacy quotes for that same product and dose into monthly and annual figures, so the household budget reflects the prescribed medicine rather than a guessed price. If any step changes — a delayed escalation, a different maintenance dose, a different pack size — the later tools are re-run with the new numbers. That chain is the whole point of the suite: schedule first, supply second, cost third, with the clinician's decision at the front of the chain, not the back.
Contact your prescribing clinician promptly, or seek urgent care, if you experience severe or persistent vomiting, severe abdominal pain, inability to keep fluids down, signs of an allergic reaction, a lump in the neck, difficulty swallowing or breathing, or persistent hoarseness, or if you think you have taken too much medicine. Also contact your clinician if you miss several doses, if side effects prevent you from eating or drinking normally, if you become pregnant or plan pregnancy, or before starting, stopping or changing any other medicine — including oral medicines whose absorption may be affected by delayed gastric emptying, and diabetes medicines that raise low-blood-sugar risk in combination. These pages are educational tools; they cannot weigh your history, your other medicines or your response, and they must never be used to overrule your prescriber or your product's full prescribing information.
Sources checked 24 October 2026. If a label has since been revised, the revised label governs. This site carries no affiliate links and no links to sellers or telehealth sign-ups for compounded products.