How Long Can You Stay on Ozempic for Weight Loss?

Ozempic® (semaglutide) can help with weight loss, but how long can you stay on Ozempic, exactly? Ozempic is a type 2 diabetes drug, meaning it’s intended for long-term (even life-long) use.

Ozempic is sometimes prescribed off-label for weight loss. (Off-label use means a drug is prescribed for something other than what the FDA approved it for.) So there’s no set timeframe for how long you’ll stay on it if you’re taking it as a weight loss medication.

Like snowflakes, music tastes, and weird celebrity crushes, everyone’s weight loss journey is different. How long you decide to take Ozempic for weight loss is really up to you.

When you stop taking Ozempic will depend on several factors, including your starting weight, goal weight, and whether you have any health conditions or side effects.

Read on to find out if you have to take Ozempic forever, the potential risks of long-term use, and what happens if you stop taking this GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist) medication.

How long can you stay on Ozempic? There’s no set timeframe for how long you can stay on Ozempic if you use it off-label for weight loss. If you tolerate it well, you’ll probably want to stay on Ozempic at least until you reach your goal weight.

This is something you’ll want to discuss with a healthcare provider. They may recommend taking the medication until you reach your goal weight or longer for long-term weight management.

How long you take Ozempic will depend on:

• Your starting weight

• Your goal weight

• Whether you have any underlying medical conditions

• Whether you make nutrition and exercise changes alongside taking Ozempic

• How well you tolerate the drug and if you’re experiencing side effects

In short, how long you can stay on Ozempic will depend on you and your body. Your provider can monitor your health on Ozempic to determine if or when you need to come off the drug.

Side Effects May Dictate How Long You Take Ozempic

You know what they say about best-laid plans. As with any prescription drug, Ozempic comes with potential side effects.

So, even if a healthcare provider thinks you’ll be a good candidate for it, you never know how your body will react. You could experience side effects severe enough that you want to stop treatment earlier than planned.

Common side effects of Ozempic include:

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

• Abdominal pain

• Constipation

These side effects are most common at the beginning of treatment and when you increase your dose. They often subside after a few weeks.

Check out our guide to Ozempic side effects to learn more.

Is Ozempic long-term? There isn’t much research into long-term Ozempic use, but it appears to be safe. As mentioned, Ozempic is approved by the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) as a diabetes drug to help those with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar levels (glucose).

So, it’s designed to be taken long-term — after all, type 2 diabetes is typically a lifelong condition.

Ozempic Clinical Trials for Weight Loss

What do the studies say? A 2022 review sponsored by Novo Nordisk (the manufacturer of Ozempic) rounded up the results from the STEP (Semaglutide Treatment Effect in People with obesity) clinical trials.

These trials looked at how a weekly 2.4-milligram (mg) semaglutide injection affected people with excess body weight and obesity.

STEP 1, 3, 4, and 8 trials looked at participants with overweight and obesity without type 2 diabetes. These studies found an average weight loss ranging from almost 15 percent to upwards of 17 percent over 68 weeks.

STEP 5 lasted two years and found that average weight loss was about 15 percent at the end of the study.

If you’re wondering, other STEP trials looked at participants with type 2 diabetes.

Semaglutide was relatively well tolerated in these studies. Participants experienced gastrointestinal side effects (like those listed above), but most adverse effects were short-lived and mild or moderate in severity.

More recently, a 2024 study — also funded by Novo Nordisk — found that semaglutide use was safe for weight loss over four years. Participants in this trial had excess weight or obesity and cardiovascular disease or heart disease. They experienced weight loss and weight maintenance without any new safety concerns over the four-year period.

There’s no guaranteed timeframe for when you’ll start seeing weight loss on Ozempic.

One study gives us a rough idea. A 2021 study sponsored by Novo Nordisk looked at almost 2,000 adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher or 27 or higher with at least one weight-related health condition.

Participants took a weekly 2.4-milligram injection of semaglutide alongside making some healthy lifestyle changes (like exercising regularly and eating better). They showed weight loss by the four-week mark, and this weight loss continued for the duration of the 68-week study.

So, this suggests weight loss can happen relatively quickly on semaglutide. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll come off the drug quickly.

The TL;DR? You don’t have to take Ozempic forever for weight loss. But you can if you want to and are tolerating the drug well — it can help you manage your weight in the long run.

If you don’t have diabetes and aren’t taking the medication for blood sugar control, you probably won’t have to take Ozempic forever. You might take the drug until you reach your goal weight and a healthcare provider advises you to stop taking it.

