I spoke to a weight loss expert after GLP-1 medications didn't give me the results I wanted

I tried both Wegovy and Mounjaro as a means of losing weight and was disappointed when I didn't get the results I'd hoped for.

Adverts on TV and social media are everywhere for weight loss medications like these, with people (typically women; for example Serena Williams) raving about the amazing results they managed to get after years of struggling with their weight.

I'd long been trying to shift a fair few pounds, with the number of the scale slowly creeping up to what I felt to be an undesirable number. I knew that the jabs weren't a cheap option, so I tried other means to lose weight first.

From Slimming World and the 5:2 diet (fasting), to paying a small fortune for a six-week personalized diet and exercise plan — nothing seemed to be giving me the results I wanted.

With this in mind, I bit the bullet and made the financial decision to give Mounjaro a go. Being the height I am (short) and the weight I am (mid-sized), I fit the eligibility bracket to get the medication and took my first dose back in July 2025.

I started using GLP-1 jabs last summer (Supplied)

Around September time I then switched to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – with the support of a healthcare professional – which was a more affordable option after Eli Lilly announced drastic price hikes on its medication.

Fast forward to Christmas 2025 and I'd lost around a stone in weight (14 pounds); a far cry from the kilograms I was hoping to have shed by that point in my weight loss journey.

So what went wrong, I hear you ask? Well, I've been asking myself the same thing.

As I had so many questions, I chatted with Dr Emil Gadimali, founder of UK-based weight loss programme, CutKilo.

From our discussions it became clearer about why I may have not had the results I'd been striving for.

I initially started on Mounjaro before swapping to Wegovy (Getty Stock)

Reduced exercise and movement

I now understand that I was naive to think I could get by doing minimal exercise when I was on the jabs and that if I did go to the gym, it would just be an added bonus. I did, of course, plan on hitting the gym more than I had been doing having fallen off the fitness wagon a bit, but along came a sports injury in the shape of a torn ACL and meniscus leaving me needing surgery and spending six weeks in a knee brace and on crutches.

I thought the jab would be my saving grace though and that I'd still lose weight despite being physically out of action, but I was wrong.

Because I wasn't exercising as much, the total amount of calories I was burning in that period was lower, Dr Emil explained.

"To lose a meaningful amount of weight, you need to be in 500 calorie deficit per day (on average)," he said, which is a rather hard feat to achieve if you're not working out.

I was in a brace and on crutches for 6 weeks after having surgery in early October (Supplied)

Reaching the 'sweet spot' dosage

In the clinical trials you read about Wegovy and people losing up to 17 percent of their body weight, but this was when a patient hits the 2.4mg dosage point (which was previously the highest you could get). A person then needs to continue on that dosage for 68 weeks – 15 months – to achieve that 17 percent goal.

I thought I'd start to see results from day one in terms of the weight loss benefits, but that's another thing I was wrong about. I made it to 1.7mg of Wegovy (the dosage below said 'sweet spot'), so there's a chance that I wasn't patient enough.

To those thinking of trying Wegovy specifically, it's important to remember the data about dosage. So, if you want to lose 17 percent of your body weight, give yourself 15 months plus five months at least to get to the 2.4mg dosage.

"It does take quite a bit," Dr Emil said of the weight loss achievements seen advertised on these medications. "Just finding that therapeutic dose for someone is the task of the doctor, and finding the dose where you're actually losing weight and you're not having side effects. That's the kind of sweet spot where you want to be."

GLP-1s weren't the quick fix I presumed they would be (Getty Stock)

Using the drug as a fix rather than a tool

I'd be lying if I said I didn't start using the likes of Mounjaro and Wegovy in the hopes that a metaphorical magic wand would be waved and my weight would just drop off. However, I now know that it's just one piece to a bigger puzzle: the other pieces being the usual things like regular exercise, lifestyle changes, and eating in a calorie deficit. These are all key parts of achieving long term weight loss.

"They are almost like a tool helping you to reduce that caloric intake," said Dr Emil of GLP-1s, adding: "It just makes it easier for you to eat less, right? So it's important that you use it right way. That kind of just the foundational level of it."

You need these healthy lifestyle changes to be in full force when the 'food noise' comes back when coming off the jabs, as it's unlikely you'll want to stay on them forever.

With this in mind, if you decide to use your hard-earned cash on weight loss medications, make sure you're putting in the extra work around your weekly injection.