Until a couple of years ago, few people would have heard of Ozempic or Mounjaro.
But now, the injections – which are officially meant to treat type 2 diabetes – are being increasingly used as weight loss jobs, and are a hot topic among people looking to change their body size.
However, while some people openly discuss with friends and family that they are using the drug, others shy away from it, due to fear of ridicule or judgement.
Some keep it a complete secret, while others eventually reveal how they managed to shed the pounds.
Here, FEMAIL talks to four women who revealed why they kept their weight loss jabs to themselves.
‘I didn’t want my children to worry about me’
Lou Scofield (pictured before using the weight loss jab) said she initially didn’t tell people she was using it because she didn’t want them to worry about the potential side effects
Weighing 17 and a half stone and suffering from numerous health conditions, mother-of-two Lou Scofield, 48, decided it was time to take action.
Her youngest son Peter, 18, was coming to the end of his schooling and Lou, from Essex, wanted to fit into a nice frock for his Leavers’ Ball.
After gaining weight from comfort eating while perimenopausal and yo-yo dieting for much of her life, politics teacher Lou decided in March to follow an NHS medication-assisted Mounjaro weightloss programme; although she was hesitant at first.
‘I started to read about weight loss medication and did some research. My only concern was there’s a real mix of reports out there – and a lot of negativity about side effects. But once I read more, it was actually the people who had bought the medication unlicensed who were having these really awful side effects.’
The Second Nature programme balances the weight loss drugs with a structured food plan and behavioural science to help people keep the weight off once they have stopped taking the drugs.
‘I started on a low dose of Mounjaro that has been increased. It’s a very fine needle in a pen and it’s very easy to administer,’ she said, adding that she would recommend the drug to others.
‘I was shocked within a day or two, that hunger switch went off, and I felt fuller for longer. I don’t have that much for breakfast, but I’ve always been like that, then lunch is perhaps a low-carb feta salad with chicken or fish, then at night I’ll have meat, fish with roasted Mediterranean veg.’
However, despite feeling better in herself almost immediately, Lou didn’t initially decide to tell her family she was taking the drug.
AFTER: Lou said the drug was a ‘game changer’, and that she feels much better in herself after using the medication
She explained: ‘There were two main reasons for not telling my family. Firstly, it’s quite expensive and people always query the justification of that.
‘And there has been bad press, and I wanted to use medication that was from an approved pharmacy and that it worked for me. Ultimately, I didn’t want them to worry. I’m more open about it now!’
Lou has now dropped down to 13 stone and fit into her size 14 dress for Peter’s Leavers’ Ball in July.
‘It looked lovely,’ she said. ‘I received so many compliments – some of the parents didn’t recognise me. I was proud of myself for doing so.’
She said she feels so much better in herself, she receives lots of compliments. And she said she’s much more open about the fact she’s taking the medication.
‘I would say to anyone thinking about this, it’s been a game-changer for me and I’ve recommended it to other friends who are now on the programme and have had the same great results,’ Lou said.
‘I didn’t want to be judged for spending so much on it’
Mel Narin-Bulan (pictured before losing weight) said she was worried about being judged for using the drug – especially as it is expensive
For Mel Narin-Bulan, WeGovy was the answer to a decades-long battle with her weight in which she had tried several diets.
An active single mother-of-two, Mel also suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome, which she believes contributed to her difficulty to lose weight.
Despite this, the hairdresser, 45, from Bexley in Greater London, didn’t want to lose weight too quickly after developing an issue with her gall bladder a few years earlier following drastic weight loss.
Therefore she opted for a ‘low and slow’ approach to the drug, which she began using in June 2024, when she weighed 80 kilos.
Five months on she has lost nine kilos; and has only recently opened up to her close friends and family about using the drug.
‘I was hiding [the drug] in a place where even the kids didn’t know about it,’ she told FEMAIL.
Mel added she was afraid of being judged for being on WeGovy, which is why she initially kept it from people.
‘The initial thing is being judged and judgmental comments, and also because it’s quite expensive as well.
‘I didn’t want to be judged for spending so much on it.’
‘I would say about 10 per cent of people made little sly comments like, ‘oh I could use that money on something better like a holiday or on the children’.’
However she explained she still spends money on her children who are her priority, but chose to take the drug in order to improve her overall health.