But in the STEP 4 clinical trial, most people who stopped taking Wegovy® (the higher-dose version of Ozempic with the same active ingredient approved for weight loss) after 20 weeks quickly regained the weight they had lost. Meanwhile, those who continued taking it reached their maximum weight loss after one year on a maintenance dose.

This trial suggests that long-term treatment is the key to treating obesity, a chronic and relapsing disease.

A 2021 review looked at the results from three semaglutide clinical trial programs. It concluded that a significant benefit of semaglutide was that it can be used “for long-term management of weight.“

The review also noted that Wegovy “is supposed to be used for long-term weight management.“

So, can you stay on Ozempic for life to keep the weight off? In theory, yes.

Can You Stop Taking Ozempic at Any Time?

Technically, yes. You certainly don’t need to take Ozempic indefinitely or power through if the side effects get to be too much. However, you shouldn’t abruptly stop using the medication (or any prescription drug, for that matter) without letting your prescribing healthcare provider know.

Your provider can offer guidance on when and how to stop semaglutide injections.

What Happens When You Stop Taking Ozempic?

If you decide to stop taking Ozemic, your appetite and food cravings may increase to pre-medication levels, and you might gain weight if you don’t stay on top of healthy nutrition and exercise routines.

According to a study sponsored by Novo Nordisk, weight regain is common after stopping semaglutide.

Learn what happens when you stop taking Ozempic in more detail.

Ozempic is still a relatively new drug, but there’s no reason to think it has any long-term risks.

The 2022 Novo Nordisk-sponsored review we mentioned earlier found the drug to be relatively safe throughout trials ranging from 68 weeks to 104 weeks. And the 2024 study found it to be safe over four years.

We’ve covered the potential long-term effects of Ozempic here.

Here’s what we know about Ozempic’s health risks.

The drug comes with a black box FDA warning stating that semaglutide causes thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents. Sounds scary, but it’s currently unclear if Ozempic causes thyroid tumors or thyroid cancer in humans.

For now, people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or with multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2) shouldn’t take Ozempic.

Beyond that, some rare but serious health issues were reported in clinical trials, including:

• Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)

• Diabetic retinopathy complications (an eye disease in people with diabetes)

• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) if you take an insulin secretagogue or insulin

• Acute kidney injury (in those with severe gastrointestinal reactions or renal impairment)

• Acute gallbladder disease

Seek medical advice if you notice any serious side effects.

Brand-name Ozempic isn’t your only option if you’re considering drugs that support weight loss.

There are other GLP-1 receptor agonist (and similar) injections, such as:

• Compounded semaglutide

• Wegovy

• Tirzepatide (Zepbound® and off-label Mounjaro®)

• Liraglutide (Saxenda® and off-label Victoza®)

There are also non-injectable medications, such as:

• Semaglutide (Rybelsus®)

• Off-label metformin

• Naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave®)

• Phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia®)

• Orlistat (Xenical®)

• Off-label topiramate (Topamax®)

How long you can stay on these other weight loss drugs also varies widely. It’ll ultimately depend on your weight loss goals, overall health, and how the drug works for your body.

Of course, there are also drug-free weight loss interventions you can try, such as nutritional plans, exercise routines, and behavioral change tools and services.

Theoretically, you could stay on Ozempic forever, as long as you’re tolerating the drug well. However, that doesn’t mean you have to stay on Ozempic for the long haul. A healthcare provider can help you decide whether to go on Ozempic and when to come off.

Here’s what you need to know:

• How long you can stay on Ozempic is super personal. Ozempic isn’t FDA-approved for weight loss, so there’s no set time limit for taking it. It’ll depend on things like your starting weight, goal weight, medical history, lifestyle interventions, and how well you tolerate the drug.

• Long-term Ozempic use seems safe. It’s designed as a long-term diabetes medication, after all. Studies spanning up to four years show semaglutide is relatively safe. The side effects are mild to moderate and often resolve with time. But we’re still learning about Ozempic’s long-term effects.

• Weight gain can happen when you come off Ozempic. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should stay on the medication forever. Chat with a healthcare provider for advice on stopping the drug and personalized guidance on keeping weight loss off.

If you’re still exploring your options, know that Ozempic isn’t the only weight loss treatment out there. Check out our guide to Ozempic versus metformin, for example.

You can also take our free online weight loss assessment to discover which treatments could work for you. And whatever you choose, there’s plenty of support to help you along the way.