I've Been Keeping a Little Secret… And It's Not What You Think! 🤫💗

There's something rather ridiculous about sitting in your spare room, talking to a camera about your life, uploading it to the internet for potentially the entire world to see… while the people you actually know haven't got the faintest idea you're doing it. 🤣

And yet, here we are.

I've been making YouTube videos about my Mounjaro journey for a little while now, and nobody in my everyday life knows.

Not my friends. Not my colleagues. Not even my husband.

Although, to be fair, my husband has heard quite enough about Mounjaro, weight loss and my ever-changing wardrobe to last several lifetimes. I'm not entirely sure he'd welcome the news that I've now started broadcasting it all as well. 😂

But here's the thing.

I'm not keeping it quiet because I'm embarrassed. I'm not ashamed of taking Mounjaro, and I'm certainly not ashamed of losing over eight stone.

It's actually quite the opposite.

It All Started With a Rather Frightened Woman and a Lot of Googling 🔎😬

Cast your mind back to October 2024.

I was almost 20 stone, my BMI was 45.1, my legs were swollen and painful because of lymphoedema, and I was becoming increasingly worried about my mobility.

Life was getting harder.

Not in a dramatic, Hollywood-film, music-swelling-in-the-background sort of way. 🎬

More in the ordinary, everyday way that gradually creeps up on you.

Walking was uncomfortable. Stairs were difficult. My legs hurt. And I was beginning to wonder what life might look like in another five or ten years if nothing changed.

I'd heard about Mounjaro, of course.

And being me, I did what any perfectly sensible woman would do when considering a new medication.

I researched it.

And researched it.

And then researched it some more. 🤓

Medical journals, newspaper articles, studies from different countries, people's experiences online. If there was something to read about Mounjaro, chances are I'd found it.

I was practically conducting my own unofficial PhD in the subject.

And do you know what?

I was still terrified.

What if I felt sick all the time? What if I couldn't enjoy food anymore? What if I had horrible side effects?

I love food. I love going out for a meal. I love the social side of eating.

The thought of spending the rest of my life feeling permanently nauseous was not exactly selling the experience to me. 🤢

But I was also frightened of doing nothing.

And that's a rather uncomfortable place to find yourself.

Where Were All the Ordinary People? 🤷‍♀️

One of the things I remember most clearly about that time was how desperately I wanted to hear from someone like me.

Not a celebrity.

Not somebody selling a miracle transformation.

Not someone with a perfectly organised fridge containing seventeen varieties of protein yoghurt and an inspirational quote stuck to the door. 😂

Just an ordinary person.

Someone who went to work, had a family, occasionally ate something they probably shouldn't, and was trying to figure out whether this medication might help them.

I wanted to know the everyday things.

Could you still enjoy a Sunday roast? Did you feel sick at work? Were you exhausted? Did walking become easier? What happened after the first few weeks?

And, perhaps most importantly, was it worth it?

I found plenty of information, particularly from America, but I struggled to find many ordinary people in the UK talking openly about their experiences.

Then I came across a newspaper article discussing lymphoedema.

The doctor writing it had shared accounts from people who said their swelling and pain had improved while taking Mounjaro.

Now, that wasn't clinical proof that Mounjaro treated lymphoedema. I understood that.

But it was enough to make me investigate further.

And eventually, on 29 October 2024, I took my first injection.

Little did I know. 💗

Fast Forward Two Years… 😳

I've now lost over eight stone.

Eight stone!

Even writing that still feels slightly ridiculous.

I've gone from a size 28 to a size 14, my mobility has improved enormously, and my legs are so much better than they were.

I've rediscovered clothes I never imagined I'd wear again.

I've also discovered that owning a wardrobe full of clothes that no longer fit is a surprisingly expensive side effect of weight loss. 🛍️🤣

But the biggest changes aren't necessarily the ones you can photograph.

It's the freedom.

Being able to move more comfortably. Not constantly worrying about whether something will be too difficult. Feeling more like myself again.

And I often think about those people who shared their experiences in that newspaper article.

They'll probably never know that something they wrote helped a complete stranger make a decision that changed her life.

Which brings me rather neatly to YouTube.

So Why Am I Talking to a Camera? 🎥😂

Well, it certainly wasn't because I woke up one morning and thought,You know what the internet needs? More of me.

Good grief. 🤣

I'm 52 years old. I have a full-time job, a busy life, and quite enough things demanding my attention without voluntarily adding video editing to the list.

And believe me, learning how to make YouTube videos has been an education in itself.

Cameras. Microphones. Lighting. Editing software. Thumbnails.

Who knew there were so many ways to spend three hours trying to produce a fifteen-minute video?

And don't even get me started on the joys of discovering that your audio and lips aren't quite synchronised. 🙄

But underneath all that technical chaos is something I genuinely care about.

I remember what it felt like to have questions and not know anybody I could ask.

