When Sue Carrington dropped five stone in eight months, she knew people would take notice. She expected friends to have some questions or to be pleased that she was living a healthier life. Maybe she even hoped for a few compliments. But their responses were not always kind.
“I had one person tell me, ‘I don’t approve of what you’re doing, but I respect that it makes you happy,’” she says.
Then came more judgmental comments. “‘You're going to starve yourself,’ ‘It’s an unnatural way to lose weight, putting chemicals into your body, ‘You should be doing it through diet and exercise,” Sue, who is 66, recalls. “People said that we're taking drugs away from diabetics, that it's not sufficiently researched, that it's a financial privilege to get to do it, and that its unfair.”
This is all because Sue is on Mounjaro. Sue and an estimated 500,000 other British people, who have all turned to the weight loss jab made famous as “Ozempic”. Mounjaro, a sister drug, works in much the same way. One injection a week regulates blood sugar, suppresses appetite, and improves metabolism. It has been hailed as a “magic” drug – a “world-changing” weight loss innovation that could impact everything from the restaurant industry to airlines.
But by many it is seen as cheating. This was confirmed by a 2025 study, which found that people think Ozempic-induced weight loss is less praiseworthy than weight loss through diet and exercise. In the study, researchers presented 1,041 people in the US with fictional characters who were significantly overweight but had lost 50 pounds (23kg) through one of three methods: Ozempic, changing their diet and exercising, or both.
Participants rated those who had lost weight via Ozempic as both less praiseworthy and less effortful. This was even the case for the fictional characters who had made lifestyle changes alongside Ozempic, showing that even the “helping hand” of the weight loss drug was enough to change participants’ minds.
This is something Yara*, 30, has noticed too. Since starting Mounjaro in February, she has lost three stone. Like Sue, people are starting to notice. The response has been mixed. “Some people have been super supportive and sweet about it, and others have just pointed it out and then not said anything further, which is obviously fine because I’m not doing it for compliments, but it is noticeable,” she says.
“There’s a bit of a sense of judgement from some people – I’ve gotten the old look up and down before, which is insane at my big age because it feels dead high school and judgey.”
The weirdest comment, she says, came from a friend who outright told Yara that her weight loss was “making her feel really bad”.
“I do get it, I used to live with a total gym bunny and the constant comments about going to the gym made me feel really insecure, but I recognised that it was a me issue, not them,” Yara says. The friend followed up their comment by insisting that Yara also go to the gym, or else she might lose muscle mass. “Then she was like ‘Whereas I’m really muscly.’ Which just felt super unnecessary. I’ve done my research, I know I should be working to build muscle and prioritising protein.”
Because of responses like this, many Mounjaro users are keeping their usage a secret. Yara has only told a handful of her close friends. Meanwhile, Donna, 35, who started taking Ozempic with in October of last year, has told barely anyone she knows — not even family. “They [friends and family] haven’t figured it out per se,” she says, “but they have been commenting about the fact that we have been losing weight.
“At first we’d just tell them that my husband was losing weight because he has quite an active job,” she recalls. “And because my weight loss wasn’t so visible in the beginning and I would wear the same baggy clothes, no one noticed for a while.”
Now, the compliments are starting to slip in. But Donna doesn’t want to give up the game, because she knows that with compliments comes judgment. “We do have friends that have made a comment in the past like ‘taking Ozempic or losing weight like that is cheating’ and so I’ve just never hinted at it with them at all. The judgement felt by that one comment has stopped me from ever mentioning it,” she says.
Meanwhile, Yara senses that the newness of Mounjaro and Ozempic has given people a case of word vomit that they wouldn’t have had before. “I can see why it would give people a bit of a free pass to say anything,” she says. But this isn’t always a bad thing.
“I think it’s made people more honest with me about their insecurities,” Yara explains. “I’ve had people say, 'I seriously considered it because of XYZ” reason.” This often comes from people she wouldn’t have expected. “Colleagues I would never have normally had these conversations with. Or people I’m not that close with, or people I wouldn’t ever for a second think had body issues because in my head they’re my ‘after’ goal.” This, she admits, “has stemmed from me being honest about it first, so I guess it’s a truth for a truth kinda thing.”
It’s a double-edged jab: as much as people are reluctant to praise Mounjaro and Ozempic-induced weight loss, they are always interested. “I just think maybe the etiquette around talking about it hasn't been established yet,” Yara says.
