GLP-1 Maintenance Dosing: What It Means in the UK (October 2026)

01 · The core answer

What a GLP-1 maintenance dose actually is

A maintenance dose is the dose at which your step-up ends and you stay, because it controls appetite well enough with side effects you can live with. It is not a separate medicine or a lower "holding" product. It is simply the point on the licensed dose ladder where you and your prescriber stop increasing.

The idea differs between medicines. Wegovy has a defined end point on its ladder. Mounjaro has a range of acceptable end points, because response and tolerance vary so much between people.

02 · Side by side

Maintenance dosing compared: Mounjaro, Wegovy and liraglutide

03 · Your next step

Is this relevant to you, and what should you do next?

If you are still stepping up, your maintenance dose has not been decided yet. Your job is to move at the pace your prescriber sets, not to race to the top of the ladder. If you have already plateaued on a dose that works, that dose may well be your maintenance dose.

If you are weighing up whether to start, our weight loss clinic page explains the pathway. Ready readers can look at the Mounjaro pen and consultation, where every dose is in stock and priced live. Dose planning and cost are covered in more depth in our guide to the cost of staying on a maintenance dose.

04 · Mounjaro maintenance

How Mounjaro maintenance dosing works

Everyone starts Mounjaro on 2.5mg once a week. This starting dose is about letting your body adjust, not about weight loss itself¹. From there the dose rises in steps, and the dose you finally stay on is your maintenance dose.

The licence allows increases of 2.5mg at intervals of at least four weeks, up to a ceiling of 15mg weekly, depending on how you respond and tolerate it¹. 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.¹

If you want the detail, see our pages on the average Mounjaro maintenance dose and what counts as a tirzepatide maintenance dose.

Trial data shows why different doses can all be reasonable. In the SURMOUNT-1 trial of 2,539 adults, 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.² These are trial averages, and individual results vary. Treatment works alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, not instead of them.

Notice what those figures do and do not say. Higher doses produced larger average losses, but a lower dose still delivered a substantial average result. If a lower dose controls your appetite and you tolerate it well, there may be little reason to push further.

05 · Choosing your dose

How your maintenance dose gets chosen

Your maintenance dose is decided by response and tolerability together, not by a target number on the pen. Prescribers look at how your appetite behaves, how your weight trend is moving, and how you feel in the days after each injection.

Side effects matter here. In SURMOUNT-1, 4.3% of people on 5mg, 7.1% on 10mg and 6.2% on 15mg stopped treatment because of side effects, compared with 2.6% on placebo.² A dose you cannot tolerate is not a workable maintenance dose, however effective it looks on paper.

Pace matters too. Weight loss on Mounjaro is gradual by design, and the first weeks on 2.5mg are an adjustment phase. Most measurable progress builds from 5mg onward, month by month.

Response is also reviewed. If you have lost less than 5% of your starting weight after 6 months on the highest dose you can tolerate, your prescriber will discuss whether continuing or stopping is right for you.⁴ Our ongoing monthly clinical reviews are built around exactly these conversations.

06 · Wegovy maintenance

Wegovy: a single maintenance dose

Wegovy's maintenance dose is 2.4mg once weekly, and it is the licensed maintenance dose for weight management¹⁸.

This is a more prescriptive structure than Mounjaro's. Where Mounjaro offers a range of end points, Wegovy's ladder has one destination. Some people cannot tolerate the top step, and in that case your prescriber decides what is appropriate within the licence.

For more, see our guides to the Wegovy maintenance dose after goal weight, or view the Wegovy pen directly. Availability should always be checked at the time of order.

07 · Daily liraglutide

Liraglutide: daily rather than weekly

Liraglutide, sold as Saxenda and in similar products, is supplied at a concentration of 6mg per millilitre and is a daily injection, unlike once-weekly Mounjaro and Wegovy. That changes how "maintenance" feels in practice: the routine is daily rather than weekly.

If you are comparing it with the weekly medicines, ask what the daily routine would mean for you.

08 · What is not maintenance

Ways of "maintaining" that are not licensed

Cost pressure pushes some people towards unlicensed ways of maintaining, but these are not approved.

Mounjaro is licensed as a once-weekly medicine; its blood levels are designed around a 7-day cycle.

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

09 · Stopping and regain

What happens if you stop maintenance

Stopping a GLP-1 medicine usually leads to regain, because the treatment manages weight rather than curing the biology behind it. This is why maintenance is best treated as a long-term plan rather than a finish line.

In SURMOUNT-4, people who stopped tirzepatide after 36 weeks regained on average 14% of body weight over the following year, while those who continued treatment lost a further 5.5% on average.¹⁴ Stopping should always be planned with your prescriber, with diet and activity habits ready to carry the load.

If you do stop, nothing needs doing while the medicine clears. Tirzepatide has a half-life of about five days, so it takes roughly four to five weeks to clear the system, and there is no way to speed this up.¹

Whether to continue, step down or exit is a decision for you and your prescriber together, and it is worth raising early rather than waiting for a problem.

10 · Day-to-day routine

Keeping a steady routine on a maintenance dose

On a maintenance dose, consistency matters more than anything else. Mounjaro is injected under the skin once a week, on the same day each week, at any time of day, with or without food. Rotate the injection site with each dose.¹³

There is no "best" time of day. What matters is the same day each week, so choose a day and time you will remember.¹³ You can change your injection day if needed, as long as there are at least 3 days between two doses.¹ For more on timing, see how often you take a maintenance dose.

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

Storage is straightforward. Keep pens in a fridge at 2–8°C and never freeze them. Once in use, a pen can be kept out of the fridge not above 30°C for up to 30 days, after which it should be discarded.¹³

11 · Habits that help

Lifestyle habits that make maintenance work

Increased physical activity is part of the licence, not an optional extra. Nothing special is required: the evidence-backed pattern is regular moderate activity, such as brisk walking, plus resistance work for muscle. Start where you are and build. On injection days with early side effects, lighter movement still counts.¹

Exercise also protects against regain if you later stop treatment. Combined with a reduced-calorie diet, it is what lets a lower maintenance dose do its job.

Judge progress by trend rather than single weigh-ins. Early loss includes water weight, so one reading tells you very little.¹ If you want to see your pattern clearly, the free GLPTrackr companion app can help you log your journey.

For a broader overview, see the full UK guide to the Mounjaro maintenance dose.

12 · Serious side effects

Serious side effects: when to get help straight away

Serious side effects are uncommon but need urgent attention. 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 skin/eyes (possible gallbladder problems); or signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face or throat and difficulty breathing. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea alongside Mounjaro, watch for low blood sugar (shakiness, sweating, confusion) — your prescriber may need to adjust those medicines.¹

13 · NHS and private routes

NHS access and private treatment

Mounjaro is available on the NHS, but access is being phased in over several years. NICE recommends it for adults with a BMI of at least 35 plus at least one weight-related condition, and the NHS primary-care rollout began in June 2025 with the highest-need groups first (initially BMI 40+ with four or more qualifying conditions).⁴⁶ Full rollout is expected to take years, which is why many people who meet the licensed criteria choose regulated private treatment rather than waiting.

If you go private, a GPhC-registered prescriber reviews every consultation, and repeat orders re-check suitability with no auto-shipping. A new customer's first order is £40 less with code FIRST40, and every later order is £25 less than the standard price.