I lost 7st 8lb on Mounjaro after a skinny woman flirted with my man – why I’ll stay on jabs for LIFE despite blackouts

CLINGING protectively to her boyfriend’s arm, Ariane Sherine Juniper feigned a smile as he shared a joke with a younger, slimmer woman. For Ariane, who had supported Adam as he lost a massive 7st 13lb, the flirty exchange crushed her, with one fear in particular swirling around her mind. Ariane Sherine Juniper was scared her man Adam would lose her if she didn’t lose a massive amount of weight Credit: Michael Leckie At her heaviest, Ariane weighed over 16st and felt she was ‘punching hard’ with Adam who had also been on a weight loss journey Credit: supplied by Ariane Juniper Unless she lost weight – fast – Adam would leave her. Ariane, who was 16st 5lb at her heaviest, says: “We started living together in March last year, and that same month, this skinny woman came over to Adam at a book launch and started flirting with him. “We told her when we’d moved in together, and she said: ‘Oh God, not even two weeks?’ “Adam then joked: ‘Oh yeah, we might even make it to two weeks.’ “I was so upset, because I thought that if this woman wanted to take him off me, she could. “He was so attractive, and I felt like I was punching so hard.” Although Adam tried to reassure her it was just a joke, Ariane, 46, couldn’t shake the fear she may potentially lose the love of her life due to her size. “It made me acutely aware that I needed to slim down,” says the mum-of-one. “But losing weight through willpower alone was something I just couldn’t do.” With the help of fat jabs, Ariane shed 7st 8lb Credit: Michael Leckie Ariane couldn’t shake the fear she may potentially lose the love of her life due to her size Credit: Supplied by Ariane Juniper Ariane had been a size 8 until her early thirties, when she started medication to help with a period of poor mental health. “It seemed to turn on a hunger switch in my brain,” says the freelance writer and photographer from Plaistow, East London. “I wanted to eat and eat, and for the first time in my life, I was scoffing pizza and cookie dough.” Around the same time, Ariane fell pregnant with her daughter, Lily, now 15. “I did nothing but eat my whole pregnancy and went from 7st 5lb to 12st 7lb,” says 5ft3 Ariane. “I was still 11st 3lb after she was born.” After breastfeeding, she eventually got back down to 8st, but her weight yo-yo’d throughout her thirties and forties, peaking at 16st 5lb in 2023. After splitting from her daughter’s dad, she got engaged a further three times – to a subsequent boyfriend, and then twice to a man she eventually married. “The boyfriend who became my husband only wanted to date me when I was skinny,” says Ariane. Ariane married Adam in May this year at a registry office in Edinburgh Credit: Supplied Ariane admits she was initially scared to start taking Mounjaro Credit: Supplied by Ariane Juniper “He cancelled the first wedding in 2014 because he got cold feet. “He didn’t want to date me when I was bigger. Then as soon as I lost weight again, he was like: ‘Marry me, you’re the love of my life.’ “I cried on my way to the wedding in 2017 because I knew that if he wouldn’t marry me when I was fat, it wasn’t true love. “We were both miserable for a year before I filed for divorce.” At her heaviest, Ariane would avoid mirrors, photos and her reflection in shop windows. “I was embarrassed to go on dates, despite being desperate to find love,” she says. “One man said I was fat, lazy and unattractive because of my size. “Another yelled ‘big belly’ at me in the street, while one offered me his seat on the Tube, believing I was pregnant. “I had zero energy. I was morbidly obese and couldn’t walk without getting short of breath. “I had chest pains and was so huge that I couldn’t wipe my bum. “I ended up quitting my job as an editor of an interiors website as I was so ashamed of being the fat girl surrounded by glamorous women.” Ariane weighed 14st 14lb when she met website managing editor Adam through work in July 2024. 5ft 10in Adam, 46, weighed 19st 7lb and was also trying to lose weight. I no longer feel as though another woman is going to steal him from me, says Ariane Credit: Supplied by Ariane Juniper 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. “He was a proper man mountain, and I was a woman mountain,” says Ariane. “But he had a really warm heart.” Adam, who has a ten-year-old son, was in a relationship at the time, but he and Ariane decided to meet up as friends and support each other with their weight loss. However, while Adam made steady progress by calorie-counting and ditching sugary snacks for healthy rice cakes, Ariane struggled. “I didn’t make any headway,” she says. “I would starve myself all day and then pig out in the evening, but every time I saw Adam, there was less of him.” After Adam’s relationship ended in February 2025, he moved in with Ariane the following month. He had lost 7st 13lb since they first met and now weighed a trim 11st 8lb. Ariane had lost about 1st 4lb since meeting Adam, and when they moved in together she weighed around 13st9lb. After the incident where the slim woman flirted with Adam, Ariane couldn’t shake her insecurities, and her weight loss plateaued. Although she’d previously rejected the idea of weight loss jabs due to fears around potential health implications, she started Mounjaro in May last year, taking the lowest dose of 2.5mg. “I was so scared to take it; there were a lot more fears about thyroid cancer. I kind of wish I’d gone on it sooner because it’s really been a game changer for me; it’s changed my life for the better. “What they subsequently found was that the jabs are actually really good for you and reduce the chances of heart disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and all these different conditions. Even if they didn’t suppress my appetite, I would stay on them for the health benefits.” Adam says he loved ‘amazing’ Ariane ‘whatever her size’ Credit: Supplied by Ariane Juniper Adam admits he notices Ariane getting checked out quite a lot now Credit: Supplied “I’m really squeamish, so Adam injected me every Sunday,” she says. “We called him Nurse Adam.” She lost 4st and 5.73lb between May 2025 and February 2026. In July 2025, Adam proposed to Ariane in the Sky Garden, London’s highest public garden. She says: “He got down on one knee. I was overjoyed and said yes, of course.” “When he proposed, I was still 13st1lb. But unlike certain exes, I knew Adam would marry me at any weight. “I genuinely don’t think he minded my weight – I think he liked my bigger boobs. “And weight has never affected our sex life. We’ve always had sex once a day or more. “But I always felt that I wasn’t good enough for him, and I couldn’t believe he had actually proposed. “I bought my white princessy wedding dress on Shein in three different sizes for £133. “I wanted to be a beautiful bride, and I didn’t want people to think: ‘Oh, why is he marrying her?’” In the space of eight months, Ariane lost another 4st 8lb, taking her total weight loss to 7st 8lb, and married Adam in May this year at a registry office in Edinburgh. “We just had two friends as witnesses, the photographer and the celebrant,” says Ariane, who wore the size 12 dress and sold the others. “And I no longer feel as though another woman is going to steal him from me.” Ariane, who now weighs 8st 11lb and is a size 10-12, is determined to stay on the jabs for life, despite a few side effects such as nausea and blacking out occasionally if she stands up too quickly. “I get ‘Mounjaro fatigue’ the day after injecting,” she says. “I call that a red day, where I don’t really do much. “It’s £245 a month, which is nearly half my monthly salary, but it’s totally worth it. “I worry that if I came off it, I would regain all the weight.” Adam says: “That woman at the event absolutely could not have had me. I already knew that I had moved in with the woman I wanted to marry and be with forever. “I love her, whatever her size. She’s amazing. “She gets checked out quite a lot, in real life and on social media. “She has an active following of people online who are quite enthusiastic about her and send flame emojis. It really winds me up, actually.”