Zepbound dosage chart: levels, maintenance doses, and forms

Zepbound is dosed on one ladder: 2.5 → 5 → 7.5 → 10 → 12.5 → 15 mg once weekly, with at least four weeks on each level before the next. Where it stops depends on the indication — 5, 10, or 15 mg for weight reduction, 10 or 15 mg for obstructive sleep apnea. Every number below comes from the label, not from practice.

Zepbound dosage levels#

The label never says “level” — it says dosage, and each dosage sits one 2.5 mg step above the last. A Zepbound dosage level is simply which rung of that ladder a prescription is on, and a higher level means more milligrams per weekly injection, not a stronger kind of medicine: the same tirzepatide is in every pen and vial. Each level is read against both approved indications, from the Zepbound prescribing information (revised April 2026).

(Zepbound prescribing information, checked 2026-09-02)

Two rules bind every row. The first increase, from 2.5 mg to 5 mg, comes after 4 weeks; every later one is a 2.5 mg increment taken only after at least 4 weeks on the current dose. And not everyone climbs to the top: prescribers weigh treatment response and tolerability when selecting a maintenance dosage, which is why 5 mg and 10 mg are destinations in their own right.

Maintenance doses by indication#

Zepbound has two approved uses, and the label names maintenance dosages separately for each. Both are prescribed alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity: one is to reduce excess body weight and keep it off in adults with obesity, or with overweight plus at least one weight-related condition; the other is to treat moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity.

(Zepbound prescribing information, checked 2026-09-02)

Where a particular person stops is not in that table. The label lists the dosages it allows as maintenance; choosing among them — and whether to climb past 5 mg or 10 mg at all — is the prescriber’s call. The type 2 diabetes use of the same molecule runs under the Mounjaro name, covered on the Mounjaro tracker page, and the brand-neutral ladder with both Lilly labels side by side is the tirzepatide dosage chart.

How Zepbound is supplied#

Every level exists in four containers. The single-dose pen and vial each hold one weekly dose in the same 0.5 mL, whatever the strength. The multi-dose vial and the single-patient-use KwikPen hold four weekly doses, so the strength on their cartons is four times the weekly dose: a 40 mg per 2.4 mL vial delivers 10 mg in each 0.6 mL injection.

(Zepbound prescribing information, checked 2026-09-02)

The default for every form is the refrigerator at 2°C to 8°C (36°F to 46°F), in the original carton, never frozen — a frozen pen or vial is not to be used. The windows in the last column start counting the moment a container leaves the fridge, and the GLP-1 fridge timer keeps that count. The container also shapes the weekly log — the Zepbound tracker setup page covers each form — and the injection sites guide covers where the dose goes.

Doses in syringe units (vials)#

Syringe units only enter the picture with a vial; a pen sets its own dose. On a brand Zepbound vial the arithmetic is already done, because the concentration rises with the strength: the Instructions for Use have you draw to the 0.5 mL line from a single-dose vial and to the 0.6 mL line from a multi-dose vial, whatever the milligrams. On a U-100 syringe, where 100 units is 1 mL, that is 50 and 60 units; the label itself speaks in milliliters and asks for a 1 mL syringe that can measure a 0.5 mL or 0.6 mL dose.

Units become real arithmetic at any other concentration — a compounded vial labeled 10 or 20 mg/mL, say. Then the dose in mg, divided by the mg/mL on the vial, times 100, gives the units. The converter below does that for tirzepatide at any stated concentration; the compounded tirzepatide dosage guide covers what else changes when the vial is not a Lilly one, and the units calculator handles other molecules.

Where the dates come from#

A chart holds intervals — four weeks, thirty days — and no dates. Your first-injection date turns the ladder into a calendar, and the titration date planner does that conversion, returning the earliest label date each level could begin. Those dates are boundaries, not appointments; the schedule your prescriber sets is the one to put reminders on.

What this guide cannot tell you#

This dosage guide covers what the label approves and stops where the label hands over to the prescriber. It does not say when to move up a level: the four-week minimum is a floor, and the decision to climb — or to stay at 5 mg or 10 mg — belongs to the person who wrote the prescription. It does not cover a dose that was missed or moved; that is a question for your prescriber or pharmacist, not for a chart. It does not translate Zepbound levels into doses of any other medication, branded or compounded, because no label publishes such an equivalence. And it does not choose an indication: which use you are prescribed for decides which maintenance dosages apply, and that is settled before this chart is opened.

The chart is good for recognition — finding your level, seeing which indication names it as maintenance, and knowing what container it came in. Recording which level started on which date is a different job, and one a GLP-1 shot tracker app does better than a printout.

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