FROM the outside, Mason Newman was the loud, confident, funny guy. As a kid, he’d crack jokes in class and laugh along when a PE teacher called him “the Michelin Man”.
Yet behind the humour was a child battling weight, living with ADHD, anxiety and a binge-eating habit that spiralled so far out of control he ended up spending £1,500 to £2,000 a month on Uber Eats and saw his weight spiralling to over 23st.
Mason, an artist and fashion designer has lost 12 stone and shrunk from XXXL to a size S by using Mounjaro
Before starting on Mounjaro, Mason was spending up to £1,500 to £2,000 a month on Uber Eats takeaways
Fast-forward to now and the 26-year-old artist and fashion designer – who has worked on fashion collaborations for everyone from to Ed Hardy – is almost unrecognisable.
He’s lost 12 stone, shrunk from XXXL to a size S, and his career has gone from strength-to-strength with him even modelling his own fashion designs for a recent collaboration with Topman.
He credits his success to one thing: “I’ve got daddy Mounjaro to thank,” he laughs – referring to the he’s been taking for the past 18 months – plus one surprisingly .
Mason’s weight issues started young.
“I was always confident but I was aware that I was very overweight and very unfit. I was a chubby kid, and then I was a fat kid in school, and then I left school and became an even fatter man,” he tells .
At school, he wasn’t bullied, but the jokes were constant. “I used to do the truffle shuffle belly dance from The Goonies film,” he says, insisting he genuinely found the banter funny.
But one moment cut deeper than the rest.
“I went out with a friend of mine and these two girls in school,” he says. “I was running down the road and her and her mate were laughing because obviously I had a big chest on me – my man boobs were wobbling. That memory stuck.”
In Year 10 Mason was 16 stone. By Year 11, he’d dropped briefly to 13 stone after his mum got him a personal trainer to try to help… but the weight loss didn’t last.
He left school at 16 – a talented artist with a passion for Andy Warhol pop art – and launched his own clothing brand after his grandpa gave him £200 to buy some caps to design.
Two years later he had launched Mason Newman Studios, describing his style as “in your face graphics and street-inspired.”
He was making waves in the art and fashion scene but his weight was spiralling out of control again.
Money was always tight growing up. Mason was raised by a single mum working multiple jobs – in a hospital, at Argos, and as a play-centre manager – while bringing up Mason and his two older brothers.
“When I was about eight, the cooker broke, and my mum worked her ass off to raise us, but couldn’t afford a new ones so we’d have chips from the chippy,” he says.
He now sees this as the start of his .
“I’m a binge-eater when I have anxiety, and I get anxiety all the time.
Mason designed limited-edition Black Sabbath t-shirts for Selfridges, and was commissioned by Sharon Osbourne to produce merchandise for Ozzy Osbourne’s last ever gigs
Mason started on 2.5mg Mounjaro dose gradually increasing his dosage over the months to get up to the maximum 15mg
“I was also diagnosed with when I was around ten but I’ve never taken any medication for either.
“I hate going to the doctor and I just can’t focus on doing daily medication but I 100 per cent believe my ADHD has contributed to my eating because I would always get obsessive about things.
“If I like a film I’ll watch it hundreds of times, for example. If I like a McDonald’s cheeseburger, I’ll eat it every day for a month.”
‘MY BINGE EATING SPIRALLED’
His bingeing increased as his disposable income grew.
“I’d order anything,” he says. “Pizza, kebabs, McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s, chicken wings… then I’d order a kebab after, and then dessert like waffles and cookies.”
He spent £800 a month at 16 on takeaways. By 18, when “adult money” started coming in, that hit £1,500 to £2,000.
“A Dominos order might be a large pizza with stuffed crust – chicken, beef, ham and pepperoni, with a barbecue base because I don’t like tomato sauce.
“Then a side of garlic bread. Four warm cookies. Chicken wings. Chicken strips. I’d go through the whole thing, like it was nothing.”
