In a week of scare stories surrounding fat jabs, you might think I’d be having second thoughts about my weekly Mounjaro jab. Not a chance.

There is evidence that they could prevent hormone replacement drugs from working – putting the health of menopausal women at risk. Equally it seems unexpected, unwanted pregnancies are occurring in women on the contraceptive pill.

The theory seems to be that common side effects of Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, including vomiting and diarrhoea, prevent pills being absorbed properly. As a 75-year-old woman who hasn’t had a hot flush for 25 years and for whom pregnancy is extremely unlikely, these concerns are of little relevance to me. I do however take statins, blood thinners and blood pressure tablets on a daily basis for the protection of my heart and prevention of strokes. I suppose if Mounjaro does interfere with the efficacy of pills, who’s to say they don’t also affect the pills I take?

But this worrying thought isn’t enough to put me off. In fact I’m confident that the weight loss I’ve achieved on my fat jabs far outweighs any potential risk to my health. Now I’m no longer considered obese, the threat to my heart must have decreased.

I began Mounjaro in September last year, weighing 16.5st. Nine months on, I’ve reached and am maintaining my goal weight of 12st. I’ve noticed recently that my weight loss has dramatically slowed, so this is the point where I could – should, some might argue – give up my fat jabs.

But nothing could be further from my mind. You’d have to physically prise my Mounjaro pens from my hands in order to make me stop taking my weekly 5mg.

I don’t want to be too skinny with my older woman’s skin becoming ever more loose. I definitely don’t want to develop the haggard Ozempic face – the result of taking it if you’re not obese in the first place.

There is evidence that fat jabs could prevent hormone replacement drugs from working – putting the health of menopausal women at risk

There is evidence that fat jabs could prevent hormone replacement drugs from working – putting the health of menopausal women at risk

But using Mounjaro sensibly and for the right reasons has made me feel so much fitter and healthier. And ultimately I know, from bitter experience, what would happen if I did stop. I’ve done countless demanding diets. I lose lots of weight, begin to relax, convinced that as long as I don’t return to the chips, cakes and sugary puddings, all will be well. It never is.

Whenever I went into post-diet relaxation mode, my brain would tell me I was starving. And the wrong kind of food would become increasingly attractive. Soon I would be much heavier than I had been before the diet. And so the dieting cycle continued.

I have no reason to assume things would be different if I gave up Mounjaro. Which is why I plan never to give it up. For some people there have been significant side effects of nausea, constipation and headaches. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had mild constipation but on the whole felt perfectly fit.

I have, though, had one surprising side effect – the total inability to cook food. I’ve never been fond of the role of Domestic Goddess, although I made the effort consistently when I had two growing boys to feed. They are long gone and perfectly capable of cooking for themselves – rather more capable to be honest than I ever was. Cooking just for yourself when you don’t feel at all hungry is a terrible trial.

I buy all the right things – meat, fish, vegetables – then watch them all rotting in the fridge. For a long while I found myself living on nothing but fruit and salads with the occasional trip to a restaurant with a friend who’d be shocked at how little I would manage to eat. I didn’t buy any pre-prepared dishes, not wanting to eat anything that’s been processed with high levels of salt, fat and sugar.

But I have found the answer – a company called Field Doctor now sends me ‘dietitian-designed, chef-made meals… personalised for your health’. The dishes – anything from fish pie to chicken tikka masala – claim to provide all the nutrients necessary for the bones, muscles, heart and gut.

Call me lazy, but it’s easy and I’m eating a healthy diet, not gaining weight and have such a sense of relief at my weight loss.

My experience of the yo-yo of losing and gaining weight in the past is far too painful to risk it happening again.

I remember all too clearly starving myself on the Dukan diet – the high-protein, low-carbohydrate fad devised by Pierre Dukan – then trying to go back to eating normally after significant weight loss. I ended up weighing 24st.

Even surgery didn’t work. My gastric sleeve operation in 2014 took me back to 12st, but over the years, the scales slowly went up again.

I know I need the help Mounjaro gives me to defeat those hunger hormones that have plagued me for so long.

And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ll always need it for what’s left of my life.

What IS Meghan playing at? Meghan with Harry and their children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, at Disneyland

Meghan with Harry and their children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, at Disneyland

What is Meghan up to at the moment, sharing all those pictures of her kids? We can see how tall they’ve got and how attached to their parents they appear to be. But they’re always shot from behind or shown with little hearts where their noses should be. 

It seems to me Meghan is cocking a cruel snook at Harry’s estranged family. Here are your grandchildren, Charles, but you shall not see their faces. How painful it must be for the King.

Tax SUVs for being a menace

There is one proposed tax rise of which I heartily approve. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, believes ‘supersize’ SUV cars should pay higher taxes and more to park. They’re a menace, blocking streets and damaging roads with their weight.

One came at me recently taking up two- thirds of a narrow road. No attempt to tuck in and make space for me to pass. It just barrelled along at speed, scraping the front of my poor little Mini, then whizzing on regardless. No manners, no skill, just an, ‘I’m bigger than you, get out of my way’ attitude. Drive one on a farm by all means, but in a city? It’s high time they paid the rest of us compensation.

Why I agree with Kemi about burkas Kemi Badenoch has said she won't speak to those wearing face coverings in her constituency surgery and argued that employers should be able to ban their staff from wearing them

Kemi Badenoch has said she won’t speak to those wearing face coverings in her constituency surgery and argued that employers should be able to ban their staff from wearing them

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve longed to approach women I see wearing a burka or a niqab in Britain and ask why. No woman should be forced to disappear behind such a garment. It feels inhumane, misogynistic and an insult to the rest of us.

Now the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said she won’t speak to those wearing face coverings – be it a burka or a balaclava – in her constituency surgery, and argued that employers should be able to ban their staff from wearing them. I’d support a similar ban to the one they have in France, where full-face coverings are prohibited in public places. I have no difficulty with a hijab – which is no more than a headscarf – as long as the woman in question is wearing it by choice.

More than a decade after the Post Office victims were falsely accused, Fujitsu is finally talking to the Government about contributing to compensation. About time! It was their system, Horizon, that caused the problem. They also supported the Post Office in its prosecutions. The question is – why isn’t the wealthy computer giant footing the whole bill?