'Weight-loss drug helped me lose 100lb'

FOR Jess Miles, a 37-year-old secretary from Newcastle Emlyn, weight had always been a shadow in her life. It was a battle that stretched from her childhood into adulthood.

- LOIS MCCARTHY Reporter

“I've been overweight since I was a kid. It got worse after I had my son, nearly 16 years ago,” she says. “I've tried everything, Slimming World, Weight Watchers, you name it! I'd lose a couple of stone then binge eat, put it all back on and give up until the next time.”

However, the wake-up call came with two gut-wrenching moments: stepping on the scale and seeing 24st 4lb, and the memory of her late mother's final wish.

“I lost my mum just before Covid,” Jess said. “One of the last things she ever said to me was that she wanted me to lose weight. She was a big woman too, but after getting diagnosed with diabetes, she changed everything. She went from a size 26 to a 14 - it was really amazing to see. She did it - and she wanted the same thing for me.”

This echoed through Jess’ mind when she looked at herself last year. “Reaching 24st ... I cried. Honestly, I felt ashamed of myself. I thought that if I don’t do something, I won't live to see my son turn 18.”

That's when she found Mounjaro, a weight-loss option that has become increasingly familiar to the public - for both positive and negative reasons.

Jess started seeing the name crop up on Facebook and TikTok. “It was everywhere,” she recalled. “But I didn’t know anyone who had tried it. Back then it was so new, so I was very apprehensive about it.”

The cost also made her hesitate - upwards of £250 a month. “I kept putting it off, thinking, ‘I can’t afford this.’ But one day I just thought, ‘B****r it! Something has to change and nothing else has worked!’”

She booked a consultation with Iechyd Teifi Health, a private clinic. On July 4, 2024, she walked in, shaking hands with the consultant with a pounding heart: “I actually said out loud, ‘I don’t know what I'm doing here.’ I was so incredibly nervous.”