Week 9 on Wegovy feels nothing like week 1. Your dose has changed twice, your appetite is somewhere new, and the bathroom scale is telling a story you only half remember. This guide covers the US dose ladder, the missed-dose rules from the FDA label, what Wegovy actually costs in 2026, and a simple routine that puts doses, weight, and food on one dashboard instead of scattered across screenshots and sticky notes.

Quick facts (30 seconds)

Why a tracker helps on Wegovy

Because your memory lies to you. Mine does too. Six months into a weekly medication, nobody accurately remembers which week they moved to 1 mg, or whether the nausea was worse on 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg. And those details matter more than they seem:

• Escalation decisions. Your prescriber decides when you step up based on how you tolerated the last 4 weeks. "Fine, I think?" is a weak answer. "Nausea 3 days after each shot, faded by week 3" is a useful one.
• Prior authorization renewals. Many insurance plans ask your prescriber to show documented progress when a PA comes up for renewal. A clean weight log makes that paperwork much easier than reconstructing months from memory.
• Scale noise. Daily weight bounces around with water, sodium, and sleep. Without a trend view, one heavy morning can wreck your week for no reason.
• Refill timing. Cash pricing through NovoCare works on a monthly refill rhythm. Knowing exactly where you are in the box of pens keeps you from running out on a Friday night.

The dose ladder (0.25 to 2.4 mg)

Everyone starts at the bottom and climbs slowly. The slow ramp is deliberate: it gives your gut time to adjust so nausea stays manageable. Per the US label:

Two things the label allows that people often don't know. If 2.4 mg is rough on your stomach, your prescriber can drop you back to 1.7 mg for 4 weeks before trying again, and staying at 1.7 mg long term is a recognized option. And since March 2026 there's a higher dose: Wegovy HD (7.2 mg), approved for adults who have already tolerated 2.4 mg and want additional weight loss. In the STEP UP trial it averaged 20.7% weight loss at 72 weeks, versus 17.5% at 2.4 mg in the same study, with more GI side effects. Whether that trade is worth it is a conversation for your prescriber, not a default next step.

For context on the standard dose: in STEP 1, adults on 2.4 mg lost an average of 14.9% of their body weight at 68 weeks, against 2.4% on placebo. Averages hide a wide range, though. Some people lose more, some less, which is exactly why your own tracked data beats any trial summary.

Missed doses and changing your day

The FDA label is specific here, which helps, because this is the question everyone eventually has:

• Next dose more than 2 days (48 hours) away? Take the missed dose as soon as possible, then carry on with your usual weekly day.
• Next dose less than 2 days away? Skip the missed one. Take your next dose on the regularly scheduled day. Don't double up.
• Missed more than 2 doses in a row? Call your prescriber before restarting. The label says you can resume as scheduled, but after a long gap it's often safer to restart the escalation at a lower dose so the side effects don't hit all at once.

Changing your injection day is allowed. Want to move from Sunday to Wednesday? Fine, as long as at least 48 hours pass between the last dose and the next one. A tracker takes the mental math out of this: log the shot, and the 48-hour window is right there on the screen.

What to track, and how often

You don't need to track everything. You need to track a few things consistently. Here's the routine that fits real life:

A note on protein, because it's the thing US clinicians flag most often. When your appetite shrinks, protein is usually the first casualty, and losing muscle along with fat is the outcome you're trying to avoid. You don't need macro spreadsheets. Just glance at your week and ask: did most days have protein at most meals?

Your Wegovy week on one dashboard

Here's what this looks like when it's working. One page shows this week's dose (1.7 mg, week 3 of 4 at this level), your weight trend (down 1.2 lb this week, down 14 lb total), today's food in plain words, and a running list of side-effect notes. Thirty seconds a day, maybe two minutes on shot day.

That single page answers the questions that otherwise eat your evening: Am I due to step up? Was the nausea this bad last month? Is my weight actually stalled or did I just have a salty weekend? And when your PA renewal or your next appointment comes around, the whole timeline is already assembled.

