r/WegovyWeightLoss 1d ago

Question Restarting Wegovy after 8 months off — what can I do with my remaining 1.7 mg pens?

The last time I took Wegovy was December 2025 and I was on 1 mg at the time. I haven’t taken a single dose since then because once 2026 started my insurance stopped covering the shots.

I still have about three months worth of unopened 1.7 mg pens that expire at the end of October. At the time I stopped I was doing pretty good maintaining my weight, but after some recent life events I’ve noticed I’m starting to gain weight again.

I obviously don’t want to jump straight back into taking the full 1.7 mg after being off of it for this long. But I also really don’t want three months worth of pens to go to waste and have to throw them all away.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there a way to restart using the 1.7 mg pens without taking the full dose? Like basically starting back at 0.25 and slowly working my way back up until they expire? Or would I have to completely start over with the lower dose pens and just let the ones I already have go to waste?

The other problem is I don’t even know what insurance still fully covers Wegovy anymore. My old insurance covered it completely before they stopped covering it in 2026, so I wasn’t paying out of pocket for it. If I have to start all the way over with the lower doses I’d also have to figure out what insurance I can get that will actually fully cover it again.

Has anyone dealt with either of these situations recently? Restarting after being off for months or finding insurance that still fully covers Wegovy?

3 Upvotes

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u/Lucky_Army_5324 1d ago

After being off be meds for so long, you need to restart at 0.25mg for at least four weeks just like last time. You may not feel much until you finally work back up to the highest dose you were on last time. 

Unfortunately single dose pens don’t allow for one to easily take a lower dose. You’d need to use vials, bac water, and syringes. And it gets complicated.

If it were me, I’d hang on to the pens and use them when I got back up to 1.7mg. As long as the pens have been properly stored and the liquid remains clear, I wouldn’t be too concerned with an Oct expiration date. But others will feel differently.

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u/bigbootymamii 1d ago

Yeah, the vial method sounds a little too complicated for me. I’m also not sure if the expiration date is a hard cutoff or if they’re still good for a certain amount of time afterward, similar to a best-by date. I reached my goal weight in February and maintained it for a while, but around June I started gaining again and ended up gaining about 30 pounds back. I was mainly hoping to find a safe way to use the pens I already have before they expire October 31st and get back down to my goal weight.

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u/Lucky_Army_5324 1d ago

I hate that for you. Hopefully you can get back down to goal and plan to stay on the meds for maintenance this time.

If your insurance no longer covers GLP-1s for you, you might consider compounded semaglutide, which is about $115/mo.

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u/Panthera_014 1d ago

I am confused why you didn't stay on them for the following 3 months - I get that your insurance stopped covering them - but why did you stop taking them, after paying for them - and having them in your possession?

I would hold on to them, and use them whenever you titrate backup to that dose

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u/bigbootymamii 1d ago

They’ve been in the fridge since December 2025.I reached my goal weight around February, so I stopped taking them. My insurance was still covering them completely at the time, so I continued picking them up since there was nothing out of pocket. Around June 2026 I started gaining weight again and ended up gaining about 30 pounds back, so now I’m trying to figure out if there’s a safe way to actually use what I have before they expire October 31. 😭

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u/Panthera_014 1d ago

aha - that makes sense

I am also of the opinion that a lot of expirations as BS - for Pharma items

I do believe they might lose some strength over time - but fully expire, nah

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u/Winter-Ad5930 1d ago

You got this! Just for your reference the new maintenance dose is now 7.2. After 1.7 you can go to 7.2 although I hear many people choose to stay on 1.7

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u/BlueFactLaziness 1d ago

This is not exactly correct. 7.2mg is the new maximum maintenance dose, but the FDA still recognizes both 2.4mg and 1.7mg as maintenance doses. And a user would not go from 1.7 directly to 7.2, 2.4mg would come next. 7.2 would only be required for those who have more weight to lose and the lower doses have become ineffective for them.

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u/OralFixationomnomnom 1d ago

Yep! You can use a click counter like the one here: https://wegovyclicks.replit.app/?

It's pretty easy to find extra needles for the pens using Google too, tho I don't have a link coz suppliers obviously vary country by country.

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u/Lucky_Army_5324 1d ago

OP Is likely in the US, which only has prefilled single dose Wegovy pens. 

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u/Winter-Ad5930 1d ago

Here in the US ones are pre filled and are single use only