So it’s been 6 months since I was a terrified, depressed and severely obese me who was put on the bariatric surgery list by her GP and sent to Slimming World where I’d previously lost and gained and lost and gained and only ever ended up a stone heavier than the time before.
I was recommended to go privately for Mounjaro by the GP who had seen good results in other patients. That was an hard thing to hear. I was equally terrified about the side effects and depressed at the thought I had failed by needing it and that it would also fail like everything else had. I was/am perimenopausal, have several health issues and in my mid-50s thinking old and fat was just my future.
Signed up with Juniper which was a bit pricier but came with support and an app and a fantastic Facebook group that has been my lifeline on this journey.
I am so proud to say that 6 months in I have lost 4 and a half stones. I am 3lb away from a normal BMI for the first time in decades. As you can see from my user name, I’m also only half a stone away from my original goal that seemed like an impossible and ridiculous dream.
More importantly I just feel so much healthier in every way. I am walking daily. I am doing a team sport that I never thought I’d ever get to play again. My skin looks great, my eyes are clear, my relationship with food is so much better. I don’t hate myself any more.
I can honestly say this has changed my life.
It’s taken away that food noise but what does that mean?? For me it means I can focus on healthy meal planning without that insatiable craving for sugar. It means I can eat a sensible portion size and feel sated for the first time in my life. It means I can forget the idea that tonight could be a wine night and not remember until 3 days later. It means I can genuinely enjoy the food I eat but not need more for the sake of it.
This is not about a quick fix or short term goals and then a mad return to usual habits. It’s about a long term way to be and for the first time in my life, I’m starting to believe I have actually changed and can stay changed. I have never lasted 6 months being consistent let alone 6 months of not just thinking about a single goal that I need to get to and can then relax.
This jab has let me do the things I’ve tried before but do them in peace. I track calories but stay around 1600 with 100-120g protein daily. That’s sustainable and healthy for me. I exercise but not manically. That’s sustainable. I drink alcohol but intermittently because I don’t fancy more than that. That’s a revelation for me. I don’t have sugar highs and lows. It just works.
I have had some very minor side effects only and I think that’s partly luck and partly because my body clearly needs the magic that these jabs work on. Plus I am just making good and healthy choices rather than expecting the jab to do all the work.
So prices have gone up and I am nearing my goal. I feel lucky to be at this point in my journey but am willing to pay to stay on a lower dose for life if that ends up being my future.
Juniper is still more expensive than some but I won’t leave them. They have been transparent in their pricing and I think incredibly fair in how they are changing those prices and what they do. I still feel supported and medically safe with their programme and they have an excellent referral set up. Happy to share my code if anyone wants to use it - it gives us both £75 off your first/my next order and £25 for the following two. That makes a huge difference.
The ladies on the March jab group in here are amazing and seeing the individual journeys, the literal ups and downs and the support on there had been invaluable.
Anyway, this was a long ramble but 6 months in I am just so grateful I took the plunge, so to speak.
It’s a deeply personal decision to do this, and an expensive one. But one I am hugely grateful to have been in a position to take.
Happy to answer any questions about it all of that would help anyone.