Zoe’s story - when weight is blamed and history ignored: the hidden harm of weight loss injections.

For over fifteen years, I lived with an eating disorder.

The consequences have been lifelong, and one of the most devastating is infertility.

When my husband and I began fertility treatment, I expected compassion. What I received instead was blame. Yet throughout the process, my history was consistently ignored. Instead, my higher weight was immediately blamed for my difficulties conceiving. My notes, clearly documenting my eating disorder history, were overlooked. At every appointment, I was told to lose weight. Time and time again, I was offered the so-called “quick fix” of weight loss injections.

We fell pregnant once, and lost the baby in spring last year. By the time we prepared to try IVF again, I was still grieving, still raw - but again, I was told my weight was the issue. Told I should have taken the injections last time, and that I should at least try it.

Yes, my body sits in the “overweight” category now. But when I was praised for being a “healthy BMI,” I was starving. My body was shutting down. And it was that very starvation, that rapid weight loss, which left me infertile. Still, I was urged to repeat the harm that broke me.

Later that year, I miscarried again. And instead of compassion, I was met with blame. Both losses laid at my feet by the very professionals I turned to for care. I was told, again, that if I had taken the injections, things might have been different.

Grief is heavy enough, but to believe I had caused it was unbearable. I became convinced I had killed my babies - not through fate, not through nature, but because I had refused the treatment being pushed onto me. That message was repeated so often that I began to believe it completely.

The weight of that guilt drove me to attempt to end my life.

Luckily, my attempt was unsuccessful. And I know now my weight, and my refusal of those injections, did not cause my miscarriages. But at the time, I could not see beyond the narrative I had been given - a narrative handed to me by those who should have protected me.

What saved me was not another prescription. It was therapy.

There, I was seen as more than a number on a chart. I was not pressured, not blamed, not silenced. I was given space to grieve, to rage, to break, and then, slowly, to begin healing.

This is why I have written part of my story today. Weight loss injections must never be recommended to those with a history of eating difficulties. They are not a neutral intervention; for people like me, they are a weapon that reopens old wounds. What is needed is not another injection, not another “quick fix,” but compassion. Not another BMI lecture, but listening. Not judgement, but care.

Because behind every statistic is a story like mine. I didn’t need to be told to shrink - I needed to be seen. And if someone had read my notes properly, perhaps I would not be sitting here with empty arms.

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About the author:

Zoe Burnett is an author, speaker, and advocate for eating disorder awareness and compassionate care. She shares her lived experience to challenge weight stigma and promote understanding in healthcare and beyond.

You can find out more about Zoe and her work on her website: www.zoeburnett.uk

Her book, Inside My Ed, is available on Amazon.