I spent 30 years trying to lose weight and even had a gastric sleeve operation – but lost 10 stone after using the NHS’s answer to Ozempic

A mother-of-two who struggled with her weight for almost 30 years and tried ‘every diet’ with no lasting results has revealed how she ended up losing five stone in a year.

Lisa Jenkinson, 45, was 20 stone at her heaviest and even had stomach surgery in a bid to keep the pounds off, but it didn’t take away her desire to ’emotionally eat’.

Having yo-yo dieted since her teens, Lisa had previously ‘starved’ herself on Weight Watchers, drank weight-loss shakes, tried Keto and even limited herself to eating only boiled eggs and grapefruit. But nothing worked in the long run.

Last year, when Lisa was 16 and became aware that her weight was starting to affect her health, she discovered the NHS-backed Second Nature, which offers Wegovy and Mounjaro-backed weight loss programmes.

Wegovy and Mounjaro, like Ozempic, can help people lose weight by reducing food cravings.

A year later, Lisa now weighs 11 stone 7 pounds and wears a size 12.

With “mild reservations,” Lisa started a low dose of Wegovy in November 2023 and saw immediate improvements.

Lisa said: ‘When I was younger I felt like there was something wrong with me because I couldn’t eat what everyone else was eating.

‘Some people can stay very thin and eat large packets of chips, chocolate and cake.

“And I didn’t want to be different, and I tried to be ‘good’ on the outside, but secretly I ate what I shouldn’t.

‘I filled an emotional hole that can never be filled. I did it as a reward when I was happy and when I was sad.

‘If you’ve never liked food or have never been overweight, you might think ‘just don’t eat it’, but it’s not that simple.

‘Wegovy has been life-changing for me. I didn’t expect it to work the way it did before, taking away all desires.

‘And what I have also found invaluable is the support programme, the daily lessons on diet nutrition and how what we have read and learned about diets over the years is actually not true.’

Single mother Lisa was ‘fit but stocky’ as a child and swam for her province.

But when she was five feet tall and weighed 11 stone at the age of 14, she started dieting.

Throughout her twenties she yo-yo dieted and experienced ‘thick and thin periods’ – going up to almost 14 stone and wearing a size 18.

Lisa was 32 when she had her daughter Clara, now 13, and gained five stone during her pregnancy.

And in the four years that followed Clara’s birth, Lisa gained a further five stone, to 20 stone.

Desperate to lose weight for good, she paid for private gastric surgery in 2014 at the age of 35, which removed part of her stomach.

She said: ‘I felt like being pregnant was an excuse to eat. I always joked that I was eating dinner before six. When Clara was born, I was so involved with her that I didn’t think about what I ate, and I kept gaining weight.

‘I’ve tried everything from drinking just shakes three times a day without food, I’d gone back to Slimming World, tried Weight Watchers and Atkins, and I felt like I couldn’t move the weight and I couldn’t. stick to these unsustainable diets because they made me so unhappy.

‘I never had much support from my GP. It was very much ‘move more, eat less’.

“I didn’t qualify for anything because I was ‘healthy’ even though my BMI was over 40!”

A BMI of over 40 indicates severe obesity, according to NHS information.

Lisa added: ‘I had joint pain, I was out of breath because of the extra weight – but the GP considered me lucky because I didn’t have high cholesterol or wasn’t pre-diabetic.

‘I felt like I had no choice but to have the operation. It took away the physical hunger, but not the emotional side of things.”

After surgery, Lisa saw steady weight loss due to eating smaller portions and decreased appetite.

She dropped to 10 stone before becoming pregnant with Reuben, now eight, in 2015.

After her son was born, Lisa “lost all the baby weight quickly” and was very active, busy with two children.

But in 2019, when she weighed just 13 stone, the weight ‘crawled back up’ so she started going to the gym.

Lisa said, “It’s crawling and crawling and crawling. I starved myself on certain diets. I wouldn’t eat breakfast, I would be ‘good’ for lunch and cook dinner at home with smaller portions, but then I would eat chocolate and chips in the evening to ‘reward’ myself for being ‘good’ all day. ‘

Last November, Lisa realized she needed extra support and, worried that her weight would have a long-term impact on her health, discovered the NHS-backed Second Nature.

Over 10 years, Second Nature has helped more than 250,000 people in the UK achieve long-term weight loss.

It also offers medication-assisted programs, including Mounjaro, or tirzepatide, which treats type 2 diabetes and weight loss, and Wegovy, or semaglutide.

Potential users must pass a rigorous test online to see if they qualify for the medication.

Lisa said: ‘At first I was worried. What if I had a really terrible side effect? But another part of me thought that if I didn’t do anything, I would grow up, which wouldn’t be good for my health either.

‘After starting a low dose of Wegovy I felt a little nauseous, but nothing else.

‘I started losing weight straight away, which was great. Even with healthy eating I wouldn’t have noticed that. I was more conscious of what I ate, and I no longer thought about food as often as before.

“It was liberating not to have to deal with that side of things.”

Since November, Lisa has gradually increased her dose of Wegovy each month, along with the support of Second Nature.

She has access to health coaches, support materials, and a group chat with others who are on a similar weight loss journey.

Lisa has now lost 5.5 kilos and is now a dress size 12. Although she has treated herself to new clothes, she is still getting used to her new weight.

Lisa added: “The support that comes with the Second Nature program has been brilliant.

‘There are daily lessons, just five minutes of reading, that make you think. Like all diet foods, they still have the same impact on the body, but you crave more because they are full of processed stuff.

‘Since losing the weight, I have more confidence and have even applied for a job I would never have done. I’ve gone back to Pilates and I feel like I can face people and do some exercises. I feel like I’m a different person when I lose weight.

‘I’m no longer afraid of food; Second Nature’s medication program works better if you eat regularly.

“So I have fruit and yogurt or bacon and eggs for breakfast, I have something low-carb for lunch like a tuna salad, and for dinner I cook something like bolognaise, but I do eat smaller portions when I’m full.” I’ve learned not to “eat my plate like a good girl.”

“It was really amazing, and I definitely wouldn’t be here at this weight, even at this weight, if I hadn’t come across Second Nature.”