Jabs turned us from lazy 43st kebab binge eaters into rampant lovers, sex is more fun than scoffing a bag of chips

DATE nights for Laura Berry used to involve watching her husband Lee sweating over a kebab and chips as they gorged on their favourite takeaway. But now – just six months after they took their first weight-loss jab – the couple can’t keep their hands off each other, and for good reason. Laura and Lee Berry have lost a combined 9st Credit: NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LTD Laura and Lee, pictured before weight loss, tipped the scales at 43st before going on the jabs Credit: SWNS They’ve lost 9st between them and evenings these days usually end with ripping each other’s clothes off. Laura has splashed out on Victoria’s Secret underwear while Lee, 42, has swapped weekends spent in bed snacking on crisps for runs around the park. A recent holiday in Italy felt like a second honeymoon for the smitten pair, who have been married four years and live with their two children aged 12 and 14 in Wythenshawe in Manchester. “Our sex life is amazing,” says office manager Laura, 40, who has gone from a size 24 to 14 thanks to the jabs. Laura and Lee say their sex life is amazing since losing weight and they’re doing it every other night Credit: SWNS Laura was previously a size 24, but she has since dropped to a size 14 Credit: SWNS “We are doing it every other night, sometimes more. And sex is much more fun than eating a bag of chips.” Weight-loss injections have radically altered the shape of the UK since they came to the UK three years ago. On September 4, 2023, the groundbreaking semaglutide drug was officially launched in the UK under the brand name Wegovy, six months after it was authorised for NHS use. Now, one in 10 Brits either use weight-loss injections or plan to. Because NHS access remains strictly limited to specialist clinics with long waiting lists, most users obtain their prescriptions through private prescribers. While Saxenda, an earlier GLP-1 drug, has been available on the NHS since 2021, Wegovy offers much higher efficacy. Clinical trials demonstrate that Wegovy leads to significantly greater weight loss than Saxenda (roughly 15 per cent vs. eight per cent of body weight on average) due to semaglutide’s higher potency and longer activity in the brain’s appetite centres. Saxenda users must also inject themselves daily, whereas Wegovy and Mounjaro are administered just once a week. Now, a wide variety of similar injections have proliferated, and GLP-1 treatments are now available in pill form. Weight loss drugs have been credited with transforming lives, tackling obesity rates and warding off fatal conditions such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. But they have also been linked to 150,000 adverse reactions and 216 deaths. Critics say the industry has become a wild west, fuelled by our vanity and obsession to be thin, and is in dire need of regulation. However, for Laura, who was previously classed as obese, weighing over 21 stone, and company manager Lee – who was over 22 stone and now weighs 18 stone – the injections have been transformative. The 5ft 3in mum-of-two has been taking regular 5mg shots of a compound version of the unapproved Retatrutide drug, which she buys off the internet for £30 a month. Lee, who is 6ft, is on 5mg of GLP-1 inhibitor Tirzepatide, known as the King Kong of jabs and sold under the brand name Mounjaro, which costs £70 a month and is approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Laura and Lee would have takeaways four times a week and felt ‘lazy and sluggish’ Credit: SWNS The pair say they haven’t experienced any side effects from using the jabs Credit: NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LTD The couple previously tried a variety of diets such as Slimming World – and Laura was on a two-year waiting list for a gastric band – but nothing worked. Laura, who is now 16 stone says: “It was takeaways, going out for meals, chocolate, crisps and the chippy. “I reckon I was probably doing about 3,000 calories a day. I’ve always been a big eater. My mum put me on a diet when I was seven years old and 14 stone. “I did lose a little bit of weight when I was a teenager, but when I met Lee seven years ago, I fell back into bad habits of drinking and eating chocolate and crisps sat around the TV. “Going up the stairs, I would be out of breath. Doing the housework and cleaning, sweat was just running off me. “For Lee, it was the same. We were very lazy and sluggish, with no energy to play with the kids. “We’d eat four takeaways a week after work because we couldn’t be bothered to cook. “I’d have numerous cappuccinos and Cokes and a chocolate bar or biscuit at 3pm. For tea it would be a kebab and chips or a Chinese or an Indian.” Intimacy took a knock too. Laura explains: “We still had good sex, but it wasn’t easy because we were bigger. I couldn’t get on top of him, for instance. “We would turn to food and drink to make ourselves happy, but I was always wracked with guilt.” Debra Smith, pictured after weight