'I lost six stone but didn't want anyone to know how'

A woman who lost more than six stone after hitting rock bottom says she was initially so ashamed of how she did it she kept it secret. Marianne Bell, 41, was grieving the loss of her father and felt emotionally and physically exhausted when she decided her life had to change.

“I was scared I’d fail again,” she says. “I’ve tried everything - every diet, every quick fix, even a gastric balloon. When I started Mounjaro, I felt ashamed. I didn’t want people to think I’d cheated.” Marianne has now shed 6st 3lb (40kg), dropping from 15st (96kg) to 8st 7lb and no longer stays silent about how she did it, viewing fat loss drugs like Mounjaro as medical treatments, not vanity tools.

“We don’t shame people for using insulin or inhalers. Why should this be different?,” she adds. “The stigma is what keeps people stuck. This isn’t the easy way out. It’s just one tool. You still have to show up, do the work, and heal from the inside out.

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“You don’t owe anyone an explanation. You’re allowed to do this quietly. You’re allowed to get help. Don’t let shame keep you from freedom.”

Marianne, from West Lothian, , says Mounjaro has completely transformed her life, and her relationship with food - including the absence of food noise. “It’s that constant internal radio: ‘What will I eat next? Should I eat that? I shouldn’t. But I want to. What’s wrong with me?’” she explains. “It was like food had control over my brain and it was exhausting.

Mounjaro, she says, didn’t just help with appetite, it quieted the chaos in her head. “For the first time, I had space to think about things that mattered. I could feel hunger and fullness again instead of guilt and chaos.”

The real transformation was deeper than diet. “The biggest shift wasn’t physical, it was emotional,” she says. “I’ve learned to love my body, even with imperfections. I’ve stopped apologising for taking up space. At my dad’s funeral, I’d lost weight but felt overwhelmed with grief,” she says. “That used to be a trigger. I’d eat to numb. But I didn’t. I let myself feel it. That was a breakthrough. I proved to myself I could face pain without food.”

She is now in the maintenance phase and, while fearing weight will creep back on, has worked to control her anxieties. “I didn’t do this for anyone else. I did it for me,” she says. “And I’m not relying on willpower alone. Mounjaro gave me the breathing space to build the habits, routines, and emotional tools that keep me going.”

Marianne spends her day working in financial services. The rest of her time is used to coach other women to escape cycles of emotional eating and self-sabotage.

“I’ve always been drawn to coaching and mentoring,” she says. “But it was through my own journey that I found my real purpose. I want to help women feel at home in their bodies.”

She says the messages she receives from followers on TikTok often bring her to tears. “Women message me saying, ‘I thought I was the only one who felt this way.’ We’ve been made to believe we’re weak if we need help but that’s a lie. Obesity is a disease, not a failure of character.”