Amy Carding lost her first 14lbs in just one month
A mum who has gone from a size 22 to a size 12 in 18 months, funding her weight-loss jabs by sharing her journey on TikTok, has said that after years of “yo-yo dieting” she finally “likes” her reflection in the mirror. Amy Carding, a 38-year-old from Manchester, reached her heaviest weight of 17st 7lb (111.1kg) in 2024, 18 months after giving birth to her daughter Raine.
Standing at 5ft 2in (157.5cm), Amy said her weight began affecting her confidence, leading to her “avoiding” going out and struggling to play with her baby. In October 2024, she decided to start taking Mounjaro – a once-weekly injectable prescription medication containing the active ingredient tirzepatide – as part of her weight-loss journey.
Within just one month, Amy had lost one stone (6.4kg) and began documenting her progress on TikTok, where her videos quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views. Amy, a midday assistant at a school, uses the income generated from her TikTok account to help fund her injections, which cost around £300 a month.
Now, Amy weighs 11st 11lb (74.8kg) and said she is more sociable, confident and able to enjoy running around with her children, Lucas, 15, Autumn, nine, and Raine, three. Amy, who also lives with her partner, Dale, 35, said: “It’s literally changed my life, I feel 1,000 times better – I feel like a new woman. Before, I felt so depressed about my weight, now I actually like what I see in the mirror. It feels like a miracle.”
Amy began putting on weight after giving birth to Raine in January 2023. In March of the same year, she said her GP put her on a waiting list for a weight management appointment, which she described as a “bit of a wake-up call”. She would try to “be good” and eat healthier, but after a few weeks she would “have extra treats” and fall off the wagon.
By June 2024, Amy had reached her heaviest weight, was wearing a size 22, and had an obese BMI of 44.8. Before becoming pregnant, she weighed around 15st (95.3kg) and wore a size 18 – having spent “most” of her adult life gaining and losing weight.
At the time, a typical day would involve a bacon sandwich for breakfast, a Pot Noodle for lunch, “living off coffees and biscuits” between meals, and a takeaway pizza most evenings for dinner. She said: “I didn’t feel great. My skin was bad, and I didn’t take a lot of pictures with the baby. I didn’t go out much, I just wasn’t socialising. I was a bit depressed and avoided people.”
Her weight also meant she struggled to play with her baby daughter. “I found it hard juggling the baby and cooking, and it got to the point where my knees were so sore,” Amy explained. “I couldn’t bend down to pick Raine up properly, or play with her on the floor.”
Determined to make a change, Amy began researching weight-loss medication during the summer. In October 2024, she started taking Mounjaro, prescribed through an online pharmacy with her GP’s approval. Amy added: “The first time I took it I felt quite nervous. I felt like I was going to turn into the Incredible Hulk or something, injecting myself.
“But it was actually fine – I didn’t feel too nauseous. It really quietened the food noise. I had to remind myself to eat because I wasn’t getting hungry at all.”
In the first month, Amy lost one stone (6.4kg) and since then she has continued to lose around 1lb (0.45kg) per week. Her daily eating habits changed, with fruit for breakfast and vegetables as snacks throughout the day, followed by meals such as chicken, rice and vegetables for dinner, with the occasional takeaway or dessert at weekends.
However, after taking the injections for a few months, Amy began experiencing nausea, which she said felt “very similar” to pregnancy sickness. After using Sea-Band acupressure bands, which she has not been paid to mention, she said she “noticed a difference immediately”.
She now wears them on the day she takes her injection, as that is when she feels the most nauseous. To help boost her weight loss, Amy also walks around 15,000 steps a day. Along the way, she shared her progress on TikTok under the handle @amy_lisa29, with videos showing her before-and-after photos earning more than 300,000 views.
She regularly shows her more than 5,000 followers what she eats in a day and has a series called ‘Weigh-in Wednesdays’, where she steps on the scales and discusses how much weight she has lost that week. Through her TikTok content, Amy has earned enough income to help pay for her Mounjaro injections, which cost around £300 a month.
At 18 months in, she went down to size 12, and now weighs 11st 11lb (74.8kg), with an obese BMI of 30.2. According to the NHS, a BMI of 30 or above is classified as obese, meaning Amy is just over the threshold. While she said she has “some loose skin”, she does exercises at home to try to combat this.
“I can see it on the scales, but I think I had a bit of body dysmorphia – I couldn’t really see the changes on my body until I looked at photos,” Amy explained. She is now a much more active mother, taking her children out to play every day, and no longer shies away from socialising.
She said: “I’ve met up with women who are also on Mounjaro who I’ve met through TikTok. We all went out in Manchester and I would have never been able to do that before. I feel a lot more confident now – people compliment me more and it just gives me a huge boost.”
Looking ahead, Amy hopes to lose another stone and, following guidance from her GP and pharmacist, plans to stay on the medication to maintain her weight loss. To others wanting to lose weight, she said: “Just do it. If I can, anyone else can.”