I lost four stone on weight loss jab Mounjaro and the side effects were worth it

Diana Collette, 65, is a retired business development manager and mother-of-two. She lives in Hampshire with husband Terry, 68 and they run a family business together. Last year, Diana lost four stone (25kg) while taking the weight loss jab Mounjaro, but the side effects were significant. Here's how the drug changed her life...

As someone who never used to struggle with their weight while younger, I found getting heavier as I aged frustrating.

I’m only 5ft tall and in my twenties, thirties and forties, I was only seven and a half stone (48kg). Even as I entered my fifties, I only went up to nine stone (57kg) where I was very comfortable. I was active, ate well and did 'all the right things'.

But during the first lockdown, I piled on weight. I put on over four stone (25kg) from 2020 in four years and at my heaviest weighed 12st 8lbs (81kg), going from a size 10 to 16.

Gaining weight after HRT

I put it down to various changes to my HRT which I’d been taking since my mid-50s. One brand was discontinued and another type of HRT didn’t agree with me and it threw my hormones out of kilter.

I’ve always been a really confident person but as the weight piled on, I began to lose that confidence. My daughter was getting married in September 2024 and I didn’t want to be a big 'mother of the bride'.

So, with this in mind, I tried to lose the weight as best I could. I tried everything – low-carb diets, low-calorie diets and intermittent fasting. I even tried a prescription weight loss drug but to be able to take that, you have to prove you are losing weight on a regular basis.

My weight had first started creeping up in 2019 when my HRT had been doubled – I was really fed up as back then the doctors wouldn’t allow me to keep taking the prescription weight loss drug at the same time as I wasn't losing weight regularly on it. When lockdown happened, the weight piled on even more so by the time I started taking Mounajaro, I'd been steadily gaining weight for nearly four years.

Feeling like a failure

I saw a health and weight coach via the NHS in 2021 who suggested a diet plan for me but eventually admitted defeat. She said she simply didn’t know why I wasn’t losing weight either as I was doing all the right things.

My doctor even said I was possibly just one of those people who 'would do really well in a famine because you’re storing all your fat'. She may have meant well, but it was very frustrating to hear because I couldn’t see a way out of it.

My mental health was affected. I felt my body was a failure because I couldn’t crack the problem and I’d always been the kind of person who could sort problems out. I didn’t want to be this weight. My hip and knee problems – which had only been mild before – were both causing me a lot of grief as I’d piled on so much weight. I needed to do something.

Taking action

One day last year, I Googled, looking for answers. I saw other weight loss jabs on offer but there was something about the wraparound care of the programme on Myjuniper.co.uk that appealed to me. I was offered Wegovy or Mounjaro weight loss jabs as a way to drop the pounds, but I chose Mounjaro (tirzepatide) as it sounded like it might give quicker results.

I was told the team at My Juniper would carefully monitor me throughout. It seemed like the ethical and responsible way to do this and cost between £209 and £229 per month depending on the dose prescribed. Mounjaro isn't available on the NHS at the moment but will be later this year.

I started on a 2.5mg dose in March 2024 and lost around a stone (6.3kg) in the first six weeks. I gradually increased by 2.5mg until the three-month stage and I stayed on 10mg for the last three months. So I took it for six months in total at a cost of just over £1,000.

Mounjaro suppresses your appetite by mimicking a hormone which is released after eating and makes you feel fuller. The drug also affects another hormone, which influences your metabolism.

Less hungry

I wouldn’t say the effects were instant as I’d always eaten healthily anyway but the drug seemed to affect how I felt about food – I was making healthier choices and was less hungry than usual. Suddenly any thought of heavy, carby foods was simply not appealing.

Before taking the jabs, I used to have a handful of chips on my plate whereas once I was taking the Mounjaro, the thought of any chips was abhorrent. But I did try to eat some carbs, such as a few mouthfuls of potato because I knew that it was important for my body to have all the nutrients it needed.

The jab had the same effect with alcohol. Normally I'm quite happy to have a couple of glasses of red wine on occasions but this went down to practically zero.

I probably lost a little bit more weight in the beginning but it worked out around a gradual two pounds (nearly one kilo) a week for most of the six months until I reached a much slimmer 8st 8lbs (56kg). If anything, I felt this was a little too light for me so have put on a few more pounds to my 'sweet spot' of nine stone (57kg) and I’m happier here.

Coping with side effects

I did have a few side effects but they were all manageable. I had a little nausea at times but a sugar-free mint would help. If I was constipated, I took a laxative. And I had a little hair loss – nothing to do with the drug itself, but due to losing weight so quickly. Now I’m taking collagen and my hair seems to be thicker.

I stopped taking the jabs at the end of September and was nervous about whether the weight would pile back on but so far, so good.

Three months later, my appetite is still reduced but I don’t know if that will come back or not. I’m trying my best to exercise as much as possible and my hip and knee problems are nowhere near as bad as they were before. I’m feeling so much better now.

Read more about weight loss drugs:

• What to know about the risks of using weight loss drugs unsupervised (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)

• My experience of a weight-loss drug was hell – I felt like I was being poisoned (The Telegraph, 12-min read)

• Lilly's Mounjaro more popular than Wegovy in UK's private obesity drug market (Reuters, 5-min read)