Maintenance doses explained
A maintenance dose is the smallest amount of medicine that keeps your appetite calm and your weight stable. Finding it is a deliberate process, not a guess.
What a maintenance dose is
During weight loss, doses climb to drive a calorie deficit. In maintenance, the goal changes to stability, so the dose usually comes down. The right maintenance dose is the lowest one where your weight holds within about 2 kg over a couple of months and eating feels natural, not forced or chaotic.
Typical maintenance doses
| Treatment | Common maintenance doses | Monthly cost at maintenance |
|---|---|---|
| Mounjaro | 5 mg or 7.5 mg (sometimes 10 mg) | £169 to £209 |
| Wegovy pen | 1 mg or 1.7 mg (sometimes 2.4 mg) | £99 to £139 |
| Wegovy tablets | Mid-range daily dose | Confirmed at order |
| Foundayo | Mid-range daily dose | Confirmed at order |
There is no rule that says you must ever leave your weight loss dose, some people maintain best on it. Cost and comfort usually pull the decision downward over time.
Dose spacing
Some prescribers extend the gap between injections, every 10 days, then every 14, as a soft landing before stopping. This is off-licence and always individually agreed. It suits people who want to rehearse appetite self-management while a safety net remains. It does not suit people whose weight moved quickly upward on any previous gap.
How you and your prescriber choose
The decision weighs four things: how stable your weight has been, how embedded your habits are, how much side effects still trouble you, and what you want to spend. None of these is fixed, maintenance doses are reviewed at every check-in and adjusted like any other part of treatment.
Coming off maintenance
When habits are strong and weight has been stable for months, a full stop becomes a reasonable experiment. The tapering framework applies, and the door stays open: returning to a dose after drift is a plan working, not a failure.
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- Written by
- Able Clinic editorial team
- Clinical review
- Pharmacy team at Curb Healthcare Ltd, GPhC 9012581
- Last reviewed
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