From Whoopi Goldberg to Meghan Trainor and even Amy Schumer, it seems there is an ever-growing number of celebrities using weight-loss injections. But will its widespread use have a detrimental effect on young people’s body image?
I first learnt about Mounjaro from an episode of The Kardashians. Khloe was on FaceTime to Scott Disick and joked about how the audience had allegedly spotted the Mounjaro in his fridge in one of the episodes. I knew that Scott had lost a lot of weight, so I thought: why don’t I do it too? That’s where my obsession began.
For those who don’t know, Mounjaro, otherwise known as tirzepatide is a weight-loss medicine which works as an appetite suppressor, making you feel fuller for longer. Like its alternatives such as Ozempic and WeGovy, it takes the form of a pen which gets injected once a week – on the same day and time.
Sounds great right? A small prick once a week and your fat melts right off – wouldn’t we all love that? The injection, however, comes with a long list of potential side effects and risks which are slightly less fun. These can include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, indigestion, constipation, stomach cramps, hypoglycemia, tachycardia, vision changes, pancreatitis, gallstones and kidney damage.
I became obsessed, increasing my doses so I could see the number on the scales go down quicker. This made me really ill. I was nauseous, always cold and had severe headaches if I forgot to drink enough water that day.
According to the University of Waterloo, 55% of teenagers feel dissatisfied with their body image and a main factor of this is social media.
Whenever I opened Instagram or TikTok, it was a real blow to my self-esteem. I felt like I was being shown, day in and day out, that I was not enough. Social media was a huge reason as to why I started Mounjaro. While I’m three and a half stone down, I still wonder if it was worth it.
It’s clear I’m not the only one, with celebs falling for the perfectly preened and polished social media pictures. Meghan Trainor went from “it’s pretty clear, I ain’t a size two” to “it’s pretty clear, I got some new boobs”, all thanks to Mounjaro (and some breast implants). Seeing a strong female body advocate go this far to change her body made me sad. Is this really what we want to promote as a society?
While I’m not against women losing weight, it is the lengths that we will go to lose weight which concern me. According to Click2Pharmacy, 77.6% of Mounjaro users in the UK are female. That is a lot of women, every week injecting themselves with a substance they probably don’t fully understand, to look a certain way and feel good about themselves.
Influencers are not solely to blame for this, but when so many pose a certain way to give their best angle or touch up their photos and resize their arms or stomachs, it does not help the matter. If we were all just honest about how we do not always feel or look our best, then maybe the societal norms could change so that we are not chasing an unrealistic image for ourselves that would actually be unhealthy.
Personally, I have a uterus and I have ovaries and I understand now that they need somewhere to live and I need to keep them safe. So, if that means having a bit of a lower belly pouch, then so be it. If there’s anything that I’ve learnt from my Mounjaro journey, it’s to be kind to myself and to my body.