NEED TO KNOW
- Lynsey Macfadyen had struggled with her weight since she was a teenager, saying she turned to food whenever “my mental health was bad”
- The 32-year-old from Edinburgh weighed 300 lbs. when she started taking a GLP-1 medication
- She credits the injections with helping her kick bad habits and reshape her relationship with food
A woman who washed down noodle sandwiches with five sugary energy drinks every day says GLP-1 medication helped her overcome her struggles with her weight and improve her relationship with food.
Lynsey Macfadyen, now 32, says her weight first became a challenge when she began taking birth control at age 19, per Daily Mail. Her struggles with her weight were amplified when she was later diagnosed with Functional Neurologic Disorder (a condition that causes seizures and cognitive problems) and borderline personality disorder (a mental illness that impacts how someone feels about themselves).
“One of the biggest issues with my mental health [was] I would go back to food whenever my mental health was bad, to a point where I would eat to feel better,” Macfadyen, who hails from Edinburgh, said. “I couldn’t plan an event unless it was centered 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?’ “
Lynsey Macfadyen / SWNS (2)
“Even if I tired to make healthier meals the portions were never normal portions,” she explained.
Macfadyen says that at one point, she weighed nearly 300 lbs., turning to takeout and carb-heavy meals. “I would consume full-sugar Monster energy drinks, two before lunch.” And her lunch, she said, was sandwiches made with ramen noodles. “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.”
But after hearing success stories from others who’d taken GLP-1 medication, Macfadyen decided, “It was now or never.”
She started taking the medication in June 2024. Since then, she’s lost more than 100 lbs. — but the medication didn’t just help Macfadyen manage her appetite. She also credits the GLP-1 with helping her reevaluate her relationship with food. “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,” she explains. “Now after normal portions, I feel full.”
Lynsey Macfadyen / SWNS
Macfadyen says that she began looking ahead, sharing that she took a course on diet and nutrition to help her in her wellness journey. “I’ve been focusing a lot on how to get vitamins and nutrients,” she explains, sharing that now, “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.”
Now weighing about 180 lbs., Macfadyen says the biggest change has been in her ability to buy clothing after she’d “sized out” of Primark, a popular U.K. clothing chain. “Now I could go into any shop and pick up my size,” she says, adding, “The first time I went into Primark to fit into a medium I almost cried.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Macfadyen for further comment.
Read the full article here
