From lifelong struggle to weight loss success: ‘Nothing has worked until Juniper’

At Juniper, we understand that there’s more to weight loss than simply ‘move more, eat less.’

Recent studies have shown that up to 80% of body weight is determined by an individual’s genes, which explains why for many of the population, diets and exercise simply don’t work [1].

The role of hormones and genetics

For some, trying to maintain a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index) has been a lifelong struggle. Add to this the hormonal changes that can drastically alter women’s metabolism during the stages of menopause and pregnancy, and it can start to feel like keeping the excess weight off is an uphill battle.

Rachel, a 41-year-old mother from Melbourne, can relate to this battle intimately. Before starting Juniper’s Weight Reset Program, she says that she was, “frustrated, a bit depressed and just not happy with life in general”, due to a constant struggle with weight, an unhealthy relationship with food, and many failed attempts to reach a weight that would be sustainable for her long-term health.

“Thinking back before Juniper, essentially my whole life has been a struggle with weight,” Rachel recalls.

Body shaming from an early age

One of her earliest memories of this began at the age of 10 when Rachel was sent to a GP in an attempt to seek out a solution for her higher-than-average BMI. This was closely followed by an appointment with a disinterested dietitian who did little to address her weight gain causes.

At 14 and weighing 104kg, Rachel was sent to a clinic at a hospital for more tests, and what came next is a painful memory that’s stuck with her over the years, perpetuating feelings of shame for her body.

“I remember going to a clinic at the public hospital and being made to sit on this… it looked like a wheelchair, but it was a set of scales for obviously very large people,” Rachel recalls. “That was not away anywhere, that was out in the waiting room. For a 14 year-old-girl having an experience like that, it's really detrimental to so many areas of your life, mentally especially.”

Diets and exercise were failing her

From there, Rachel says that the issue of her body weight “just got worse”, despite putting in gruelling workouts at the gym as a teenager and engaging in different diets and programs. Into adulthood, Rachel continued to throw every new fad diet at the wall, in the hopes that one of them would eventually stick.

She’s not alone, either. Over 99% of women on the Weight Reset Program [2] had tried other weight loss methods before starting the program. The good news? Despite these setbacks, over 85% of women on the Weight Reset Program find it to be more effective than any other weight loss methods they’ve tried before.

The yo-yo dieting effect

While some of Rachel’s attempts worked temporarily, it wasn’t long before the yo-yo effect common with such diets began to take effect, leaving her worse off than when she initially started.

Her most recent experience before starting on Juniper’s Weight Reset Program was with the highly publicised keto diet, which showed initial promise, only to leave her back at square one. “It was great until I stopped and then I put on more than I'd lost,” Rachel recalls. “It also made my hair fall out, which was less than ideal.”

“You're trying all these things, you're putting your all into it and to see maybe some results at the beginning… and then you gain it all back and probably then some,” Rachel says of her efforts. “It's so disheartening and so discouraging.”

Tipping point

Although struggling to maintain a healthy weight was a lifelong experience for her, things began to reach a head in the lead-up to one Christmas.

Rachel was at the highest weight she’d ever been and realised she “needed to do something else that was a little bit different, a little bit out of my comfort zone”.

After coming across Juniper’s Weight Reset program, she began to dig a little deeper into all the elements she could expect if approved for the program: daily weight loss medication, online consults with GPs, health coaching and dietitian support, and access to a community of members on the same journey as her.

While it was different to anything she’d tried before, Rachel decided to turn away from the restrictive diet programs and exercise regimes of the past, and towards a modern weight loss approach – an approach that’s seen people following the Weight Reset Program lose 11.76% of their body weight after 7 months [2].

A entirely new approach

First, there was the appeal of the Weight Reset Program’s convenient at-home delivery – a game changer for a busy mum and full-time worker.

“Three kids, working full-time, always in and out of the house and it's just so easy having it [medication] delivered,” she says. “Getting a text message when I'm at work saying, ‘Hey, your package has arrived,’ it’s so easy.”

Another major drawcard was the process of online consults with qualified health practitioners, which allowed Rachel to skip the long waits at the doctor’s office and connect straight to an expert who she describes as “really easy to communicate with”.

Now, armed with new behavioural tools and breakthrough medication, Rachel is experiencing the kind of success she never thought possible. In just 10 months of being on Juniper’s Weight Reset Program, she’s lost a staggering 23kg and is reaping both the mental and physical benefits of her healthier weight.

“Nothing has really worked until Juniper,” she says. “This is the lowest weight I've ever been in my adult life, so it's incredible.”

Wins on and off the scales

For Rachel, the changes she’s seen in her life have far outweighed the decreasing numbers on the scale.

A changing relationship with her eating patterns has loosened the grip that food once had on her day-to-day, with Rachel saying that, “Life is so much easier now because everything doesn't seem to revolve around food.”

With less energy being directed towards food as a controlling force, Rachel is trying out exciting new things that she had never previously had the confidence to do.

When Rachel’s not working in her role in the Fire Protection Industry, she’s dabbling in a newfound love of life on the screen. She’s signed up with a talent agency and has already bagged a few roles as an extra in various TV and film productions.

It’s an exciting by-product of feeling more confident within her own skin, and miles from the mum who once had to force herself out of the house and to the local pool to take her kids swimming – an environment that had made her feel so uncomfortable she became “shy, depressed, and withdrawn”.

A mind and body reset

A transformative uptick in her mental health has also been a surprising and welcome effect since going on the Weight Reset program. “Losing weight has really affected my mental health so positively, I feel good about myself.

“I have this new confidence now that I didn't have before when I didn't feel good in the body that I'm in. Now I can buy clothes that fit – I can just walk into any shop and try something on and it'll fit and if I want it, I can buy it.”

These improvements in mood have led to better quality sleep, with Rachel saying that she now goes to bed earlier so that she can rise early and tick off a 10km walk in the mornings, which is “as much for my mental health as it is for my physical health” and allows her to get centred for the day.

And it’s not over yet. Armed with the support of her partner and kids, Rachel’s determined to stick to the Weight Reset Program and continue to enjoy the holistic benefits that it’s brought to her life — even if it does mean having to have a family member hide the sweet treats on her mission to do so.