The morning after I injected Mounjaro for the first time, I started to panic: what was I supposed to be doing now? How did I optimise this for me and make it really work as well as it could? I got my prescription from a private pharmacy and hadn't signed up for a subscription service which offered lifestyle support.
After that first jab in November 2024, I realised I'd gone into it quite blind. Was I supposed to be on a special diet? Was I supposed to be at the gym every day? I weighed 13st 5lb, was only just a size 16 and was aiming to lose 3st over a six-month course of Mounjaro.
But I was also very confused as to what I should be doing alongside the basic fact of injecting myself weekly with a GLP-1.
Frantically searching Google and online forums, I started piecing together an action plan. Then I put the word out among my various WhatsApp chats and friendship groups that I wanted to talk to women who were taking weight-loss medications.
And, goodness, there were a lot of them - many more than you would think. While I've always been very open about my weight-loss journey, I'd say that about 80 per cent of the women I spoke to hadn't told anybody - not friends, family or colleagues - that they were using Mounjaro.
So what was their advice, as women whose experience with these jabs gave them the best possible insight into how to make them work for you?
The single most important thing I learned was you mustn't just stop eating completely while on the drugs. I'm sure that sounds very odd to anyone who's never been on them, but for most of us on the jabs it would be the easiest thing in the world to eat very little indeed. After years of food noise and obsessing about food, it can be incredibly tempting to just revel in the silence, consume only a mouthful here and there and watch the weight slide off.
The problem with this approach is twofold. Firstly, if you lose weight too quickly, you are likely to end up with the twin side-effects of loose skin and hair loss. And, secondly, if you don't create sustainable eating routines while you're free of the urge to over-eat, then you won't have built a sensible nutritional framework for when you stop them.
Basically, if you just stop eating, you won't cope when the food noise comes back and your urge to vacuum up everything in sight will be worse than ever. Although I found losing just 1lb a week, as I sometimes did, unbearably slow - especially when the injections are so expensive and I could see other people losing weight much more rapidly - I made sure that I continued to eat regular nutritionally balanced meals. Sometimes, I had just two rather than three meals a day but I always sat down and ate.
After two months, around mid-February I was miserable and discouraged because I still could not discern a slimmer waist or smaller thighs, but I cannot stress enough that you do need to stick with it because one morning you will wake up and finally be able to see the difference.
I found weighing myself daily was key because even if I couldn't see the difference, the scales told me the weight was gradually coming off. I also kept a very brief daily journal on my iPhone notes app listing my weight, mood and any side-effects - while I am resolutely non woo-woo, I found that creating mindfulness around the weight-loss journey fed into becoming more aware of my body as I started to change ingrained bad habits for good ones.
Meal prepping once a week was crucial. Although everybody's experience is different, I found that I never really lost my hunger while I was actively on the medication - and sometimes, irritatingly, it was more intense than it had been pre-jabs. The difference was I was sated rapidly by smaller protein-packed portions and fewer carbs.
Coping with the hunger turned out to be simple: I always had tins of nuts in the car and office and just a couple would kill the feeling. I also had a meal ready in the freezer or the fridge that I could microwave or air fry within minutes of getting through the door after work.
I used Souper Cubes, pre-portioned silicone freezer trays, which I filled with homemade curries, risottos and all kinds of delicious soups, from sweetcorn chowders to leek and potato (there's a lot of research that proves that eating food in hot liquid form is more sating than consuming drier foods).
Portion control is really important because then you're not tempted to eat too much of a meal. It also sets you up with realistic expectations around portion size when you start to come off the injections.
These pre-prepared meals stopped me reaching for nutritionally bad foods. Before jabs, I'd reach for a hunk of cheese or slice of toast as a temporary hunger-quashing snack before a full meal. But this way, I could have my evening meal reheated and on a plate before I had time to think about a tasty little snackette.
Investing in a pair of one-litre water bottles with straws and having them with me at all times was also key. I have never felt so dehydrated as I was on Mounjaro (think camel at an oasis) and one school of thought believes that actively hydrating helps the medication work more effectively.
I also started using hand weights at home and consciously getting in my steps each day, along with occasional yoga and pilates on a mat in front of a YouTube video. As a middle-aged woman, it's incredibly important for me to both keep flexible and do weight-bearing exercise to keep muscles taut and bones strong when consuming fewer calories, as well as trying to ward off baggy skin.
As an antiques dealer, I have an incredibly active job, hefting boxes of china and large pieces of furniture daily; so I didn't feel the need to join a gym (if I was based in an office, I definitely would have done this too).
After the first month or so, my face started to look dry and feel uncomfortable and I realised I had stopped looking after my skin properly long before I started jabbing.
Something skincare expert Caroline Hirons had said a few years ago popped into my head: if you're not looking after your skin maybe have a long hard look at what else is going on in your life.
And she is absolutely right - I was so unhappy with my weight gain that I had just stopped caring about myself.
While I'm never going to be emulating Gen Z's nightly seven-step regime, I did go product shopping. I wasn't eating out, drinking, or buying many groceries, and wasn't buying clothes until I'd reached my weight-loss target, so I diverted some of my money into skincare.
I started massaging in Dr Perricone's high-potency Hyaluronic Intensive Hydrating Serum, using La Roche Posay SPF, and applying Skin Rocks' Retinoid 1 once a week.
I was given a Ziip Halo machine and massaged my skin for two minutes each day; all with the result that my skin had never looked better by the time I had reached my weight-loss target.
Around the same time I also started taking supplements in a way I had never really bothered with before. I signed up for a subscription with Absolute Collagen and ordered a raft of supplements from NutriGums (I find capsules hard to swallow) including biotin for my hair; their probiotics for my microbiome; and inulin for fibre.
I also added in multi-vitamin powders from Sisterly and Wild Nutrition's magnesium for my sleep; which had been disturbed pre-jabs and got worse in the first few months.
Did any of these make a difference? Well, my hair remained as shiny as ever while on GLP-1s and certainly hasn't fallen out in clumps. My nails are super strong and I am sleeping through the night. I also never experienced the hideous constipation so many people suffer from on the jabs.
Prioritise protein, drink water like you're at an oasis in the Sahara, strength-train, take supplements, look after your skin, and try not to stop eating: these recommendations are eminently practical and doable - and they're crucial.
I'm quite sure they are part of the reason why I came out the other end of my course of Mounjaro looking and feeling like a new woman. And why I've stayed at a lovely size 12 ever since.