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How-to · injection guide
Semaglutide goes under the skin, not into muscle, once a week. You use the abdomen, thigh or upper arm, moving to a different spot each time, and you pick a day of the week and keep to it.
You can shift the day if you need to, as long as two doses stay at least 72 hours apart. The injection itself is taught by the prescriber or pharmacist who dispenses it, and everything below is what the label says.
Under the skin of the lower stomach, the front of the thigh and the back of the upper arm. Stay 2 inches (5 cm) from the belly button.
FDA labelSource: Wegovy (semaglutide) — FDA-approved Prescribing Information (DailyMed) · retrieved 2026-08-20
FDA labelSource: Wegovy (semaglutide) — FDA-approved Prescribing Information (DailyMed) · retrieved 2026-08-20
A branded pen measures the dose for you. A vial does not — you draw it by volume, and every step of the schedule becomes a different number of units on the syringe. The table holds the water volume fixed so the steps line up side by side.
| Step | Label dose | Volume | Draw to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.25 mg | 0.10 mL | 10.0 units |
| 2 | 0.5 mg | 0.20 mL | 20.0 units |
| 3 | 1 mg | 0.40 mL | 40.0 units |
| 4 | 1.7 mg | 0.68 mL | 68.0 units |
| 5 | 2.4 mg | 0.96 mL | 96.0 units |
Straight arithmetic for a 5 mg vial in 2 mL, where 1 U-100 unit = 0.01 mL. The doses come from the label; the unit column is the math at this concentration, not a recommendation.
This is the only molecule on the site sold in a form that is not injected at all. It is also the only schedule here that ends in a choice between two amounts rather than at a single top. Both change what this page is being read for.
No, and this is the one molecule on the site where that answer is anything other than yes. Of the three brands on this page, one is a tablet that is swallowed. The other two are the injections this page is about.
A reader searching the molecule’s name lands on both worlds at once and the shopping results do nothing to separate them. The route is a property of the product, not of the substance, so the name alone will not tell anyone which one they have.
The page puts the time it takes the body to clear half of it at one week. A weekly injection therefore arrives while about half of the last one is still there. The level in the blood stacks up over the first month or so. It does not peak and vanish between doses.
That is also why moving injection day by a few hours does very little. The dose sits on top of a level that is already there, and the level is what moves slowly.
Not at one place. Its last two steps are both marked as places to stay. The end of this schedule is a decision rather than a summit. The prescriber makes it, on how the drug has been tolerated.
The two final doses require different syringe draws from the same vial. The unit table shows both, which is why the full schedule matters.
The label gives no rule for this situation. A rule from another drug cannot be assumed to apply.
So there is no number here to read. The document dispensed with the product answers it, and so does the prescriber. That is a real answer rather than a deflection. A rule invented to fill the gap would look exactly like one that came from a label.
This label gives the clearance in both inches and centimeters. Labels for drugs in the same class can use different instructions, so each one is kept as written.
Where a label is silent, the page is silent too. A distance that looks precise but came from us rather than the label would be the least trustworthy number on the screen.
Using the same spot over and over hardens the tissue underneath, and hardened tissue absorbs differently. Since absorption decides how much of a dose actually reaches you, moving the site is about consistency as much as comfort. The label directs rotation between doses, and against injecting skin that is already tender, bruised, red or hardened.
Private rotation log
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Label rule: a different spot for every dose — the same body area can be used each week, as long as it is not the same spot. Do not inject into skin that is tender, bruised, red or hard, or areas with scars or stretch marks.
Used needles belong in an FDA-cleared sharps container, or failing that a heavy-duty plastic container with a tight lid — never loose in household trash or recycling. What happens to a full container is set locally rather than federally, so collection varies by state and city.
Under the skin of the abdomen, thigh or upper arm, moving spot between doses. The label does not describe injecting into muscle or a vein.
The label lists the three sites without ranking them, so it comes down to comfort and rotation. What it does direct against is tissue hardened by repeated use, because absorption from damaged tissue is less predictable.
Yes, as long as two doses stay at least 72 hours apart.
We could not find a published missed-dose rule for semaglutide. Check the instructions supplied with the product or ask the prescriber.
The needles are short and fine, and most people describe barely feeling it. Some redness or soreness at the spot is expected rather than unusual — reactions where you inject are listed as common on the label.
The route and the sites are the same, but a pen measures the dose for you and a vial makes you draw it. That is where the unit table above comes in — and where reaching for a U-40 syringe instead of a U-100 would put you 2.5 times out.
This page stops at the injection. These carry what happens either side of it.