A WOMAN who used to fear getting stuck in restaurant chairs due to her weight has now lost eight stone after forking out on weight loss jabs.
Jacqueline Smith had always struggled with weight gain and tried “every diet under the sun”, such as low carb and Weight Watchers, with no luck.
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“Fed up” with being overweight, the 37-year-old turned to weight loss jabs after speaking with her doctor about them.
She paid £750 per month for Ozempic and went from 19st 3lbs to 11st 9lbs in less than two years.
Now, she’s learned to love her body after years of being bullied for it.
“My weight was always something I worried about; the fear never left me,” the account manager said.
Read more on fat jabs
“I used to look at the chairs in a restaurant and wonder if they would hold me.
“When going out on a walk, I’d worry how badly my thighs would chafe.
“An ex once said to me: ‘You’re huge – what are you going to be like when you reach 40?’
“I wasn’t even that overweight at this stage.
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“Then, when I met my now husband, the ‘happy weight’ really started to pile on.
“I’ve always thought I looked pretty, but I didn’t like the way I looked at this size.
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“There’s just so much you don’t have to worry about when you’re a ‘normal’ weight.”
Jacqueline, from Dallas, Texas, US, used to eat out multiple times a day before, opting for a burrito at breakfast, followed by a burger at lunch and then McDonald’s for dinner.
She found it difficult to break the eating cycle that both she and her husband found themselves in.
When she realised just how many calories she was consuming per day – around 4,000 – that’s when she knew something needed to change.
She said: “I had seen skinny jabs on television after celebrities had been using it to lose weight.
“I asked my doctor if it was right for me, as I didn’t personally know anybody on them.
The weight loss was immediate...it was flying off me – I couldn’t believe it
Jacqueline Smith
“She had just come back from a conference learning about GLP-1s and was really excited to have me try it out.
“The weight loss was immediate.
“I also started counting calories per day and walking when I started taking it.
“But it was flying off me – I couldn’t believe it.”
Now, Jacqueline has gone from a US dress size 22 to six.
She no longer has such intense hunger cravings throughout the day and typically eats something low carb, like wraps, for most of her meals, with fruit as a snack.
Jacqueline's diet breakdown
BEFORE
Breakfast: Breakfast burrito
Lunch: Burger or sandwich with crisps
Dinner: McDonald’s double cheeseburgers and margaritas or beers
Snack: Sweets
AFTER
Breakfast: Nothing
Lunch: Air-fried chicken or low-carb tortilla with no sugar-added BBQ sauce
Dinner: Turkey wrap and fruit
Snack: Apple or banana, protein bar or popcorn
To help maintain her weight loss, Jacqueline walks at least 10,000 steps per day and does cycling classes, weight lifting and running throughout the week.
The biggest difference, though? Her confidence.
She added: “I didn’t like to leave the house often before.
“Now, I’m far more active and confident.
“I don’t feel like people are just focusing on my size, but actually who I am as a person instead.
“I’m currently at my goal weight and stopped taking the jabs four months ago.
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“But I’ll have to start a maintenance dose soon, as it helps with not only losing weight, but also appetite dysregulation and inflammation.
“I recently joined a service that provides direct access to an obesity expert and dietician.
“It’s a disease, and I will have to continue working to fight it for the rest of my life.
“People will always have opinions, but that’s none of my business.
“They say I’m being lazy, cheating, or stealing medicine from diabetics, which isn’t the case at all.
“It’s dealing with something very complex in the right way.
“I’m so glad I started taking it; it’s changed my life.”
Ozempic is not currently available in the UK for weight loss, though it's licensed for type 2 diabetes treatment.
The UK government has restricted its off-label use for weight loss due to previous shortages that impacted diabetes patients.
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Instead, Wegovy, which contains the same active ingredient (semaglutide) as Ozempic, is specifically licensed and prescribed for weight loss.
Find out everything you need to know about fat jabs in the UK below...
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases.
Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK.
Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market.
Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight.
They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists.
They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients' sugar levels are too high.
Can I get them?
NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics.
Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure.
GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss.
Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk.
Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health.
Are there any risks?
Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients' mental health.
Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
