A letter to all the women who called me a cheat after weight loss treatment

Daily Telegraph

7 days ago

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'Get off the couch and exercise. You need to work out, not take the easy way.'
'You're lazy and you're a cheat.'
'You're just going to put it all back on when you go back to your greedy ways.'
When I started using a medical treatment for weight loss a few months ago, I made a commitment that I would always be honest about it. And I have been.
I've shared my story online, on my social media channels and in the media, and I've been really open about how I have been looking after my health by using GLP-1 treatments. I never want to gaslight anyone by pretending that my weight loss has just been from walking more and quitting my night chocolate.
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Evie has always been confident regardless of how she looks. Image: Supplied
Losing weight is harder when you get older
For women especially, it's harder to stay in shape as we get older.
There is so much going on with our hormones (I have PCOS which makes it difficult to manage my weight), and of course genetics and metabolism plays a part too. So many of us have tried to lose weight for years with less and less success, and so for me, having the option to use a GLP1 treatment was such a relief.
I really needed help after years of trying to get healthy.
For too long, how we feel about ourselves as women has been based on how much we weighed or how we looked. We're too fat, we're too skinny, we should be stick thin, we should have big bums, we are saggy, we are too athletic, we're flat chested, our boobs are too big.
We're too fat, too fat, too fat. And we need to work hard every day to make sure we are not.
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Stop the judgement
It's ridiculous that people are concerned about other people's weight, and that they feel that they have the right to judge - and what I've found super annoying about sharing my story is that women are very quick to call me a 'cheat' for using medical support to improve my health.
I don't know why they care, because it's definitely not a competition. The thing is, we are not created equally and while of course I admire anyone who is so dedicated to their health and fitness, I have also worked hard over the years too. I just don't get the same results and my body has different things going on that makes it harder.
It doesn't mean that I am less worthy than a thin or toned person, or that I don't deserve to have access to treatments that can help me become healthier.
And while our bodies are different, what we have in common is that we are all victims of this external obsession with how we look and whether we are 'fat' or 'skinny'.
My message to these 'haters' is that I'm sorry that they were made to feel that they were allowed to call me a cheat. That they feel it's okay to bring other women down. That they think having a thin body makes them better than me.
And in fact, their attitudes could be preventing others from trying treatment that can help them – because you make them feel ashamed. Juniper's 2025 YouGov survey found that anti women's health attitudes are more dangerous than we realise - 39% of women have not tried medical weight loss treatment because of the stigma that surrounds it - the fear of being judged and of being called out for using it.
Happy with how she feels now. Image: Supplied
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The conversation around cake is important
We judge women for being overweight or unhealthy, and then we double down and call them cheats when they seek medical support to change their lives.
The conversation around weight is much more important than reducing it to name-calling women who are doing their best: it should be a discussion about ending the focus on women's bodies, erasing the constant judgement of how we look and stopping its detrimental effects on self-esteem, on decision-making and on simply enjoying life.
Imagine a time when our children can grow up without being scrutinised for how their bodies look!
We can't let weight loss be yet another topic that divides us from matters that are really important. Female healthcare should never be disparaged, no matter what form it takes.
The solution is in how we support each other – allowing women to do what they need to become healthy. Supporting achievements and not competing. We need to work together and support each other - no matter what our size is.
I'm not a cheat. I'm proud of how I am improving my health each day.
I hope one day these women can see that too.
Evie shares her heath and travel adventures at Instagram at Mumpack Travel
Originally published as A letter to all the women who called me a cheat after weight loss treatment