{"id":664353,"date":"2026-06-29T13:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/664353\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:27:10","slug":"im-on-mounjaro-my-so-called-friends-are-shaming-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/664353\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m on Mounjaro – my so-called friends are shaming me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo how are the jabs going?\u201d my friend said to me in the local pub, using her index finger to poke me in the leg. It didn\u2019t feel friendly. \u201cHas your hair fallen out yet?\u201d I laughed\u2026 sort of. A month ago, I started Mounjaro<\/a> at a low dose. I somehow feel like I have to say low dose. I anticipate less judgment than a high one perhaps? I had reached a point on my \u201cweight loss journey\u201d where I tried all the different options. I\u2019d exercised (weights, running, swimming). I\u2019d eaten protein until I couldn\u2019t face chicken breast or one more tin of sardines. I\u2019d cut out crisps and anything delicious. Nonetheless, it seemed that I was gaining weight in my early fifties.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a mixed response to being on the jab train<\/a>. There\u2019s a fair amount of judgment and ridicule when you tell friends. It kind of teaches you a lot about who they really are and how they feel about you. \u201cYou\u2019ll look like Golom,\u201d said one. \u201cYou\u2019ll end up hobbling about like an old lady,\u201d said another. And the worst: \u201cIt\u2019s a massive shortcut. Such a shame you\u2019re resorting to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are just some of the comments friends and acquaintances have made. I find it funny that women can be so vehement in their opinions when it comes to weight. The key themes are that you\u2019ll go too far with the weight loss, (like some of the celebrities who haven\u2019t done a great job advertising jabs), or that you\u2019re too lazy to do it the proper way. \u201cI would never inject myself with a medication just to lose weight,\u201d one friend commented on a post I\u2019d written on Instagram. I\u2019ve been open about using jabs<\/a>, chiefly because I felt a need to demystify the experience, and also I am a notorious over-sharer.<\/p>\n

Before I started, I was quite an anti-jab person<\/a>. I went to a party, and half the women in there had lost a dramatic amount of weight. Instead of congratulating them, I remember feeling resentment. There I was, sweating it out at the gym, restricting my calories, not enjoying life, and then they waltz in and they\u2019re three stone down? <\/p>\n

We are in this position thanks to the age-old paradox that tells women we should work to be beautiful, but we should also pretend that it\u2019s not work at all. \u201cOh this old dress! I just found it lying in a skip!\u201d \u2013 not revealing that we spent two weeks searching various retailers to find something with the exact right fit. \u201cOh no, I wasn\u2019t dieting. I just did a lot of walking,\u201d the friend told me. I couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that she was quite obviously on Mounjaro.<\/p>\n

The reason some choose to keep it to themselves is obviously fear of what others will say. And rightly so, in some cases. One friend told me I was a \u201ccomplete cop out\u201d. (This was the same friend who told me it was a cop out when I paid someone to make a cake for my daughter\u2019s birthday rather than make it myself.) We seem to prefer heroines who struggle, who triumph over adversity, rather than taking the \u201ceasy route\u201d.<\/p>\n

Female friendship is rooted in self-deprecation. It\u2019s the triumphing over adversity thing. We secretly enjoy the stories where things go wrong. I have one friend who rings me once a week to hear about any negative side effects. \u201cIs your face drooping? Do you have bad breath? Is your hair coming out? Do you feel depressed?\u201d When I say that I\u2019ve had a few twinges in my leg and not much else, she sounds disappointed. \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ll get some of these things soon,\u201d she says, gleefully.<\/p>\n

There have been other friends who have been celebratory and backed me up. \u201cI\u2019m happy for you, I hope it works out,\u201d one friend said, \u201cI had a go last year and they really helped me.\u201d These friends are hopefully not secretly hoping your hair falls out and you look like a Golom. They genuinely want you to be happy. There are a couple of thin friends who seem miffed \u2013 like they want to say something but can\u2019t articulate it yet. Is this because there are only limited spaces in the universe for thin women? Are they peeved that I might join them one day? There is, of course, always competition. We all feel it with friends.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that the removal of all the food noise and incessant thinking about dinner is truly liberating. Why should I feel bad about that? <\/p>\n

These days I no longer think you have to go through hardship to be thin, or feel beautiful. I am less judgmental. A good friend just started on Mounjaro yesterday. \u201cI\u2019m here if you need to chat about anything,\u201d I said. I wanted to be a good friend to her. I want her to do well and nothing more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSo how are the jabs going?\u201d my friend said to me in the local pub, using her index…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[242,8416,102,6591,578,56,54,55,4405],"class_list":["post-664353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-features","tag-friendship","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-ozempic","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}