Comparing Wegovy and Traditional Weight Loss Treatments

Last Updated: 24/06/2025

Wegovy is a new, highly-effective weight loss treatment from Novo Nordisk. Wegovy’s UK launch is expected to be late 2023. It has shown great promise in clinical trials, and is expected to be a very useful tool to help people reduce their body weight.

Many people will turn to Wegovy after making changes to their diet and exercise regime, but clinical trials have shown that people who take Wegovy experience almost six times as much weight loss as people using diet and exercise alone. Here, we take a look at Wegovy and compare it to traditional weight loss methods, to help you decide which approach is right for you.

What is Wegovy?

Wegovy (semaglutide) is a popular weight loss medication. It works to help you lose weight by slowing down the emptying of your stomach, which can help you to feel fuller for longer. This reduces your appetite, which helps you to eat less so you can lose weight. Wegovy’s weight loss effects are most effective when combined with diet and exercise.

The active ingredient (semaglutide) is also found in Ozempic. Ozempic is a very similar medication to Wegovy, but it is used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In some cases, doctors have prescribed Ozempic as a weight loss drug, but, unlike Wegovy, the Ozempic doses are not optimised for weight loss.

Traditional Weight Loss Options

Most people try Wegovy when traditional weight loss methods have failed. There are countless different diets and exercise regimes that you can try and it may take a while to find one that is the best fit.

Why We Gain Weight

We do not yet fully understand why some people gain weight more easily than others. Weight loss is certainly not as simple as just choosing to eat less and exercise more. There are genetic, biological and psychological factors at play that can be incredibly challenging to counteract. Dietary changes can be very effective for some people, but others may find them much more difficult.

Calorie-Controlled Diet

Previously, calorie-controlled diets have been recommended as a weight-loss tool. These do not involve cutting out any foods but are more focused on reducing the amount of calories that you consume. This can help you to lose weight, but it is more important that you focus on getting the greatest nutritional benefit from the calories you consume.

Foods such as fruit, vegetables, starches and wholegrains contain lots of vitamins, nutrients and fibre even though some of them can be quite high in calories. Opting for these nutrient-dense foods should give you much greater health benefits than simply cutting down your calories without considering the nutritional implications.

For some people, dietary changes will be enough to help them lose weight – but many people will struggle with this approach. It doesn’t really take into account the psychological factors and many people will feel very hungry as their body adapts to this new diet. For some people, their hunger levels can feel unmanageable.

‘Fad Diets’

In an effort to find diets that work for more people, various ‘fad diets’ have popped up over the years. These generally involve cutting out certain food groups from your meal plans i.e. low-carb diets such as the Atkins diet and the Keto diet, low-sugar diets & low-fat diets.

This is because fat, sugar and carbohydrates often account for most of our calorie intake. These diets can fail if people replace the missing food groups with ones that are less healthy.

Various fad diets claim to have additional health benefits. For example, the keto diet and carnivore diets are very popular with people who have type-2 diabetes. This is because it encourages them to cut out problematic sugars and carbohydrates (which break down into sugars). This can be very helpful for some people, but some caution needs to be taken that these diets don’t become too high in fat, as this is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Fasting

Another approach to diets hinges on the time at which you eat your meals. Intermittent fasting is probably one of the most popular diets in this group. The theory behind intermittent fasting is that the longer gaps between meals allow your body to burn through some of your fat stores after it has used up all the energy from your last meal. This can be a good approach for people who want to lose weight but do not struggle with the discomfort of feeling hungry.

Exercise

It doesn’t matter what weight loss programme you try to follow, it is always a good idea to increase your exercise levels as well. Increased physical activity burns some calories, but it also offers a range of other health benefits – including improved heart health and muscle strength. Exercise does use your body’s energy stores, but it can take a very long time. For example, to burn off just one chocolate bar containing 230 calories, you would have to run for about 22 minutes.

To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. This means that your body has burnt off the energy from the food you have eaten, and then can start to get energy from your fat stores. If you have an unhealthy diet, it would take a significant increase in your physical activity to enable you to be in a deficit.

Comparing the Two: Wegovy vs Diet & Exercise

Weight Loss

The STEP 1 clinical trial of Wegovy compared weight loss between a group of patients who were given Wegovy and another group who were given a placebo. Everyone in the trial was given advice on reducing calorie intake and increasing exercise. This gives us an opportunity to compare the effectiveness of Wegovy with diet and exercise.

It is important to note that Wegovy has always been intended to be used with increased exercise and dietary modifications. Therefore, there are not currently any studies that look at the effects of Wegovy without diet and exercise changes.

In the STEP 1 trial, people taking Wegovy lost more weight than those taking the placebo. People using Wegovy lost an average of 14.9% of their initial body weight, compared to just 2.4% in the placebo group. The average weight lost by the Wegovy group was 35lbs/15.8kg, compared to just 6lbs/2.7kg in the placebo group.

This shows that diet and exercise do help you lose weight, but you can expect more weight loss if you also take Wegovy.

The STEP 4 Wegovy trial looked at longer-term sustained weight loss on Wegovy. Everyone took Wegovy for the first 20 weeks, then some of the patients stopped taking it and continued only with diet and exercise. They found that people who continued taking Wegovy, continued to experience weight loss, losing an additional 7.9% of their body weight from week 20. People who stopped taking Wegovy gained approximately 6.9% of their body weight from week 20.

This shows that Wegovy does deliver good weight loss results, but it is better if you continue taking Wegovy throughout your weight loss journey, as you may put some of the weight back on when you stop taking it.

Other Health Benefits

Aside from weight loss, additional benefits were identified from the Wegovy trials. People taking Wegovy experienced a greater reduction in their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels than people who were just using diet and exercise with a placebo. Whilst diet and exercise certainly do help people lose weight and improve their health, Wegovy amplifies these effects helping people to lose more weight and to see greater health improvements than those using diet and exercise alone.

Side Effects

Before following any treatment plan, you should be aware of the most common side effects. Wegovy side effects include constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, dizziness and fatigue. Wegovy can also cause a reduction in blood sugar called hypoglycaemia, and it can increase your risk of gallbladder problems, gallstones and an inflamed pancreas (pancreatitis). If you suffer from diabetic retinopathy, Wegovy can make the condition worse.

When you change your diet, you may also experience some changes to your digestive system such as diarrhoea and constipation. Depending on exactly which dietary changes you make, you may expose yourself to an increased risk of certain other conditions i.e. high cholesterol. If you are not sure of the best way to change your diet, you may wish to speak to a dietician for advice. They can help you design a diet plan to help you maximise your weight loss.

Working Together

Wegovy has always been intended to be used in combination with a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity. By reducing your appetite, Wegovy helps you to reduce your food intake, which means that your body has fewer calories to get its energy from. When the body has used up all the calories from your meal, it will start to produce energy from your fat stores. This is what causes you to lose weight.

If you also increase your exercise levels, your body will use more energy and you’ll burn through your fat stores more quickly, so you should lose more weight and lose it more quickly.

Conclusion

Diet and exercise can be an effective way to lose weight, however, many people may need some additional help. Treatment with Wegovy offers a useful tool to be used in combination with a low-calorie diet and exercise to help you lose weight. People losing weight with Wegovy typically lose more weight than those who use diet and exercise alone.

However, it is important to bear in mind that you may need to continue Wegovy for a long time to avoid putting weight back on when you stop taking it.

Wegovy has just released in the UK – you can order a prescription through our trusted, UK registered Online Doctor service. Simply take a quick assessment, and if Wegovy is suitable for you, we can arrange delivery straight to your door!

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