Mel said: ‘If I’m not here and I’m not healthy, obviously I won’t be able to do all those things anyway.’
After taking the drug for five months, Mel has lost 9kg, and says she has now told most people in her life that she is taking WeGovy
She added she had become ‘really annoyed’ by the minority of people who told her that ‘diet and exercise’ would be more effective than taking a weight loss drug – as she had always been a keen gymgoer and had tried dieting before.
The mother-of-two argued it was ‘people who have never struggled with their weight’ and ‘people who have never worried about dieting’ who often make such comments.
Now weighing in at 71 kilos, Mel has now told most people in her life that she is taking WeGovy and says that almost all of them are supportive – however she is still subject to ‘sly comments’ here and there.
She believes much of the judgment she has received is down to ‘jealousy’.
‘Nobody wants someone else to look better than them. With women especially, there’s a lot of rivalry,’ she said.
Mel, whose heritage is Turkish, suggested there is also a lack of understanding over weight loss drugs in her culture, which ‘revolves around food’.
She joked: ‘If I go to my aunt’s, it’s like she’s trying to fatten me up.
‘Families from those backgrounds can be extremely judgmental.’
As Mel continues to lose weight, she wants to ensure she carries on with her slow and steady approach.
She said her goal is not to reach a certain weight, but to fall within a ‘healthy BMI category’.
‘Being on Mounjaro is really tough, you feel unwell a lot and you have to deal with a lot of scrutiny’
Daisy, 23, from Guildford, weighed nearly 20 stone when she was given an ultimatum by her doctor: get a gastric band or start taking weight loss medication. Pictured at the start of 2024, before starting Mounjaro
Daisy, 23, from Guildford, weighed nearly 20 stone when she was given an ultimatum by her doctor: get a gastric band or start taking weight loss medication.
Daisy had struggled with her weight for many years before she decided to start taking the weight loss medication, Mounjaro, but felt like she needed to take matters into her own hands after a life changing doctors appointment.
For years Daisy’s weight had fluctuated and she had struggled to find lasting results in conventional diets.
‘I had struggled with all the classic diets before like Weight Watchers/Slimming World etc but nothing was really working,’ she explained.
Earlier this year, Daisy decided to see a doctor about her weight after being encouraged by her mother, who was concerned about her health.
There she discovered that she had both insulin resistance and Binge Binge Eating Disorder, which had both contributed to her struggling with weight fluctuation.
‘I was also diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder as I really struggled to navigate my moods without food. When I went through particularly traumatising life events my weight just shot up because it was the only comfort I knew,’ she explained.
Daisy was then recommended either gastric bypass surgery or weight loss jabs that would have to be sourced privately.
After seeing the waiting list for gastric bypass surgery was nearly a year, she opted for the weight loss drugs, which are partially funded with the help of her parents.
Since taking the medication, Daisy has dropped from a size 22 to a size 16-18 – and people have started to notice the change
Since starting the medications, she has lost three stone in three and a half months and has gone from a size 22 to a size 16-18.
‘I was a UK size 22 at my biggest but I fit into size 16-18 now, my work trousers nearly fall down every time I wear them!’ she said.
‘People are starting to notice now and that’s when telling people the truth has become a bit of a problem.’
At the beginning of her journey, she only told friends on a ‘need to know basis’, informing only only her friends, friends and those closest to her.
But as she started to lose weight, people began to ask questions and keeping the medication quiet became harder.
‘Now I am looking a lot slimmer, people are noticing and asking how I did it so drastically. I started being open, because I didn’t get why people would be weird about it.
‘But then I had a conversation with an old work colleague and she said “Oh God, it’s not Ozempic is it?” and I suddenly realised people will be really judgemental, I read a lot of anti glp-1 rhetoric online that didn’t help.
‘The party line has been “calorie control with the help of a doctor” I don’t like lying but it’s better than people thinking they know better than me about my own body.’
‘A lot of people assume that we’re taking the easy way out or that we’re stealing diabetes medication from diabetics.
‘That’s not the case at all. Being on Mounjaro is really tough, you feel unwell a lot and you have to deal with a lot of scrutiny.’
While she has feared the judgement of others, Daisy has also had the contradictory experience of people treating her better the more weight she losses.
‘People are being kinder to me on the tube and in the street and it just reinforced to me that I would be judged being overweight the same as if I was on weight loss medication,’ she explained.