Sometimes he’d eat until he made himself sick.
The Sun’s Health Kick survey revealed 6 per cent of readers are using fat jabs
Other times, he’d wake at 2am “starving” and order a Chinese to his bed.
“The Chinese even started giving me free prawn crackers because I went every day,” he says, full of self-deprecating humour.
“My whole wage packet was going on food,” he says.
“My mum didn’t really say anything because she allowed me to be free which is why I ended up going into the career I have but every time a takeaway arrived my older brother would be like, ‘AGAIN?!’”
Physically, things got scary.
The first thing I noticed was I grew three inches on my penis. Because when the fat goes you actually do see more of yourself
“Just walking down the street, I’d feel fatigued. Walking up the stairs. I’d feel faint walking to Sainsbury’s to meet my mum.
“Then I’d have a chocolate bar and feel better again,” he says.
“I’m surprised I didn’t get . I felt like, if I didn’t do anything, I’d have a heart attack and end up dead.”
By 2024, he had reached more than 23 stone at 6ft, with a 44.4 BMI. His clothes were XXXL.
‘FIRST THING I NOTICED ON JABS WAS MY PENIS’
That June, Mason decided to try .
He had already tried other diets – without success.
“I tried the keto diet, water fasting. I tried juices. I tried eating nothing but two chicken breasts a day and nothing else.
“That lasted three weeks and was more of a mental challenge than anything. I couldn’t stick to them,” he admits.
He kept seeing celebrities online talking about GLP-1 drugs.
“I saw Oprah and people like that started taking it… then ,” he says.
“I sat on it for about a month and just thought, ‘F*** it. Why not try it? It felt like a cheat code – an easy way to lose weight at the time.”
He ordered Mounjaro through Boots’ online pharmacy. “They let the GP know and you have to do all your photos every month before they prescribe it.”
It cost £220 a month. He started on 2.5mg gradually increasing his dosage over the months to get up to the maximum 15mg.
The first night was rough.
Pictured, Mason before taking Mounjaro. He now weighs 11 stone but won’t come off the drug for fear of piling the weight back on
“I felt like I was in a coma – like I’d been knocked out. The nausea was horrible,” he says.
Mason found his own cure for – simple anti-sickness tablets his mum already had.
“Every time I inject, it’s different,” he says. “But for about two days after, you’ll feel sick, and then it wears off.”
He kept going because he was so determined to change.
He laughs: “I still feel ill but I feel fortunate. I probably wouldn’t have had a life if I’d kept on eating.
“The first thing I noticed was I grew three inches on my penis,” he laughs. “Because when the fat goes you actually do see more of yourself.”
He says he didn’t realise how overweight he’d been until the weight was gone. “Looking back now, it’s like, ‘F***. Why did no one tell me?’”
“I lost a stone a month for ten months,” he says. “Then it was more like half a stone a month.”
After six months he started running – doing a local 5k route and training with a best mate who loves running.
The 7 fat jab mistakes stopping you losing weight
WHILE weight loss jabs have been hailed as a breakthrough in helping tackle Britain’s obesity crisis, some users say they’re missing out on their waist-shrinking powers – and it could be down to some simple mistakes…
POOR PENMANSHIP
Many people don’t correctly use the injection pen, according to Ana Carolina Goncalves, a pharmacist at Pharmica in Holborn, London.
Make sure to prime your weight loss pen correctly, as per the instructions. If nothing comes out, try again, and if it still doesn’t work, switch the needle or ask a pharmacist for help.
It’s also recommended to rotate injection sites between the abdomen, thigh and upper arm to avoid small lumps of fat under the skin.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
Make sure you’re using the jabs on the most effective day of your schedule.
For example, taking the jab right before a takeaway or party won’t stop you from indulging, says Jason Murphy, head of pharmacy and weight loss expert at Chemist4U.
Weight loss injections need time to build up in your system, so if you’re planning for a heavier weekend, inject your dose mid-week.
