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I want to lose a few kilos before an event. Should I try a GLP-1?

An honest answer for anyone eyeing a weight-loss medicine before a wedding, a holiday or a big day.

GLP Guidebook teamUpdated 12 Oct 20264 min read19 sourcesWritten from published sources
The short answer

Probably not. In Australia, GLP-1 medicines are approved for type 2 diabetes, and for obesity or overweight with a related health problem, not for a few kilos. They take months to reach full dose, often upset the stomach, and the weight usually returns when you stop. There are better ways to feel good on the day.

Read this page first. It covers why these medicines aren't meant for a few kilos, what happens after, the fakes and what works instead. At the end, three guides take you further, in order.
On this page
  1. Why it isn't meant for this
  2. Would it work in time?
  3. After the event
  4. The fakes problem
  5. What works instead
  6. What to read next
  7. Sources

Why isn't it meant for this?

These medicines treat a disease. They aren't meant for fine-tuning your weight.

Wanting to look and feel your best on a big day is completely normal. But in September 2026 the Medical Board's chair put it plainly: "a patient may want peptides, but that doesn't mean they need peptides."1

Here are the lines that matter in Australia:

  • The approved uses. Wegovy and Mounjaro are approved for weight management in adults with a BMI (body mass index, your weight compared with your height) of 30 or more, or 27 to under 30 with at least one weight-related health problem, such as high blood pressure.2,3
  • The healthy range. Australian guidance counts a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 as healthy for most adults. Overweight starts at 25, or at 23 for Asian people, and as recommended for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.4
  • No subsidy. No GLP-1 is on the PBS for weight.5
  • Ozempic. In Australia it is approved for type 2 diabetes, not weight loss, and promoting it for weight loss is illegal.6,7

So if you're in the healthy range, or just above it, these medicines aren't approved for you.

Would it even work in time?

Not really. The dose goes up slowly, over about 4 months.

Wegovy starts at 0.25 mg and steps up every 4 weeks. It reaches the full dose of 2.4 mg after 16 weeks.2

Feeling sick and diarrhoea were the most common side effects in STEP 1, the main semaglutide weight trial. People there got either the medicine or a dummy injection with no medicine in it. More people stopped because of stomach effects on the medicine.8

Out of every 100 people, how many stopped because of stomach effects:

STEP 1Semaglutide 2.4 mg (Wegovy), weekly

1,961 adults with obesity or overweight and no diabetes, 68 weeks.8

Semaglutide4.5 in 100
Dummy injection0.8 in 100

Bars are drawn on a scale up to 10 in 100.

Not ideal in the weeks before a celebration.

What happens after the event?

The weight usually comes back once you stop.

A year after stopping semaglutide, people followed up from STEP 1 had regained about two-thirds of the weight they lost.9 Most of their gains in blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol faded too.9

What about the fakes?

Fakes and illegal copies have turned up in Australia. Buying without a real consultation, from unregulated sellers, raises the risk of getting one.

  • The WHO has found falsified Ozempic in several countries. Fakes may be missing the medicine, or contain a different one, such as insulin.10
  • The TGA has warned about counterfeit Ozempic pens, and found "GLP-1" drops and patches with no GLP-1 in them.11,12
  • A product sold as "retatrutide" held about 8 times the approved level of semaglutide, and put its user in hospital.13
  • Pharmacy-made (compounded) GLP-1s have been banned since October 2024.14
Get help now. If you've injected a product of unknown origin and feel shaky, confused or faint, call triple zero (000). For poisoning advice, call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26.15,16

So what works instead?

A plan built around food and movement, started as early as you can.

The WHO says medicines alone won't solve weight problems. Healthy eating and physical activity remain the base of treatment.17 Guide 3: Your options sets out what the evidence says about each option.

And if your weight is affecting your health, that's a different conversation. Guide 1: Weight and health helps you check where you stand.

Your optionsConsidering it for weightStopping

What to read next, in order

These three guides go deeper. Each one ends with a link to the next, so you can read them one after another.