‘I think that lots of people assume it’s all Hollywood elites who don’t need it, and while that is the case, there’s a lot of people out there who see this as a magic bullet and it has saved their life.
‘I think losing weight in any capacity can make people feel jealous because everyone is insecure about their bodies and I would react the same way if I had a friend go on Mounjaro and lose loads of weight.
‘I don’t think we should shame people for trying to be healthier, I just want to be able to live life as long as possible and this has helped so much,’ she concluded.
‘I was worried for my health so I decided to pay for it privately’
Karen (not her real name) pictured said she lost 12lb within four weeks of taking the drug, and is hoping to drop more pounds
Karen (not her real name), 33, from the East Midlands, started taking Mounjaro less than four weeks ago and has already lost 12lbs from taking the drug.
She is pleased with the amount of weight she has lost but hopes she will lose more over the coming months.
‘I feel like it’s alright but I’ve done that before from normal dieting. I feel like other people have such huge results or maybe those are the people that are posting them so I felt like I wasn’t doing that well.’
Karen was referred to the weight management team but was put off by the one year waiting list.
‘I didn’t want to wait because I was worried about my health so I decided to pay privately,’ she said.
She paid £129 for the first dose of Mounjaro and later £119 for one ‘with a discount code’. Lower doses of the drug are less expensive but go up as the dose increase over time, with 20mg injections costing more than £300.
‘I want to be on there until I reach my goal weight but I don’t know how long it’s going to take me,’ she said.
Her goals with the drug have changed since she started taking it. ‘Initially I was focused on weight,’ she said.
‘Because when I was a certain weight I felt really good about myself but then I’m a lot older now so even a size 12 or 14, I wouldn’t mind getting to that, regardless of weight. I wouldn’t say my motivation is aesthetics at all, my motivation is health and for my child.’
While she didn’t have any health concerns in particular, Karen joked that she was motivated be a ‘fear of dying’.
‘I became very aware of my mortality once I had a child. I’m a single mum and if something happened to me, she wouldn’t have anyone else so that’s been pushing me to take care of myself.
‘I have a long history of struggling with my weight but also eating disorders in the past so it’s kind of gone up and down, mostly up in the last few years.’
To access Mounjaro, Karen emitted details about her past with eating disorders, fearing that she wouldn’t be given permission to use the drug.
‘But I feel like it’s helped because I was struggling with binge eating in recent years,’ she said.
While she is pleased with the way things are going with the medication, Karen hasn’t told anyone she is taking in.
‘I’m not telling anyone. I made a fake profile on Facebook and a fake Instagram just so that no one will find out.’
Though she hasn’t told the people closest to her, she has made fake profiles so she can share details of her journey with others on the drugs.
Explaining the reasons she keeps the drug a secret she said: ‘It’s a bit of a mixture, I don’t tell my family because my birth mum passed away when I was really young and they suggested that it was to do with weight loss medication so my family is extremely against it.
‘The other side with friends, is that I feel like some might be judgmental and in some ways, I feel ashamed that I even need it. I feel like other people would think I should be losing weight in other ways because it’s kind of an easy way out, like cheating.’
‘But at the same time when I see people online and I see people have had major weight loss, I always look at that as cheating as well and I didn’t want to follow them.
‘I feel like I’m projecting my own thoughts onto my friends,’ she laughed.
While she worries what her friends and family with think about her decision, Karen also believes that she has the right to keep details of her weight private.
‘I feel good about keeping it private because it’s not really someone else’s right to know and it should be my choice. At the end of the day, even though my parents my get upset or be judgmental, if I want to let people know, I would do it and deal with the consequences but I don’t.’
‘For me it’s an absolute last resort because I know every time I start trying to do healthy dieting, I fall back to really bad eating disorder habits so I think for me, this is actually the healthiest option. The other options might have really bad effects on my health.’
She hasn’t been able to tell even those closest to her about the medication.
‘There’s not a single person that knows and I have no plans on ever telling anyone,’ she admitted.
But Karen has no plans to share the details of her weight loss anytime soon and plans to credit calorie counting if people ask her how she did it.
‘I’ve lost a significant amount of weight in the past with calorie counting and exercise so I’ll just tell them I’m doing the same thing,’ she confessed.
She currently weighs 135kg but hopes to lose 50-60kg
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