Women are taking fat jabs in SECRET to avoid the ‘stigma’ surrounding weight loss not achieved with diet and exercise alone, poll reveals

One in ten women uses slimming medication, while almost three-quarters are ‘considering’ it, according to a poll.

A survey of 1,000 women aged 30 to 75 found that most are considering taking Wegovy and Mounjaro this year to help them lose weight.

But many women admitted they would only do this in secret to avoid the ‘stigma’ around weight loss, which doesn’t just come from diet and exercise.

Of those who used them, one in five (19 percent) admitted taking drugs without others knowing, while more than a third (35 percent) said they would only tell those closest to them.

Nearly nine in ten (86 percent) said they had tried multiple diet and weight loss programs to lose weight.

Difficulty maintaining a consistent diet was the biggest barrier to weight loss, followed by a lack of time for regular exercise and mental health or motivation challenges, according to the findings commissioned by digital weight loss service Juniper.

More than 500,000 people in Britain now take weight loss injections, the majority of which come from private pharmacies (file image)

In this photo illustration, injection pens and boxes of the slimming drug Wegovy from Novo Nordisk are shown

More than 500,000 people in Britain now take weight loss injections, the majority of which come from private pharmacies.

The Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) estimates that 4.1 million people in England are eligible for Wegovy on the NHS, which requires a BMI of at least 30 and at least one related health condition, such as type 2 diabetes.

But so far only a few thousand are thought to receive it through specialist NHS weight management services, with the rest typically using online pharmacies.

The NHS has started prescribing Mounjaro, but this is limited to 220,000 patients over the next three years due to fears over costs and supply capacity.