re: Why do so many people feel ashamed/lie about taking GLP-1's?

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Beverly Power, who runs a bakery in Andover, has been on the treatment since December, and so far has lost 13kg, or 2 stone. “There are people who will shame you for using this. They’ll say you’re using the easy way out, it’s cheating,” she says. “But it’s none of their business.”

But Power has no regrets, as she has seen several aspects of her health improve. “I talk about it with my friends. The more we talk about it, the less controversial it’s going to be.” Power had previously tried numerous different diets to lose weight – including traditional low-fat ones, low-carbing and intermittent fasting. She had also tried using group programmes like Weight Watchers and Slimming World, and had gone to boot camps that mixed tough exercise regimes with diet advice and weigh-ins.

Such approaches had helped her to lose weight – she went from 106kg down to 96kg. But by last year she was stuck at this weight, even though she was combining low-carbing and intermittent fasting, only eating between 2pm and 8pm every day. This gave her a BMI of 35, classed as clinically obese. “It was very frustrating when I was doing all the right things and I still wasn’t losing weight,” she says. “I just couldn’t get out of that obese category no matter how little I ate.”

Power started injecting Mounjaro six months ago. She was initially reluctant to try it, having heard reports that the medicine causes side effects such as vomiting. But after a friend had a good experience with it, she followed their lead and applied for it through an online pharmacy. Power has been increasing the dose slowly, to let her body get used to it. Side effects have been minimal apart from sulphur burps, which happen if she eats rich food.

Mounjaro is designed to reduce appetite and makes people feel fuller after eating, and it has changed Power’s eating habits. She now eats more salad and fruit, which previously she avoided when doing strict low-carbing. “I’m still mindful about what I eat. But I have a better relationship with my body now,” she says.

As well as the weight loss, Power has seen improvements in several health measures, including blood pressure, cholesterol levels and heart rate. This tallies with the effects seen in clinical trials. Wegovy, a similar drug to Mounjaro that is more studied, also helps improve several health conditions, such as heart and kidney disease. In fact, Power’s main “side effects” have been positive ones. She feels her skin has improved and even concentrates better. “I’ve had people ask me if I’ve been having any Botox,” she says.