Symone has been using weight loss injections for nearly a year. She says they have done what the diet industry could never do for her – free her from a life controlled by food.
From a very young age, the 34-year-old could not switch off the constant noise in her head. When would her next meal come? What would it be? Would there be enough for her?
"The food noise was just so loud, it could be unbearable," she says. "I have tried every single diet going – I've done Atkins, eating clean, SlimFast, Slimming World, meal-replacement shakes – you name it – I've done it and none of them worked for me."
Several years ago, weighing 16st (102kg), she was one of the many millions who signed up to WeightWatchers, downloading the app and meticulously following its points plan, scanning in everything she ate and staying within her daily points budget.
WeightWatchers attributes points to food and drink, stating that it uses a "groundbreaking algorithm" to assess their nutritional makeup and then uses a point system to inform its members which food is better to eat.
But after a few weeks, Symone says she started to feel like she was being set up to fail.
"How could I lose weight long term if I had to follow this mad points system? Food is not measured in points – it's measured in calories, fat, macro nutrients.
"I felt trapped, and the more research I did, the more I educated myself, the more I thought this is not for me."
The only thing that has ever worked in her quest to lose weight, she says, is weight loss injection Mounjaro, which she started using nearly a year ago.
"I was at my heaviest, just over 21 stone, and the doctor told me I was pre-diabetic. I knew something had to change – I've got two children who depend on me too."
She was advised to start on the weight loss medication but with a two-year wait, she decided to buy it privately online and within just a few days, she was crying with relief.
"I couldn't believe that I had control over food. For the first time, I wasn't panicking about when I would next eat."
Weight loss jabs work by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which suppresses people's appetites and makes them feel full.
Symone has now lost 4st 7lb (26kg) and is losing weight gradually, documenting her experiences on social media.
"I don't want a quick fix," she says, "I'm using weight loss injections to give me the control I never had."
Lost a million members
For many, weight loss jabs can produce rapid results, but some experts are concerned about the meteoric rise in their popularity and how people will be affected by them long term – both physically and mentally.
At its peak, WeightWatchers was seen as being synonymous with safe and controlled weight loss. With 4.5million subscribers globally, its workshops were held in most towns, on most high streets, popping up in local church halls – they were everywhere.
Now, after dominating the diet industry for more than half a century, it has lost more than a million members and filed for bankruptcy, struggling to compete in a market transformed by social media influencers and weight loss injections.
The company has stressed that it is not going out of business and that filing for bankruptcy will help it resolve its debt of $1.25bn (£860m).
In a statement, the brand says its weight loss programme (which also includes its own brand of weight loss jabs) and weight loss workshops will continue.
The company says it has been the brand with the most scientific backing in the diet industry for over 60 years, and that there have been more than 180 published studies showing the effectiveness of its approach.
WeightWatchers says it uses an "holistic model of care" to support "the whole person" with "access to obesity-trained clinicians and registered dietitians".
