As the clock neared midday, Lynsey Macfadyen knew it wouldn’t be long until she was tucking into her favourite lunch – two packets of Super Noodles sandwiched between four slices of thickly buttered white bread.
The 32-year-old, from Edinburgh, was a slave to her appetite, and it was perfectly normal for her to start her day with a bacon roll or fry-up washed down with two large cans of energy drinks.
Ms Macfadyen said: ‘I would consume full sugar Monster energy drinks, two before lunch.
‘Lunch would be Super Noodle sandwiches – two packs and four slices of bread with two packs of crisps and sweets.
‘For snacks I’d have a share bag of crisps and a share block of chocolate and three or four more Monsters in between.’
Ms Macfadyen first began gaining weight rapidly aged 19 when she began hormonal contraception and ballooned up to 21st 4lbs at her heaviest.
Despite trying her hardest to stick to a healthy eating plan, she never found one that ‘stuck’ – and regularly sank five cans of Monster a day.
A 500ml can of monster can contain up to 240 calories, meaning that she was regularly consuming 1,200 calories a day in energy drinks alone. The NHS recommends women consume no more than 2,000 calories a day, and men no more than 2,500.
Lynsey Macfadyen used to drink five cans of sugary Monster a day
She began taking Mounjaro in June 2024
Concerned about her weight, Ms Macfadyen considered re-joining Slimming World – but after she weighed herself she was ‘shocked’ at the number on the scale and decided to go down a different route to help her weight loss.
After hearing about Mounjaro online, Lynsey bought her first 2.5mg pen from Cloud Pharmacy in June 2024, spending £120.
She has since lost 8st 2lbs and is a healthy 13st 2lbs, shrinking from a size 26 to a size 12 in just 18 months.
‘I thought it was now or never,’ she said.
‘I did it and enjoyed it and started losing weight.
‘I didn’t get any sort of bad side effects.
‘At first for three or four months I was eating the exact same things as before and because it was less food I was losing weight.’
Ms Macfadyen’s weight issues were exasperated by other mental and physical health problems.
At her heaviest, she weighed over 21 stone
She now weighs a healthy 13 stone
At the age of 26, her comfort eating began spiralling out of control when she was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) – a condition which affects the nervous system and the brain’s ability to send and receive signals.
FND also means she can ‘go from being capable one minute’ to being in a state of having seizures or paralysis – and when cooking at risk of harm when chopping things due to spasms, as well as disassociations meaning she would often forget her oven was on.
That same year, she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) which spurred even more comfort eating.
And in November 2024, Ms Macfadyen suffered an injury to her hip which meant she had to use a mobility scooter for four months and was left unable to stand for more than four minutes at a time.
She has since recovered and is awaiting double hip surgery due to a femoral anteversion she has had since birth, and she is awaiting a diagnosis for a hypermobility disorder.
Ms Macfadyen, who is currently unable to work, said: ‘One of the biggest issues with my mental health as I would go back to food whenever my mental health was bad to a point where I would eat to feel better.
‘I couldn’t plan an event unless it was centred around food. If it was a birthday it was ‘what are we doing meal wise?’ or if we were having a movie weekend ‘what food are we having?’.
‘Even if I tired to make healthier meals the portions were never normal portions.
Mounjaro has changed her relationship with food and nutrition for the better
‘I realised being on Mounjaro I have never felt the ability to feel satisfied with food.
‘I don’t know how to describe it, before I was a bottomless pit.
‘Now after normal portions I feel full and feel almost uncomfortably full.’
Now, Ms Macfadyen has swapped her full sugar Monster energy drinks for the sugar free alternative – and her whole attitude towards nutrition has shifted.
She said: ‘As things went on I realised after Mounjaro I need to think about what I’m eating if I’m going to keep this off.
‘I took a diet and nutrition course and passed that.
‘Now I think what can I do to get my protein into it and fibre.
‘I’ve been focusing a lot on how to get vitamins and nutrients.
‘It’s incorporating balance – I still have things like McDonald’s or a chippy, Chinese or Indian and finding balance, instead of having fried rice I’ll have boiled rice with a side dish of veggies.’
Sharing her weight loss journey online, she has ‘met a community’ of others who are sharing support and says getting used to her new figure has been ‘weird’.
She said: ‘Now I could go into any shop and pick up my size.
‘I had sized out of Primark clothes and the leggings weren’t fitting me.
‘Now I could rock into Primark and get a whole new wardrobe.
‘The first time I went into Primark to fit into a medium I almost cried’.
