Labour MP Carolyn Harris said she didn’t want people to look at her when she entered a room, but says everything about her life has now been transformed
The politician has since gone from a size 24 to a size 10(Image: Carolyn Harris ©House of Commons)
Welsh MP Carolyn Harris often hoped people wouldn’t look at her when she walked into a room. The Labour MP, who represents Neath and Swansea East, said she felt like the “short fat one in the corner” and would be “filled with dread” at having to walk for long distances.
And after years of “absolutely horrendous” online abuse, she decided to try weight loss injections. Jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro are becoming increasingly common across the world.
They help to reduce the appetite, and as a result can lead to dramatic weight loss. Carolyn started taking Mounjaro, and said “everything about my confidence is better” after losing nine stone. Stay informed on the latest health news by signing up to our newsletter here.
The 65-year-old has always struggled with her weight, but after years of online abuse from trolls on social media she decided to purchase the weight loss injection privately.
After speaking to her menopause doctor about the injection, she decided “I’m going to give this a go,” in October 2024. She revealed: “I got to a point where I was taking so much abuse for how I looked, and my weight always came into it. I thought maybe I can neutralise the abuse if I’m not fat anymore, and so the driving force was that I think.”
The MP has since come off X (formerly known as Twitter) and has turned her comments off on Facebook, saying they “were just absolutely horrendous, and I think it’s worse if you’re a woman”.
Swansea MP Carolyn Harris started to take the weightloss injection Mounjaro after receiving endless hate on social media(Image: Carolyn Harris ©House of Commons)
After starting the drug in October last year, in 14 months Carolyn has lost nine stone, and has said that the injection changed her life. She said: “I’m physically fitter, I have more energy, and I think better, which sounds weird, but I do, because I don’t get tired so easily.
“I used to get a lot of aches and pains, and I don’t get the aches and pains now. If I had to walk for long distances, I’d be filled with dread.
“It’s little things like doing the buckle up for shoes or doing your laces up on shoes, you know, that was not a struggle, but it was a task, now it’s not. I mean things that I just take for granted now, I struggled with before.”
Carolyn hopes that by sharing her weight loss story, and being open about her use of Mounjaro, it will inspire others to take their health into their own hands and “feel that they can do it”.
She added: “Because it’s not the easy way out, it isn’t. Because even though you don’t have the same appetite, you could choose to eat the wrong thing with the bit of appetite you have got and you’re not going to lose weight. You could decide I’m not going to do any exercise. It’s hard work. It’s not easy.”
After reaching her goal, which was to be a size 16, she has decided to start reducing her dosage of the medication with the hopes of being off it by spring next year.
Carolyn explained: “When I started on this journey I was talking to the private doctor who I’ve kept in touch with on a weekly basis, and she said, ‘What’s the ideal position for you? What’s the ideal weight?’ and I said, ‘I haven’t got an ideal weight because I want to be able to go into a size 16. If I can wear a size 16 then I will be happy.”
Now, the MP has now found that ‘everything about my confidence is better.'(Image: Carolyn Harris ©House of Commons)
In fact Carolyn, went on to lose more weight than her goal, leading her to drop from a size 24 to a size 10/12. She can’t believe the difference the drug has made, often being left shocked when seeing photos of herself now.
She said: “I’ll send them to a friend and say, ‘Can you believe that’s me? That’s me. I can’t believe that’s me.’
“You do change how you feel about yourself definitely, I mean yeah I feel younger. Somebody said to me I look 15 to 20 years younger and I feel it, I feel completely different.
“I think there’s a lot of people who know me, and will look at me and not realise it’s me and then they double take. It’s such a lovely feeling, and I want other people, I’m thinking about women especially, but men and women who have always been like me to suddenly realise that you can feel and look so much better health-wise.
“I must have been pre-diabetic, I must have been a candidate for heart disease and a stroke because I wasn’t doing any exercise. I mean, now I eat healthy and I’ve got an exercise regime.”
The MP has now found that “everything about my confidence is better”.
She said: “I feel like when I walked into a room, I would always feel like, ‘please don’t look at me,’ because I’m the short fat one in the corner. Now, I don’t feel like that at all.
“Now, I feel as if I’m everyone’s equal, and not someone that people should feel sorry for.”