A woman who dropped to her target weight thanks to weight-loss jobs says stopping the medication was 'scary' as she has 'never felt hunger like it. Charli-Dee Johnson, 39, weighed 11 stone when she started taking weight-loss jabs and stands at 4 feet 11 inches.

She says she had been battling her body and food cravings for much of her adult life. Charli-Dee, from Blackpool, said: “I’ve honestly never not been on a diet. One ‘cheat day’ would turn into a full binge. I’d eat until I felt ill, hate myself, promise to do better, and then repeat the cycle."

In June 2025, Charli-Dee decided to try Mounjaro, starting on the lowest dose of 2.5mg. She stayed on that dose for four months, never increasing it, a decision that didn’t come easily. “I was terrified,” she admits. “The injections scared me so much that it took me two weeks to actually do my first one. I was having panic attacks just looking at it.”

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When she finally took the plunge, the fear quickly faded. “The needle is tiny. Honestly, nothing. I couldn’t believe I’d been so scared." Over four months she lost 14lbs (6.4kg).

“That was the first time the cycle really stopped,” she said. “For once, I wasn’t fighting my own head around food,” she says. “My life wasn’t ruled by food anymore. The constant noise in my head just stopped. Mounjaro changed everything mentally. It gave me space to actually learn.”

But while the weight loss came steadily, the journey wasn’t without its challenges. A few weeks in, she noticed something unexpected. “My close-up vision started going blurry,” she says. “Phones, computers, anything close up. I also had really bad eye sensitivity and dry eyes.”

An optician later confirmed her eyes were healthy but that her vision had declined significantly. After trying heat packs, eye drops and exercises, she reported the issue to her prescriber and shared her experience online, where she discovered many others describing the same thing.

She’s careful to stress that her story isn’t medical advice. “This is just my experience,” she says. If starting the medication was frightening, coming off it was even harder. “That part scared me more than I expected,” Charli-Dee said. “Mentally and physically.”

Three weeks after stopping, hunger returned, intensely. “I’ve never felt hunger like that in my life,” she says. “I genuinely thought I was going backwards.”

Her IBS flared, her appetite surged, and the fear crept in, fuelled by comments from others. “People said, ‘You’ll pile it all back on.’ ‘Don’t buy new clothes.’ ‘There’s no way she’ll keep it off’.”

Some even accused her of not eating at all. But five months later, Charli-Dee has kept the weight off and has even lost another 11lbs (5kg) since stopping the injections. The difference, she says, was having a plan.

When Charli-Dee eventually stopped Mounjaro, something changed. “My eyesight improved,” she says. “That really made me stop and think.”

Today, she weighs just under 8.5 stone (119lb/54kg), a weight she has maintained consistently off the injections, dropping from a UK size 14 to a size 6. “For the first time in my life, I’m not constantly dieting,” she says. “I’m maintaining, and that feels better than any number on the scales."

She added: "There’s so much negativity around weight loss medication, especially the idea that everyone puts the weight straight back on,” Charli-Dee explains. “But I’m proof that you don’t have to if you have structure and stick to a good plan.”

She says maintenance requires just as much intention as weight loss, but without restriction, obsession or panic. During this time, Charli-Dee realised she had long struggled with binge eating patterns. “It made everything real,” she says. “But it also helped me understand myself properly.”

She learned that hunger returning didn’t mean failure. “It meant my body was finding its balance again,” she explains. “And it did.”

Charli-Dee says she eats in a way that supports her petite frame and activity levels, focusing on protein, routine and awareness rather than restriction. “I try to stick to around 1,200 calories a day,” she explains. “It’s about eating enough to feel well and fuel my body, not punishing myself or cutting things out completely.”

She tracks everything, not out of obsession, but awareness. “Protein first, always,” she says. “Movement I actually enjoy. Even a walk helps my mindset.”

She’s also learned that maintenance isn’t about control, it’s about understanding yourself. “Routine over motivation,” she says. “Adjust calmly when life happens. Go out, enjoy yourself, then get back into routine without spiralling.”

Today, she says life in maintenance feels “so good”. Looking back, Charli-Dee believes the medication wasn’t the magic, the learning was. “I always thought it was just the jab doing its thing,” she says.

“But what you eat on it matters. Once I switched to cleaner meals, protein first, fibre and water, the nausea and bloat basically disappeared.” Motivated by the fear and misinformation she sees online, Charli-Dee is now developing a maintenance plan aimed at supporting others who are coming off weight-loss medication.

“So many people are terrified of stopping because all they hear is failure,” she says. “I want to show that maintenance is possible if you approach it calmly and consistently.”

At just 39, Charli-Dee says food no longer controls her life. “Coming off Mounjaro was scarier than starting,” she admits. “But it taught me that I’m capable of maintaining this, and that’s something I never believed before.

“This is just my experience. Everyone’s body is different. But if you’re scared, you’re not alone.”