Some people only lose a few kilos on Mounjaro. Some don't lose much at all. Me? I'd already lost 19kg (3 stone) during my weight loss journey, but it was slow to come off until I went on the jab. Over the course of the next ten months, I lost another 29kg (4.5 stone), reaching the same number of kilos lost as my teenage daughter Lily weighs: 48kg (7.5 stone). I needed to lose roughly this much, but the amount was a total coincidence.
My daughter is very slim, as I was at her age, and I said to her one day, 'I must have lost as much as you weigh by now!'
She raised an eyebrow: 'How do you know how much I weigh?'
I shrugged: 'I don't, but it must be around 48 kilograms.'
She stared at me: 'Yeah, I'm exactly 48 kilograms! How did you know?'
I could guess her weight accurately because I remember being that skinny. But after our conversation, I realised that what I really want for my daughter is not for her to be thin, but for her to be happy - and, particularly, for her to be happy with her body.
I would like her weight to be a metric she never considers - I hope for her not to weigh herself regularly, or to even know how much she weighs unless her GP asks her to step on the scales. For her not to log calories meticulously as I have done so obsessively, or divide foods into 'good' and 'bad', or feel guilty when she's exceeded her calorie allowance for the day. Never to binge or starve herself, constantly yo-yoing, feeling pleased when the scale shows less and depressed when it shows more. Never to hide away from mirrors if she's plus size, or apologise to people for her weight, or feel as though it defines her.
She's a smart kid academically, predicted a string of 9s for her GCSE mocks, but I'm grateful that she's also sensible. She's a feminist, attends Feminist Society at school and knows that what's between her ears is more important than what's between her knife and fork. She's always known the importance of having a good self-image and feeling confident. Once, when she was seven, I described myself as 'obese' in front of her. She misunderstood me, not having heard the word before, and said sternly, 'Mummy, you must NEVER call yourself a BEAST!'
Different starts in life
She turns 15 next month, and would defend my right to be any weight. Previously, when I've expressed fears that she might be on the thin side, being on the lower end of the healthy range for her height, she's dismissed me with a swift, 'Don't comment on my body please!' But it's difficult, because I've experienced such disordered eating myself for three decades, to set aside my fears that she might be headed for the same fate as me. The reassuring thing is we couldn't be more different, and have had completely different starts in life.
I was very skinny at her age because my mum was a health freak and had the whole family on a very restrictive diet. (Try eating no salt, sugar, preservatives, flavourings, colourings, refined flour, fried food, crisps, fizzy drinks or chocolate ever for the whole of your childhood - you will not come out of it with a balanced approach to food!)
But my daughter is simply skinny as she's an active and athletic kid, doing parkrun each Saturday and running 5k in 25 minutes. Her request for her 15th birthday is for me to pay for a gym membership. She simply burns off all the tasty treats she eats - every weekend, I'm very relieved when she hoovers up a large pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate with whipped cream (and I'm very happy to pay for as much food as she wants to eat!).
A balanced approach
Since she was born, I've always insisted that she should eat whatever she wants as long as part of her diet is her 5-a-day. She's been vegetarian since she was eight, which also contributes to her low body mass - in studies, veggies weigh less on average than meat-eaters. But, reassuringly, she's also a total chocoholic. In short, there's no cause for concern.
When I discovered I'd lost the same amount that she weighs, it felt like a significant milestone. I asked if she would mind leaping on my back while her stepdad took some photos and video of us. It was great fun carrying her around and was a real bonding moment. It turns out that 48kg is still also quite heavy if you carry it on your back! But I didn't say that.
All I said to Lily was, 'The main thing is I'm now healthy.' Because, really, that's all that matters here.
