GLP-1 Dosing Schedule: How Titration Works (October 2026)

01 · The core answer

GLP-1 titration schedules compared

The Mounjaro and Wegovy schedules share one logic: begin low, hold each step for at least four weeks, then increase only if you tolerate it.

Each pen is a different device with different strengths, so never apply one medicine's schedule to another. See the Wegovy pen page for its ladder.

02 · Mounjaro

The Mounjaro ladder step by step

Everyone starts Mounjaro on 2.5mg once a week. This starting dose is about letting your body adjust, not about weight loss itself. After at least four weeks the dose increases to 5mg, and can then step up by 2.5mg at minimum four-week intervals (7.5mg, 10mg, 12.5mg) up to a maximum of 15mg weekly, depending on how you respond and tolerate it.¹

Many people settle at a maintenance dose of 5mg, 10mg or 15mg. Higher is not automatically better, and your prescriber will guide the right pace.¹¹ Our Mounjaro titration schedule guide goes deeper, and the Mounjaro pen page shows current prices; a first 2.5mg pen costs £129.99 with code FIRST40 (standard price £169.99).

03 · Wegovy ladder

The Wegovy dose ladder

Wegovy pens are 0.25mg, 0.5mg, 1mg, 1.7mg and 2.4mg once weekly. Titration steps up after at least four weeks, reaching the 2.4mg maintenance dose from week 17, and 2.4mg is the licensed maintenance dose for weight management.¹⁸ Liraglutide differs again: it is a daily injection supplied at 6mg/ml, unlike once-weekly Mounjaro and Wegovy.

04 · Missed doses and timing

Missed doses, injection day and timing

For Mounjaro, if you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can within 4 days (96 hours) of the scheduled time, then carry on with your usual day. If more than 4 days have passed, skip the missed dose entirely and take the next one on your normal day — never take two doses within 3 days of each other.¹

You can change your weekly injection day if needed, as long as there are at least 3 days between two doses.¹³ There is no best time of day: Mounjaro works the same morning or evening, with or without food. What matters is the same day each week.¹ More on pen use is in our Mounjaro dose schedule guide.

05 · Taper and microdosing

Tapering and microdosing: what is licensed

Altering doses outside the licence means unknown dosing accuracy and no safety data.¹

That is also the honest answer on a taper: any step down is a prescriber decision within the licence. After a final dose, tirzepatide takes roughly four to five weeks to clear the system, and nothing needs doing while it clears.¹ Our Mounjaro taper schedule page covers this further.

06 · Pace of results

What to expect as the dose rises

Weight loss on Mounjaro is gradual by design. The first weeks on 2.5mg are an adjustment phase and losses are usually modest; most measurable progress builds from 5mg onward, month by month. Trials measured results at 72 weeks, so think in months, not days.¹

In SURMOUNT-1, people taking tirzepatide alongside diet and exercise lost on average 15% of their body weight on 5mg, 19.5% on 10mg and 20.9% on 15mg over 72 weeks, compared with 3.1% with lifestyle changes alone. These are trial averages and individual results vary.² If you stall, a plateau of a few weeks is normal, and the answer is never to double doses.¹ Mounjaro can cause side effects, most of them digestive. Seek immediate medical help for severe, persistent stomach pain that may spread to your back, with or without vomiting (possible pancreatitis); pain in the upper right abdomen, fever or yellowing of the skin or eyes (possible gallbladder problems); or signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face or throat and difficulty breathing.