A young woman has shared how just eight weeks of taking the weight loss medication Mounjaro has turned her summer around.
Megan Houchen was struggling to reign in her comfort eating, which saw her weight go up to 11st – overweight for her 5ft 1ins frame – and led her self-esteem to plummet.
The 25-year-old hated the thought of wearing skimpier clothing throughout the summer months.
But after shedding over a stone-and-a-half, she feels better than ever – particularly while on her first holiday, post-weight loss.
“I honestly felt so confident in my bikini,” the customer service worker, from County Durham, told Need To Know.
“I felt more comfortable walking around and didn’t feel like I needed to constantly try and suck in.
“I loved it.
“I went on a few holidays last summer and I was dreading wearing bikinis, and was looking for high waisted clothes to cover my stomach, or things that weren’t tight enough to show my rolls.
“Whereas this summer I feel much more confident and was actually looking forward to putting on a bikini.
“I haven’t been picky about what I wore on this holiday because I feel so much more confident and comfortable in my body.”
Megan, who was recently holidaying in Cyprus,, started on Mounjaro after struggling with self-discipline and wanting to shed a few pounds.
She said: “I had always been quite slim and ate what I wanted, and got in the mindset of ‘I’m never going to put on weight because I’ve eaten what I wanted for ages’.
“But about three years ago I noticed I was gaining more weight, and in the last year it all just caught up with me and I was the heaviest I’d ever been.
“I would always have a takeaway or eat out Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then it started through the week – sometimes having a takeaway every night and sometimes even ordering takeaways for dinner at work.
“It was becoming unhealthy.
“My comfort foods would always be a takeaway – if I was sad, I’d always order to food to cheer me up, but afterwards I felt so bloated and looking in the mirror made me feel awful.
“I’d even drive to McDonald’s at midnight to get food if I couldn’t sleep.
“I was struggling to lose that stubborn weight and I was struggling to keep myself disciplined.”
Her experience when she first started Mounjaro in May hadn’t gone well, with Megan saying she felt as though as she had been “hit by a bus”, struggling with harsh side effects.
She said: “I woke up feeling like absolute rubbish.
“My shoulders and neck were so sore and felt bruised like I’d done some sort of hardcore workout.”
She wondered if she was coming down with the flu, and noted her lack of appetite and soreness around her shoulders – saying it even hurt to put a bra on.
She said: “I had never heard anyone on Mounjaro talk about those symptoms so, at first, I didn’t think it was causing it.”
It was only when Megan went on TikTok that she found other people reporting similar symptoms after taking the medication.
Luckily, she began to feel better the following day – and Megan says the initial side effects were well worth the trouble, as she has gone on to drop a stone in just four weeks.
She said: “My experience [since then] has been amazing.
“I know it’s not the same for everyone but I’ve not really had any bad side effects [since the first day].
“All of the food noise has gone – I don’t really ever think about food or feel excited about food and it has suppressed my appetite a lot.
“I sometimes do miss my food a little because there’s some days when I don’t feel like eating a lot and then there’s other days that I can manage three full meals.
“All in all my Mounjaro journey so far has been life changing and the best decision I have ever made.
“I would definitely recommend it.
“I feel more confident when I put outfits on to go out, and when taking photos.
“I just feel much better in myself.
“I’ve had a lot of comments about it too.
“People at work say they can really tell, on my face especially, and have said I look really well for it.
“My family are always telling me that they can see such a difference.
“My mum always comments on my weight loss and it makes me feel really good because some days I think ‘Am I losing weight?’ and sort of doubt myself – so it’s nice to have reminders.
“For other people to notice it, makes me feel a lot more confident.”
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Absolutely inspiring! I’ve just begun my eight-week journey on Mounjaro, and reading your story truly lifts me seeing you confidently flaunt your new body in a bikini gives me so much motivation. I’ve also been diving into research like the How Does Mounjaro Work article on Shemed, and the explanations are so clear and helpful it’s amazing to see how it can support real transformation.
That’s such an inspiring transformation eight weeks on Mounjaro really did turn your summer around! I found this helpful guide on why alcohol may make you feel sick while on Mounjaro over at SheMed, which gave me even more clarity.