Additional reporting by Kristin Hawthorne

A charity boss who struggled for years to shed pounds despite having undergone surgery has hailed weight-loss jabs as life-changing.

Neil Charlick, of Gillingham Street Angels, says he has dropped from 18st 7lb to 12st 10lb since he started taking the “wonder drug” at the end of November – that’s more than 6st in just over two months.

The 54-year-old has had problems with his weight since his childhood and had been diagnosed as clinically obese.

He said: “I was struggling – my health was bad, really bad.

“Walking up and down stairs, putting my socks on, doing my shoes up was hard work.

“I’ve had a weight-loss operation two years ago – bariatric surgery – which has quite a lot of recovery time and can be quite painful.

“Even with the operations I still struggled with my weight. It’s very difficult to keep it under control when you suffer from weight problems.”

At one point, Neil weighed 28st 7lb and said he was eating foods “bad for you” and drinking Red Bull.

But, after the injections came on the market, he signed up online via Asda’s pharmacy service.

The process involved a doctor who approved his request after he sent over images of himself standing on scales to prove his weight.

The first month’s dosages, which were delivered to Neil’s home, cost him £189.

Injections including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are taken regularly and work by making you feel fuller and less hungry.

Neil, who injects Mounjaro, said: “It's been fantastic – people have been saying it’s a wonder drug. It’s changed my whole thing about food, the way I deal with food, the way I eat food.

“Before I’d just be thinking ‘What can I eat next? Where can I go? What can I do?’ I don’t think about food now.

“I think it’s made my mindset of dieting, and being healthy, change a lot.

“It’s good for the NHS, I’m not putting so much pressure on them, coming to them with problems that I now don’t have anymore.

“I’ve only had one side effect, and that’s being cold.

“When you’re cold, you are really cold. I'll be sitting in bed, I've got a spaniel, and I’m clinging on to him for dear life, trying to use him as a hot water bottle.

“And, if that’s the only side effect, you can't really moan.”

After putting progress pictures on Facebook, Neil’s posts have been flooded with words of support.

One comment said: “I'm absolutely amazed at everything you're doing to help people in need and then concentrating on ensuring that you're healthy in order to continue with your good deeds.”

Another added: “You look different every time I see you.

“You have achieved phenomenal success with your exemplary weight-loss journey.”

Neil’s colleague, Debbie Brooke, has also been taking injections and has dropped 3st 7lb since the end of November.

She had also had surgery in Turkey 11 years ago but had not achieved the weight she wanted.

She said: “Where I used to be a size 28 dress size from the beginning, you sort of have body dysmorphia and I've still got that.

“So, when I was losing the weight, I never really saw it – it was other people that kept saying to me ‘You're losing a lot of weight’ and I was like, ‘I'm not’.

“It wasn’t until I put on my jeans and they fell down that I realised that I had.”

Like Neil, she has hailed the drug as life-changing and both are hoping to eventually wean themselves off it when ready.

But the pair have also warned of the wrong people getting hold of it.

“Only do it if you need to improve your life, don't just do it because everybody else is doing it..."

Neil said: “There's a whole community of people taking these injections on TikTok and you look at some people and you think, why?

“Why are you doing it? You don't need to do it, you're just a normal kind of size.”

Now, online pharmacies are facing a clampdown with stricter checks introduced so those who do not meet the criteria cannot access the injections.

These will include in-person or video consultations to verify a patient's body mass index and medical records, or by contacting another healthcare provider such as the person’s GP.

Medway GP Julian Spinks said: “You need to make sure they’re used safely, that the right people get them at the right dose and they are monitored to make sure they stay safe whilst they are taking them.

“Until now the danger has been that people have been able to circumvent those safety mechanisms either by being untruthful when talking to online pharmacists or because pharmacists have issued it without carrying out the correct checks.”

Neil says online access to weight-loss drugs can also have benefits for those who genuinely need it.

“You've got people who joke about Turkey, but you can go and have anything done in Turkey.

“When I did my weight-loss operation, I booked it on a Sunday and flew the next day – it's that simple.

“GPs are very difficult to get hold of, at 8 o'clock in the morning 500 people are ringing a GP desperately trying and trying and trying to get an appointment so I think online has made it a lot easier for people to access other kinds of medicine.”

Debbie added: “Only do it if you need to improve your life, don't just do it because everybody else is doing it.

“It's not there for that, it's there to help you, it’s not just a fashion item.”