Healthcount is built for exactly this: doses, weight, food, symptoms, and photos in one calm dashboard, with your dose ladder and refill countdown handled automatically. No app download, and the basics are free.

What Wegovy costs in the US

Quick version, as of July 2026, because pricing has changed twice in the past year:

• List price: around $1,349 a month. Almost nobody pays this, but it's the anchor number you'll see quoted. Novo has also announced the list price drops to $675 in January 2027.
• Cash via NovoCare Pharmacy: $349 a month for every standard dose from 0.25 to 2.4 mg, and $399 for the 7.2 mg HD dose. There's an intro offer of $199 a month for the first two fills of starter doses, running through December 31, 2026.
• Telehealth: Hims & Hers, Ro, LifeMD, and WeightWatchers Clinic all sell branded Wegovy at those same manufacturer cash prices, layered with their own membership fees. Since March 2026 there's also a multi-month subscription through these partners: $329 a month on a 3-month plan, down to $249 a month if you commit to 12 months. Compounded semaglutide is essentially finished as a channel; the FDA closed the door on mass compounding after the shortage ended.
• Commercial insurance: with coverage plus Novo's savings offer, as little as $0 a month. The offer legally excludes anyone on Medicare, Medicaid, or TRICARE.
• Medicare: from July 1, 2026, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge gives eligible Part D enrollees Wegovy at a flat $50 monthly copay, through the end of 2027.

If your plan covers Wegovy, expect a prior authorization, and possibly step therapy, before the first fill. This is where the tracker quietly earns its keep: documented weight and adherence history is exactly what PA renewals ask for. For the full picture across every GLP-1, see our US GLP-1 price guide, and verify current numbers on novocare.com before you commit.

The Wegovy pill, briefly

Since December 2025 there's also a Wegovy pill: oral semaglutide, taken daily, working up to a 25 mg maintenance dose. It was the first oral GLP-1 approved for weight loss in the US, and in the OASIS 4 trial it averaged about 16.6% weight loss at 64 weeks, which puts it in the same territory as the injection. Cash pricing runs $149 to $299 a month depending on dose. If needles are the reason you've hesitated, it's worth reading our full guide to the Wegovy pill.

Tracking a daily pill is a different rhythm from a weekly shot: the failure mode is quietly drifting into missed days rather than forgetting one big weekly event. Healthcount handles both schedules. And if you're comparing Wegovy against the other big injection, that's tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound for weight loss in the US, with its own 2.5 to 15 mg weekly dose ladder. (One aside for anyone who reads UK forums: over there tirzepatide is sold as Mounjaro for weight loss, the name the US reserves for the type 2 diabetes version, so a UK "Mounjaro" weight loss thread is talking about the same drug as Zepbound.)

FAQs

What's the Wegovy dose schedule?

0.25 mg once weekly for 4 weeks, then 0.5 mg, 1 mg, and 1.7 mg at 4-week intervals, reaching the 2.4 mg maintenance dose from week 17. If 2.4 mg is hard to tolerate, staying at 1.7 mg is an option. The 7.2 mg HD dose exists for people who have tolerated 2.4 mg and need more, at their prescriber's judgment.

What if I miss a dose?

Take it as soon as possible if your next scheduled dose is more than 48 hours away. If it's less than 48 hours away, skip the missed dose and resume on your regular day. Missed more than 2 in a row? Call your prescriber before restarting.

Can I change my injection day?

Yes. Keep at least 48 hours between the two doses when you switch to a new weekly day.

Is Wegovy the same as Ozempic?

Same molecule (semaglutide), different brands for different uses. Ozempic is the type 2 diabetes brand; Wegovy is the weight-management brand. They're never taken together.

How much does Wegovy cost?

As of July 2026: $349 a month cash through NovoCare Pharmacy ($199 intro on starter doses through the end of 2026), as low as $0 with commercial insurance and the savings offer, or a $50 monthly copay for eligible Medicare Part D enrollees under the GLP-1 Bridge. Prices move often, so check novocare.com.

Do I have to log every meal?

No. Rough daily notes ("eggs and toast", "chicken salad") are enough to spot patterns and keep protein visible. Consistency beats precision.