MAKING A MEAL OF IT
You may not feel the urge to overeat at mealtimes due to the jabs. But skipping meals altogether can backfire, says Dr David Huang, director of clinical innovation at weight loss service Voy.
If a person is extremely malnourished, their body goes into emergency conservation mode, where their metabolism slows down.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A key mistake using weight loss jabs is not eating the right foods.
As well as cutting out and , Dr Vishal Aggarwal, Healthium Clinics recommends focusing on your protein intake.
DE-HYDRATION STATIONS
Dehydration is a common side effect of weight loss injections. But it’s important to stay hydrated in order for your body to function properly.
Dr Crystal Wyllie, GP at Asda Online Doctor, says hydration supports metabolism, digestion, and can reduce side effects like , nausea and .
MOVE IT, MOVE IT
It can be easy to see the jabs as a quick fix, but stopping altogether is a mistake, says Mital Thakrar, a pharmacist from Well Pharmacy.
Exercise helps maintain muscle mass and help shape the body as you lose weight, which may be crucial if you’re experiencing excess skin.
QUIT IT
While there’s the tendency to ditch the jabs as soon as you reach your desired weight, stopping them too soon can cause rapid regain.
Mr Thakrar recommends building habits like healthier eating during treatment for sustaining results.
He now tries to exercise around work wherever possible – doing training three times a week and most Wednesdays.
He weighs 11 stone – but won’t come off the drug for fear of .
Before, Mason lived in oversized black outfits. “Now I can dress like I’ve always wanted to dress – like Lenny Kravitz,” he says.
A month ago, he splashed out several thousand dollars on an actual pair of Lenny Kravitz trousers from the 90s after bidding on a U.S. auction site for them.
He’s bought leather trousers, a whole new wardrobe, and feels more attractive.
He admits: “I’d have a front and say I felt good and not believe it, but I actually believe it now.”
Mason’s art career was already blossoming.
In 2022, he was hand-picked by pop legend Madonna’s team to become creative director of her fashion label ‘Material Girl’.
In 2024, he became the first artist to collaborate with Ed Hardy.
This year, he designed limited-edition Black Sabbath t-shirts for Selfridges, and was commissioned by an impressed to produce merchandise for Ozzy Osbourne’s last ever gigs with the iconic rock band.
Earlier this year, Mason even unveiled “fat-jab-inspired” art in a Brighton gallery called Indelible Fine Art.
Next year, in 2026, he’s working on collaborations with The and KISS.
‘JABS HAVE CHANGED EVERYTHING’
He admits the changed everything for him.
“I do feel that my work successes have come on a similar trajectory to my weight loss and it does feel life changing,” he says.
“No one has ever said anything at work about my weight but people do judge on first impressions.
“Going into meetings and networking now that I’m skinny, you can see a big difference in the way people treat you.
“If I walked into a meeting at 18, looking the way I did, they wouldn’t even want me to design a T-shirt.
“Now they want me to design a whole range and be the face of the campaign.”
In September, Topman launched a limited-edition collaboration with him – and told him he’d be modelling it himself.
His picture was on the home page of topshop.com as he wore his own designs.
When he hit his target weight of ten stone in April, Mason came off the medication for a month, but quickly felt unwelcome changes creeping in.
He admits: “I put a stone back on and the change in my was crazy. I started getting anxiety and panic attacks again so I went back on. I didn’t feel depressed but I just wasn’t happy.”
He’s back on the maximum 15mg dose while he works on healthier habits.
“I admit I’m still eating takeaways – just not much because I’m not hungry.
“If I come off it without building healthy eating habits, I’d put all the weight back on,” he says “I’m stuck, but I suppose there are worse things to be stuck on.”
And if anyone else is thinking about trying Mounjaro?
“I’d say dive right in and see if it works for you,” he says.
“It might do, it might not, but you’re not going to know if you don’t try and I might not be alive now if I’d not gone on it.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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