loss, dropped 4st from taking Mounjaro Credit: SWNS Taking weight loss jabs caused Debra to lose 50 per cent of her hair Credit: SWNS The couple started taking the jabs in March and neither has experienced any side effects. Laura adds: “They changed my mindset overnight. Before, all I could think about was food. “Once I changed my eating habits and did some exercise, I started to lose five pounds a week. “The drug targets the receptors in your brain. Now, if I think of a takeaway, my brain says, ‘No, you don’t need that’. “I now have yoghurt, eggs and bacon for breakfast. I have two meals a day. “Dinner could be tuna salad or a chicken rice bowl with vegetables and loads of water. We do a 5k run three times a week.” An estimated 2.6m Brits currently take weight loss drugs, but an additional eight million say they are interested in using them. Yet the UK lags behind the US, where 15 per cent of the population has already taken them at some point. And while obesity rates in the States are starting to fall, Britain’s obesity timebomb is still ticking, with 30 per cent of adults – 14.3m people – classed as obese, while an astonishing 66 per cent are considered overweight. One issue is that the NHS roll-out of the drugs has been slow. Nine in 10 buy fat jabs privately, and the majority are women, according to reports. At the same time, a disturbing black market in weight loss drugs has sprung up, with bootleg varieties available for sale on social media sites and people mixing injections at home. Debra said being 13-and-a-half stone impacted her confidence Credit: SWNS Only 20 per cent of Debra’s hair has grown back but she says she doesn’t regret taking Mounjaro Credit: SWNS But even approved jabs have potential side effects including pancreatitis, gallbladder issues, fatigue, hair loss, bad breath, muscle loss, saggy skin, vomiting, diarrhoea, seizures and low blood sugar. Louis Mayers, a personal trainer based in Manchester, argues that jabs mainly benefit the morbidly obese whose lives are in danger due to their weight. He says: “Fat jabs are very addictive. It’s like going on steroids – you open Pandora’s Box because once you’ve seen the results you can’t live without them. “You’re then on a diet where you’re barely eating any food and anything less than 1,200 calories, and you cannot get enough nutrients, and you could end up with other problems like brittle bones. “I’ve noticed that as soon as people come off the jabs, they put the weight back on. “People want a quick fix, and they would be better off strength training two to four days a week, walking, eating a healthy diet with lots of protein and playing sport. It’s not rocket science.” Although content creator Debra Smith, 34, a mum-of-one, who is a long-term relationship, shed 50 per cent of her hair after losing four stone while taking Mounjaro last year, she chose to prioritise her figure. She believes women ought to be given better warnings about potential side effects. Debra, who lives in Darlington, County Durham, says: “I was 13-and-a-half stone at my heaviest and it caused me to lose all my confidence. “I was so busy working full-time and being a mum that most of my meals were eaten on the go – McDonald’s and bacon sandwiches. “In January last year, I started buying 2.5mg of Mounjaro from a private doctor and gradually worked my way up to 12.5mg, which cost £200 a month. “It was a game-changer. By August I was down to nine-and-a-half stone, and that’s when I started losing my hair. “For three months it kept shedding. When I woke up, there would be hair on my pillowcase. It was scary.” Debra stopped taking the jab last October, then in January, she went back on it. She says: “It was sad losing my hair – only 20 per cent of it has grown back – but I’ll never regret taking Mounjaro. It’s changed my life for the better. “When I came off the jabs, I felt sluggish and bloated. “I’m much happier now. I feel confident my hair will grow back because I’m maintaining my weight loss by taking 2.5mg injections. “The issue was I lost weight so dramatically, and I wasn’t eating enough protein. “Someone should have warned that might result in losing my hair.” Eating disorder expert Elle Mace, author of Food Freedom, is one of many calling for stricter regulation of the industry. She says: “Right now, you can buy weight loss injections from a doctor online – and people are taking them without enough checks. “What I am seeing is people buying them before they go on holiday. They want to go from a size 12 to size eight. “There needs to be better guidance and regulation because people with eating disorders, including anorexia, get their hands on them and they’re vulnerable. “We should go back to where it was before, where you get them from an NHS doctor who makes sure you qualify and monitors your reaction.” Laura, however, has no qualms about continuing on the jabs and wants to stay on them indefinitely . “I couldn’t be happier. Taking weight loss jabs has completely transformed our lives. “The sex is amazing, we’re trying more positions, and I feel fantastic.”