I’ve spent £500-a-month on controversial ‘fat jabs’ to lose weight – I’ve lost 5st, other mums do it but won’t admit it
SMILING for a photo with her kids, Emma Redwood felt good – and looked terrific.
The mum of three had lost 5 STONE of baby weight since January, 2023.
Her slimming secret? Healthy eating, exercise . . . and a weekly injection of a drug called Ozempic.
The medication, which is used to manage blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, has seen a surge in demand to aid weight loss since celebrities like Amy Schumer and Elon Musk said they took it to aid weight loss.
And busy mums like Emma, 35, say the appetite suppressant — which costs up to £500 a month — has allowed them to get back in shape where traditional methods have failed.
After hiding in maternity wear for three years, 6ft 1in Emma is now back in her size 14-16 clothes after dropping from 18st 7lb to 13st 7lb.
“People will judge me, but Ozempic has been pivotal for my weight loss,” says Emma, from Chichester, West Sussex.
“I have three small children to look after, a business to run and my husband works shifts.
“It’s really hard to lose that volume of weight with just exercise and food, even if you can find the time to do it.
“Getting to the gym is nigh on impossible when you spend two hours a day doing school and nursery runs. My kids wake at 6am and go to bed at 8pm.
“I’m happier and healthier thanks to the jabs — which makes the financial sacrifice worth it.
“Lots of people, including celebrities, are on it, but won’t admit it.
“Mumsnet is full of women discussing it.”
Emma — who is mum to Freddy, six, Sailor, three, and Jude, one — struggled with her size after becoming a mother.
“I was 12st 7lb when I met my husband, had toned legs and loved being outdoors and active,” she says.
“I put on 4st during my first pregnancy and was determined to lose it in time for our wedding.
“It took me nine months of working out six days a week on an exercise bike at home to get down to 14st.
I was pretty much starving myself, having banana and spinach smoothies twice a day and then a normal dinner.
“Although I felt great in my wedding dress, the dieting was exhausting and made me miserable.”
When pregnant with Sailor in 2020, Emma couldn’t take maternity leave as she had started a marketing business two months before the pandemic hit.
Then, after Sailor arrived, she became seriously ill with mastitis.
“I had to go into hospital for a time and my mental health suffered,” she says.
“Losing weight was the last thing on my mind. I was just trying to survive.”
By the time Emma had Jude in May last year, she had reached 18st 7lb,
the biggest she had ever been.
“I was probably a size 22-24 but just kept wearing my maternity clothes,” she says.
“I felt breathless, exhausted and uncomfortable. I hated how I looked and worried about my health.
“My ankles ached and my knees hurt.
“There’s a history of arthritis in my family and I feared I’d face knee and hip replacements down the line.”
So when Emma heard speculation that Kim Kardashian might have used a “miracle” weight-loss drug, she searched online for it and found pharmacies prescribing Ozempic to women just like her.
There are restrictions — you need a BMI of 30+ and not to have any health complications or other medications that may cause problems.
“It was very straightforward to get hold of,” says Emma. “They had a pharmacist call me, ask a few questions and within days I had my first 0.25mg dose.
“I work in the healthcare sector and didn’t worry about safety because I knew it had gone through trials and was widely used.
“The jabs are easy, they are subcutaneous injections that go into your belly fat and the needle is tiny.
“I’d had to self-administer this type after my C-sections.
“I had headaches in the first couple of weeks, but I could see the difference very quickly.
“I had very little appetite especially on the day of the jab. I lost about a stone in the first month and people started complimenting me.
“It felt great to finally regain control of my body.” Emma receives her prescription monthly and administers an injection each week.
She now has a small breakfast of porridge or a protein shake, soup for lunch and cooks a healthy family dinner.
She also fits in a short pilates session each day, a weekly bike workout and walks her dog three times a week.
But this slimming method has come at a cost.
The private prescription price is up from £130 a month in January to £500 now.
Ozempic is only prescribed on the NHS for type 2 diabetes.
“It’s an expense I wasn’t expecting,” says Emma. “If I was starting today, I doubt I would go ahead at that price.
“It would be too much on top of our childcare bill.
“We’ve stopped getting takeaways and eating out, plus I am not drinking alcohol, so this has probably covered most of it.
“We’ll see the difference when I stop.
“But I’m so close to my target of 13st. I don’t want to give up now.
“I’m justifying the expense as I see it as an investment in my health — not just for me but for my children.
“It’s changed my life.”