Weight-loss drugs made me fall back in love with old-fashioned dieting
My first injectable pen filled with wonder weight-loss drug Wegovy arrived at my front door by next-day delivery, packaged in a chilled box, after I’d filled out an online questionnaire and submitted photos of me looking curvy to a reputable pharmacy.
I hadn’t hesitated in investing in it. High-street pharmacies offer weight-loss injections for £200 a month: a significant sum, but it felt like a sensible investment in myself and my future. I’m 45 with three young children aged seven, five and two – I want to live as long as possible and see them make their way through the world.
Until having children, I was slim, confident in the way I looked and didn’t give my size too much thought. But after my youngest daughter, Juno, was born, I didn’t shake off the generous pregnancy padding. I felt self-conscious, unsexy and, far more seriously, I was concerned that abdominal weight is dangerous, increasing risks of heart disease and diabetes.
So when I heard that friends were “on the pen”, dropping dress sizes as rapidly as they were gaining confidence, I gave a split-second thought to the fact that this medicine felt very new – did we know the long-term effects? – before rushing to follow.
I told my GP I’d had gestational diabetes, wanted to lose midriff weight and suggested injections as a wise preventative health measure. But with a BMI teetering around 30, I wasn’t high-risk enough to be prescribed Wegovy – the brand name for weight-loss-approved semaglutide.
So instead, I picked a well-known online pharmacy, filled in a brief questionnaire, took photos of myself on the scales and sent it off to their online doctor service. My prescription was issued by the private doctor, and I was ready to lose weight.
Everyone’s bodies need to adjust to semaglutides, so doctors recommend a starting dose of 0.25mg weekly injections, increasing to 1mg over the course of months. I’d been told by friends “on the pen” that my hunger would cease immediately. So I waited – and felt absolutely nothing. I kept eating normally for three days, when the side-effects kicked in.
That evening, I had a stomach ache. Patients on semaglutides are warned of potential nausea and diarrhoea while their body adjusts to the medication, so I initially wasn’t concerned. Two hours later, the pain was so strong it reminded me of a miscarriage. My husband was away with friends and I juggled bedtime with cramps until, after a few hours, I was sick and the pain subsided.
I messaged a friend who’d lost two stone over the previous six months. “I felt sick at first, too. Side-effects don’t last long and are so worth it,” she reassured me. Three days later, the pain started again. I threw up repeatedly. When I woke the next day, the pain had gone, but my stomach almost felt bruised from the experience.
After my third injection, with the excruciating stomach pains now radiating down my legs and arms, my alarmed husband asked if I needed to go to the hospital and I had to admit to myself that these weren’t “normal” side-effects. My body clearly didn’t react well to semaglutides.
I’m pleased that guidance changed this week, and pharmacies now have to provide video consultations for prescriptions. I hope that patients will feel more supported if they, too, experience severe side-effects.
Instead, when I emailed the pharmacy, it took three weeks to receive a reply. When it came, the doctor apologised for the delay “due to unprecedented demand” and suggested I try weight-loss pills instead.
By that time, I’d bought the book The Fast 800 Recipe Book, by Dr Clare Bailey Mosley, Justine Pattison and the late Dr Michael Mosley, for the far cheaper sum of £7.49. It inspired me to change how I ate. I drank one coffee with milk and sugar around 7am, down from three cups (my children wake frequently in the night), ate lunch at midday (I was starving by then) and an early family dinner around 5pm. Rather than snacking on crisps as I relaxed in the evening, I’d drink herbal tea. I ate more vegetables, fibre and protein and cut out processed food. I didn’t stick rigidly to 800 calories, but my portion sizes decreased.
My progress was steady: I was losing between half a kilo and a kilo each week. Over the next three months, I lost 10 kilos and am back to a healthy BMI.
Any time I felt a little gnaw of hunger or was tempted by sugary snacks, I’d remember the Wegovy stomach aches – and it made it incredibly easy to remain disciplined.
The wonder drug is helping so many – and the potential protection from diseases as varied as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer”s are so heartening - but for me it just made me appreciate old-fashioned dieting, with a Mediterranean diet at its core.
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