A mother-of-one dropped 7st with the help of blockbuster weight loss jab Ozempic after a Christmas photo left her looking ‘fatter than Santa.’
Aisling McCarthy, 43, from Cork, had struggled with her weight for over a decade since arthritis and fibromyalgia—a chronic condition causing widespread pain, fatigue and brain fog—left her unable to bond with her newborn daughter, Bethany.
To cope with the guilt, Ms McCarthy ate her feelings, putting on a whopping 7 stone in just four years, tipping the scales at 17st (238 lbs) and wearing a size 22.
But it wasn’t until she saw a family photo that had been taken at Santa’s Grotto in 2017, that she realised the damage it had done.
‘I was an emotional eater,’ the now stay-at-home mum recalled. ‘When I couldn’t lift or play with my daughter, I felt depressed and began eating my feelings.
‘Whenever I’d out my daughter to bed, I would sit down and eat whatever chocolate, toffee popcorn, sweets and takeaways I could get.’
At her worst, she was eating three or four takeaways a week, sometimes starting the day with McDonalds, overcome with guilt that her husband, Johnathan O’Leary, 46, was doing all the heavy lifting when it came to bringing up Bethany, now 11.
‘I saw the weight going on, but I didn’t take any notice because I was depressed. But when I saw that photo, it was a turning point—I felt disgusting and realised I needed to lose the weight.
‘I remember I had felt good that day, I’d put on nice clothes and makeup,’ she recalled. ‘Then I saw the photo and thought “Oh my God”… I was bigger than Santa.
‘From then on, I felt disgusting—I stopped looking in the mirror and just wore tracksuits,’ she said.
‘I never wanted to be naked around my husband—he didn’t care how I looked, but I did, so our sex life took a hit too.’
Things took a turn for the worse as she continued to pile on the pounds, suffering from a slipped disc and worsening arthritis as the weight put added stress on her joints.
Despite attempting to lose weight through various diets, Ms McCarthy couldn’t shift the weight. Then, the pandemic hit, giving her the perfect excuse to hide inside.
She said: ‘I wanted to change, but then the gyms closed and we had to homeschool Bethany, and everyone ate junk during Covid—including me.
‘So I ended up gaining weight in the pandemic, instead of losing it.’
In late 2021, after the restrictions had lifted, Ms McCarthy visited her GP in a last ditch effort to lose the weight, after previously being told that she would have to lose at least five stone before she could fulfil her wish of getting her tubes tied to prevent pregnancy.
Her GP recommended weight loss jabs and after doing some research, the mother-of-one ordered her first prescription of Ozempic in March 2022, setting her back £122.80.
Semaglutide injections—the powerful active ingredient behind Ozempic—have been shown to help users lose up to 33lbs (15.3kg) on average over 68 weeks.
They work by tricking the brain into thinking its full, consequently slashing appetite, and helping people lose weight as a result.
And for Ms McCarthy, this is exactly what happened—quietening her food cravings and diminishing her appetite.
To ensure her progress would be long lasting, and she wouldn’t just pile the pounds back on when she came off the jabs, she started taking an interest in nutrition, focused on building a sustainable exercise routine and went to therapy to address her mental health issues which exacerbated the weight gain in the first place.
Recalling the challenging process she said: ‘I am now so much happier as a mum. I even lost both of my parents this year and I stuck to my diet despite the grief.’
At the beginning of 2023, when the demand for Ozempic began to overtake supply, her GP suggested the she started tapering off the jabs.
Since then, she has managed to maintain her new healthier lifestyle, swapping takeaway pizzas for homecooked soups, stir frys and salads.
She now enjoys going for walks with her daughter and has noticed significant improvement in her arthritis and fibromyalgia.
She got her tubes tied in February 2023, before going on to get a £3,500 breast reduction and an apronectomy—a surgical procedure to remove excess skin and fat from the lower abdomen—to alleviate pressure on her back, in February 2025.
The mother-of-one is now looking forward to Christmas with her family, when she is excited to get a nicer picture with ‘smaller boobs and [her] belly gone.’
Fibromyalgia is characterised by widespread pain throughout the body, which can be triggered by pressure or light touch.
Other symptoms to look out for are stiffness, fatigue and brain fog.
It is not caused by any obvious damage to the muscles, bones or joints. Instead, experts believe it is triggered when the nervous system—which sends physical sensations like heat, pleasure and pain to the brain—malfunctions.
Around one in 50 people in the UK are estimated to suffer from the condition, but only a quarter of those affected are diagnosed, because there is no way to test for it.
