Original posted on The Sun
AFTER regularly raiding the snack drawer for crisps and chocolate, Jack Adams became a target for cruel playground bullies as his weight hit 18st.
But the 14-year-old has now lost 4st in just eight months after becoming one of the first youngsters in Britain to be prescribed weight-loss injections — dubbed “skinny jabs”.
In an exclusive interview, his overjoyed mum Harriet told The Sun on Sunday: “They’ve been a godsend.
“I want to shout from the rooftops that this has changed our lives.”
Jack is one of 100 teenagers to be prescribed the drug Wegovy by Diet UK, the only private clinic in Britain to offer the treatment to teenagers.
Harriet, a 56-year-old hairdresser from Berkshire, said the decision to take such drastic action came out of desperation.
She explained: “Obviously we had tried cutting his food and getting rid of snacks completely, but it all caused problems with Jack.
“He couldn’t think of anything else but, ‘Where’s my crisps?’ and ‘Where’s my chocolate?’ ”
Over the previous year, Harriet had seen her sporty son go from being picked first for his rugby team to using an inhaler during PE lessons.
He would snack on pizza and chicken nuggets between meals, and if she refused to give him crisps or chocolates he would have a “meltdown”.
Mum-of-one Harriet said: “He had something in his mouth all the time. You couldn’t even call it snacking between meals.
“He would quite happily eat a six-pack of crisps, then after dinner he’d be looking for ice cream.
‘LIGHTBULB MOMENT’
“He would eat to the point where he would actually feel sick.”
When he was 13, Jack’s fellow pupils started picking on him because of his weight.
Harriet said: “I think he was comfort-eating because of the bullying. He didn’t see it that way though — he just wanted food.”
She and Jack would have nightly arguments as he searched through cupboards in the kitchen for something to eat.
Harriet said: “He would sneak up to the cupboard without me knowing. It got to the point where he wouldn’t be happy until he’d eaten an entire multipack of crisps.”
The weight started dropping within a week of him having his first jab — it was straight away.
Jack’s steadily increasing weight became a bone of contention between Harriet and his father Ian, who she separated from when Jack was a year old.
Harriet said: “Me and his father would talk about it and argue. He would say, ‘What are you feeding him?’ He wanted me to get rid of all the snacks from the house — which I didn’t.
“But Jack would have a meltdown if he looked through the cupboard at the end of the day. It was something we would fight about every time.”
It was Ian who first came across Diet UK, and Harriet said: “I hadn’t even thought to look into injections but when his dad suggested it, I said yes straight away.
“I think it was out of exhaustion really, because I was so tired with the arguments. We were desperate for a solution.”
It was at Jack’s first consultation with Diet UK’s founder Dr Sindy Newman that Harriet learned that her son now weighed 18st.
She said: “It was a shock for me, I’ve got to be honest.
“I felt as if I’d let him down, that I was a rubbish parent. All this stuff was going through my head.
“It was a lightbulb moment — but not a good one.”
But at that initial meeting, Harriet noticed that something seemed to click with Jack.
She continued: “When he talked about it with Dr Sindy, I think it was a big realisation that he wasn’t healthy.
“I mean, it got to the point where he was actually having to use an inhaler to do PE and games in school.
“The GP said he has asthma and it was quite normal, but since he’s lost the weight he hasn’t even touched it.
“I’m not sure he even knew he was overweight — I think he was in denial because the thought of being unable to have his junk food was more important to him at that point.”
At the consultation it was agreed that Jack would be a good candidate for Diet UK’s GLP-1 programme — named after the appetite-reducing hormone that the drugs mimic — and that he would be prescribed Wegovy.
The 30-minute online consultation cost £50, with the average cost of the medication package starting at £165 a month.
We don’t argue any more. It’s like living with a different person. And in the last few months he’s got more mature than he was before.
Jack, Harriet and Dr Sindy made a plan to improve the whole family’s diet alongside the weekly jabs and were given meal plans to follow, consisting of high-protein and high-fibre foods.
Harriet said: “When we were waiting for the first injections to come in the post, we used to sit down and talk about what foods we wanted to have.
And Jack knew that there was going to be no treats, no crisps and chocolates.
“He was a bit worried about that at first but literally, after he had that first injection, he never asked for anything again.
“And I was so shocked because I thought, ‘Well, is this his mind telling him he’s got to try to be good, or is it the injection?’ He never asked for rubbish, and it was so good. The arguments literally stopped overnight.
“He said, ‘I haven’t got a craving for it’, but then I didn’t either.
“So I could understand what he meant, because I went through this journey with him.”
‘THE WEIGHT JUST FELL OFF’
The results were almost immediate. Harriet recalled: “The weight started dropping within a week of him having his first jab — it was straight away.
“He lost 6lb in the first week and 3lb the week after. Then he lost 5lb, then another 5lb.
“The weight just fell off. Obviously he could have lost weight by cutting out the junk food but the injection just boosted it so much — it took all his cravings away.”
Now 6ft tall, Jack is once more the star of his rugby team and his confidence has soared.
Harriet added: “He is completely different. Kids seem to flock around him — I always said he’s like the Pied Piper.
“He’s got a big group of friends and he brings them in to mingle. We’ve always got kids at the house.
“He’s popular and he gets a lot of phone calls from different girls.
“We don’t argue any more. It’s like living with a different person. And in the last few months he’s got more mature than he was before.
“He realises he’s got to take responsibility for his weight and his health, as well as everything else. It’s not a quick fix, it’s hard work.
“You can’t just sit and watch telly and wait for the injection to work.”
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases.
Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK.
Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market.
Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight.
They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists.
They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients’ sugar levels are too high.
Can I get them?
NHS prescriptions of Wegovy is controlled through specialist weight loss clinics, while Mounjaro is available from GPs but only for the highest risk patients.
For Wegovy, a patient will typically have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure. They will be expected to have tried diet and exercise already.
Mounjaro is available from NHS GPs for weight loss but only to a tiny group of patients, with the rollout starting with those with a BMI higher than 40 and with four weight-related health conditions.
Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk.
Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health.
Are there any risks?
Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients’ mental health.
Jack is proud of how far he has come — and hopes to slowly start weaning himself off the medication once he gets to his desired weight of 12st.
Harriet said: “He’s back playing rugby again now and he’s enjoying it so much.
“Even when he was overweight he was a good rugby player and would get picked to play but he was never able to finish a match, and they would have to take him off.
“But now he can play a full game. He gets picked to play every week and he enjoys it so much.
“He’s out on his bike every day, and his mindset is so different.
“Instead of buying a packet of crisps, he’ll get himself a high- protein snack like chicken.
“He’ll have his friends here and say, ‘Do you want to see me take my injection?’ He’s proud of this.
“It has changed our lives.”
- Names and details have been changed to protect Jack’s identity