Woman Regains Three Stone After Quitting Weight Loss Shots

A property manager is issuing a stark warning about the dangers of quitting weight loss injections after regaining three stone in just months following her stop with the shots. Arina Yasm, 30, attempted Ozempic back in December 2020 because she was fed up discarding clothes that no longer fit. Standing at 14st 6lbs and wearing an XXL size, she blamed a stressful relocation from Portugal to Dubai for her weight gain. Loneliness played a huge role while she sat before a computer all day, snacking out of boredom and stress.

'I had just moved and I didn't really like Dubai,' she explained. 'I didn't have friends and I was working from my computer, sitting all day and snacking at the same time.' Her daily diet consisted of McDonald's for breakfast or lunch, up to 50 pieces of sushi for dinner, alongside crisps, burritos, and sugary drinks. She also drank alcohol with dinner every evening, including wine or sometimes three bottles of beer. Food delivery apps only made her lack of control over food intake worse.

At first exercise was challenging, but once she hit 11 stone, moving her body got easier. 'Everything was available immediately. If I wanted Doritos at 2am, I could have them delivered.' She said she had to abandon high street shopping after XXL clothes from Zara no longer fitted. 'I had to look online and find alternatives - it was really sad and frustrating. I was only 29 but I felt like I was 70 years old.'

By the end of 2020 she was ready to take drastic action to improve her eating habits and read about the effects of semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. The drug has been available as a diabetes treatment in the UK since 2017 but was only approved specifically for weight loss in 2023. However many private practitioners offered the medication to non-diabetics prior to that approval. Within six months she'd lost more than three stone, but suffered agonising stomach pain which she was prescribed medication to treat.

As soon as she stopped the injections, in June 2021, 'my appetite came back'. She said: 'I hadn't changed anything. I was still living the same way, so the weight came back.' Within a few months she'd gained all the fat she'd lost and tipped the scale at 14 and a half stone. 'I had pain in my neck and knees everyday,' she said. 'I knew something had to change because I wanted to be healthier and have a better life.'

Ms Yasm noted that food delivery apps gave her access to junk food whenever she wanted it, but now dinners are focused on protein while alcohol and sugar have been cut out completely. Instead of searching for another fast solution, she hired a personal trainer and focused on making small changes she could maintain. She slowly changed her diet by phasing out alcohol and introduced regular exercise to her routine.

Ms Yasm began training three times a week before increasing to four or five sessions. She combined strength training with cardio, including walking between 10 and 20 thousand steps every day. At first exercising was a challenge. 'When I was big it was really difficult,' she said. 'I would only manage two minutes on the Stairmaster and had to go just 10 minutes on the cross trainer.' Eventually she built up her stamina and started doing more on the Stairmaster. When she reached 70kg [11 stone], she felt comfortable enough to start running because she knew her knees wouldn't be at as much risk of harm. She hated running at first but now it's her favourite thing to do.

Today Ms Yasm weighs a slight eight stone and wears size eight clothing.

Her astonishing six-and-a-half stone weight loss stems mostly from a total transformation of her diet, she said. Now around 85 per cent of the foods she eats are homecooked. She focuses on protein, including fish, meat, eggs, salmon, prawns and mussels, alongside sweet potatoes, rice, chickpeas and wholegrain bread. She no longer drinks sugary drinks and sticks to water or Coke Zero.

Speaking of finding the motivation to change, she said the first step was admitting to herself that she 'wasn't healthy'. Once you remove that burden and realise you can change it, everything gets better, she said. You need a system and a strategy. It can't just be a diet because when the diet ends, most people go back. It has to become part of who you are.