So, in the week that the long-heralded Wegovy pill goes on sale in the UK, offering a non-injectable alternative way of ingesting the GLP-1 weight loss drugs that have taken the world by storm, I looked at myself in the mirror and considered what the last 18 months of being on “the pen” have meant to me.
I inject myself once a week with (currently) 2.5mg of semaglutide to repress my appetite and maintain my new weight. I have lost 40lb since I took my first shot just after Christmas 2024. I am five feet two inches tall. It is a lot of weight and it has made a lot of difference to me. To my bank balance, too, but we’ll get to that.
I was effortlessly skinny until I was 25 or so. Then I started putting a bit of weight on and that took me to slim. Then I carried on putting weight on, which turned out – when I started trying and failing to get pregnant in my 30s – to be due at least in part to a hormonal condition called polycystic ovary syndrome. Five or so years ago, perimenopause started weighing in, literally. So when my sister started taking Mounjaro and the weight fell off her, I followed suit.
On an individual level, it’s been wonderful. The “food noise” stops. You’re not hungry all the time (and I was) and the efforts I was putting into ignoring it – don’tsnackdon’tsnackdon’tsnack – could be redirected elsewhere. You feel fitter (even if you’re technically not) because, freed of 20, 30, 40lb, you can suddenly run for buses, peg it up escalators or stairs when you need to and generally get about faster. And, best of all, you don’t feel so disgusting.