  1. 1Should I consider a GLP-1? And when not toGuide 4 of 9DecideThe section on losing a few kilos: who these medicines are for, and who they're not for.
  2. 2Your options, and where medicines fitGuide 3 of 9DecideFood, activity and other options, with what the evidence says about each.
  3. 3Stopping and the long termGuide 9 of 9Live with itWhat happens to weight, and to your body, when people stop.
Was this page easy to understand?

Sources

  1. newsGP (RACGP). Ahpra launches new guidance in peptide prescribing ("We may investigate the practice of practitioners with high rates of prescribing or compounding of any scheduled medicine, even if we have not received a complaint"). 16 September 2026. racgp.org.au
  2. Novo Nordisk. Wegovy (semaglutide) Australian Product Information, revised 22 June 2026 (sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6, 4.8, 6.4). medsinfo.com.au
  3. Eli Lilly. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) Australian Product Information, version A14.0, October 2026 (sections 4.1, 4.5, 4.6, 6.4). medsinfo.com.au
  4. Markovic TP, Proietto J, Dixon JB et al. The Australian Obesity Management Algorithm. Australian Diabetes Society, with ANZOS, ANZMOSS and the RACGP, July 2024. diabetessociety.com.au
  5. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Medicine status: semaglutide (Wegovy), document 1460 ("Medicine listed on PBS: Has not yet occurred"), updated 23 July 2026. pbs.gov.au
  6. Novo Nordisk. Ozempic (semaglutide) Australian Product Information, revised 25 September 2026 (sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.6, 6.3). medsinfo.com.au
  7. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Advertising Ozempic and GLP-1 receptor agonists is prohibited ("It is illegal to advertise Ozempic for weight loss, even to health professionals"). Updated 11 March 2025. tga.gov.au
  8. Wilding JPH et al. Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity (STEP 1). NEJM, 2021;384:989–1002. 1,961 adults without diabetes, 68 weeks. DOI
  9. Wilding JPH et al. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: the STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2022;24(8):1553–1564. 327 people followed for a year after stopping. DOI
  10. World Health Organization. WHO issues warning on falsified medicines used for diabetes treatment and weight loss (Medical Product Alert 2/2024). 20 June 2024. Link
  11. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Ozempic (semaglutide) safety collection, including counterfeit Ozempic pens detected (30 September 2024, 3 April 2025) and counterfeit semaglutide vials (25 May 2023). tga.gov.au
  12. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Counterfeit weight loss products claiming to contain GLP-1 (laboratory testing found "no GLP-1 or any GLP-1 analogues"). Safety advisory, 2 March 2026. tga.gov.au
  13. Therapeutic Goods Administration. TGA tests counterfeit retatrutide product following serious adverse event report (contained undeclared semaglutide, "approximately 8 times higher" than approved levels). Safety advisory, 14 September 2026. tga.gov.au
  14. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Update: glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) pharmacy compounding changes (no compounding of any GLP-1 RA from 1 October 2024). Media release, 18 June 2024. tga.gov.au
  15. Healthdirect Australia. How healthdirect can help you ("call triple zero (000) for an ambulance immediately"; helpline 1800 022 222). healthdirect.gov.au
  16. Healthdirect Australia. Poisoning (Poisons Information Centre, 13 11 26). healthdirect.gov.au
  17. World Health Organization. WHO issues global guideline on the use of GLP-1 medicines in treating obesity. 1 December 2025. Link
  18. Novo Nordisk. Wegovy (semaglutide) US prescribing information, revised June 2026. Sections 1, 2.2, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5, 8.3, 17. (US label, not the Australian one.) PDF
  19. Novo Nordisk. Ozempic (semaglutide) injection, US prescribing information and Medication Guide, revised May 2026. Sections 4, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6, 7.2, 8.5. (US label, not the Australian one.) PDF

Last checked 12 Oct 2026 · Next review due Jan 2027

How this page was made. Written by the GLP Guidebook team from the sources above: Australian product information, Australian guidance, TGA and PBS documents, and published trials. It's general information, not medical advice. Talk to your GP or another qualified prescriber before starting, stopping or changing any medicine. In an emergency, call triple zero (000). For health advice any time, call healthdirect on 1800 022 222. Report suspected side effects to the TGA. How we write