I remember how reassuring it was to hear somebody talk openly about their experience.

And I thought, perhaps I could do that for someone else.

Not give medical advice. Not tell people they should take Mounjaro. Not pretend that everybody will have the same experience I've had.

Just talk.

About the good bits, the difficult bits, the surprises, the things that worked for me and the things that didn't.

Because sometimes that's all somebody needs.

A real person saying,This is what happened to me.

The Conversation That Stayed With Me 💕

A while after I'd started losing weight, I wrote about my experience on LinkedIn.

That felt like quite a big step at the time.

I'd always been honest when people asked how I'd lost weight, but putting it out there publicly was different.

Thankfully, the response was overwhelmingly lovely.

People congratulated me, asked questions and shared their own experiences.

But one conversation really stayed with me.

A woman at work approached me after reading my article.

She'd been taking Mounjaro herself for three months.

And she hadn't told her partner.

He had very strong opinions about weight-loss medication. He thought it was cheating. That people should simply eat less and move more.

So she'd kept it to herself.

She was having a positive experience, but she felt she couldn't talk about it with the people closest to her.

I was one of the first people she'd been able to speak to openly about it.

And I found that incredibly sad.

Not because she was doing anything wrong by keeping it private. Everyone is entitled to decide what they share about their health.

But because she felt shecouldn'ttalk about it.

There's still so much judgement around weight-loss medication.

And I don't think anybody should have to feel embarrassed about making a personal medical decision with appropriate professional advice.

That conversation reminded me why ordinary, honest stories matter.

Sometimes it's not about having all the answers.

Sometimes it's just about knowing you're not the only one. 💗

But Why Haven't I Told Anyone About My Channel? 🤫

Now, this is where things get slightly amusing.

Because while I'm perfectly comfortable telling people I take Mounjaro, I'm apparently less enthusiastic about announcing that I've become a YouTuber.

And I think the reason is quite simple.

I don't want people to feel obliged to watch.

Imagine arriving at work on a Monday morning and having me enthusiastically announce:

Morning everyone! Here's another fifteen minutes of me discussing my weight-loss journey. Don't forget to like and subscribe!🤣

No. Absolutely not.

My colleagues have their own lives. My friends have their own interests.

And the last thing I want is somebody sitting through a video about Mounjaro purely because they know me and feel they ought to be supportive.

I'd much rather someone find my channel because they're genuinely interested.

Perhaps they're considering starting Mounjaro.

Perhaps they're already taking it and wondering whether what they're experiencing is normal.

Perhaps they've lost weight and are discovering that life afterwards isn't quite what they expected.

Or perhaps they're simply curious.

Those are the people I want to reach.

And if somebody I know happens to stumble across my channel?

Well, hello! 👋😂

Surprise!

My One Little Regret 📸

There is something I wish I'd done differently.

I wish I'd started documenting my journey sooner.

I lost five, six, seven stone without recording very much of what was happening.

I didn't take endless photographs. I didn't film myself regularly. I didn't keep a detailed record of every little change.

And now, occasionally, I wish I had.

Not because I want to spend hours looking at old photographs of myself.

But because I'd love to remember some of those moments more clearly.

The first time walking felt easier.

The little changes that seemed insignificant at the time.

The things I worried about that turned out not to matter.

And the things that mattered enormously but that I hadn't anticipated.

So perhaps these videos are partly for future me as well.

A little record of this rather extraordinary chapter of my life.

Even if future me watches them and thinks,Good grief, woman, did you ever stop talking?😂

And If You're Here, This Is Really For You 💗

I don't have a huge YouTube channel.

I'm still learning. Still experimenting. Still occasionally wondering whether I've pressed the correct button.

But that's okay.

I'm not trying to become some enormous internet personality.

I just want to create a little corner of the internet where people can hear an honest, ordinary experience.

No miracle promises.

No pretending everything is wonderful.

No glossy, perfectly curated version of life.

Just me.

A 52-year-old woman who started Mounjaro feeling frightened and uncertain, lost over eight stone, and discovered that life could change in ways she hadn't imagined.

And who now spends an extraordinary amount of time talking to a camera in her spare room. 🤣🎥

If one person watches a video and feels a little less alone, a little more informed, or simply a little more hopeful, then I think it's worth doing.

Even if nobody I know has the faintest idea.

And on that note, I'd better go.

I've probably got another video to edit.

Or a microphone to investigate.

Or a thumbnail to create.

Who knew having a secret YouTube channel would be quite so much work? 😂💗

🎥 Watch the Video

I've talked a little more about why I started my YouTube channel, why I've kept it quiet, and what I hope sharing my Mounjaro journey might mean to somebody else.

💬 Over to You!

I'm genuinely curious: if you're taking Mounjaro or another GLP-1 medication, have you told the people around you?

Or is it something you've chosen to keep private?

There's no right or wrong answer, and you certainly don't owe anybody an explanation.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. 💗