Emma Salsbury (right) before injections/PT May 2025, Emma Salsbury present day March 2026
With Scotland facing some of the highest obesity rates in the UK, more people are turning to weight-loss injections to help manage their weight. An estimated 1.6 million adults in Britain have already used these drugs (Wegovy, Nevolat (liraglutide), Saxenda and Mounjaro), and private demand is expected to rise sharply in the coming years. I spoke with different personal trainers, and with Emma Salsbury, who used weight loss injections herself, to understand what these injections mean for fat‑loss journeys and why they cannot replace long‑term lifestyle change.
‘The injections helped start me on my journey’
Weight loss is rarely straightforward. For many people it is a slow and frustrating process, and weight-loss injections can feel like a shortcut through years of struggle. For Emma Salsbury, though, they turned out to be the beginning of a different kind of journey.
“I decided to try weight-loss injections because I wasn’t happy with my weight,” she says. Working three jobs left her with little time to plan meals or think about healthier choices. When a friend had success with the jags, Emma felt encouraged to try them too. “My friend had started them in January and she got really positive results by May, which is when I decided to give it a go.”
“The first few weeks I didn’t notice a massive change,” she says. “But then I slowly realised that I wasn’t eating enough. I wasn’t eating anything at all really.”
What many would see as the ideal result, quickly became a concern. “I was aware that whilst short term this is great, long term it is going to have quite negative consequences.”
That realisation pushed her to think about how she would use the injections safely. “I decided that I wanted to lose a stone on the jags and then I knew I would have to actually join a gym and start doing something about it.”
At the gym she bumped into a friend who happened to be personal trainer. After a chat, she decided to work with him while still on the injections. But within two weeks she realised she could not afford both. “My personal trainer is £170 a month and the jags were about £150, plus gym membership. I couldn’t afford both.”
Source: Boots online doctor, Superdrug online doctor and Lloyds Pharmacy online doctor (2024/25 pricing for Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda). Personal trainer averages based on NRPT, PureGym Scotland and Uk Active Industry data,
She chose the PT and quickly felt the difference. “I just felt that gave me a better overall outlook on things in terms of prioritising what I was eating and making sure it was good things rather than just eating anything.”
Since starting with her PT in September 2025, Emma has lost a further two stone, bringing her total to just over three stone in ten months. More importantly, she feels healthier and more in control. “It’s been six months since I’ve come off the jag. I’ve managed to lose two more stone, but I’ve also gained a lot of muscle, and I feel I’ve got consistent habits. I like going to the gym now, four times a week.”
She now tracks her food to understand how she is fuelling her body. “I track what I’m eating, not for weight-loss purposes, just to know what I’m putting in my body and that I’m fuelling myself for going to the gym.”
Her advice to anyone considering injections is simple. “Do your research. Speak to your GP. That was one of the things I made sure I did, just to ask their opinions. My GP was quite supportive through the journey.”
Source: Scottish Health Survey (1995–2023); Obesity Action Scotland, “Obesity in Scotland” (2024)
What Scotland’s personal trainers are seeing
As weight‑loss injections become more common, personal trainers in Scotland are seeing a shift. People are turning up after using the jags and realising they still need help.
Laura Bernstein, 38, a Glasgow-based PT, says the first thing people misunderstand is what the injections actually do. “They suppress your hunger so much that people struggle to fuel themselves properly,” she explains. “If you’re not eating enough, you feel lethargic. You won’t feel amazing, even if the scale is going down.”
For her, the biggest risk is muscle loss. “Muscle loss is very negative for your health in a huge amount of ways,” she says. “If you’re losing weight without training, a large part of that will be muscle. People don’t realise that.”
Matt Solomons, 33, a Shawlands based PT, sees the same issue on the gym floor. Clients arrive curious about the jags, or having already tried them, but often without understanding how appetite suppression affects training. “It basically stops you eating,” he says. “Energy levels can be massively depleted. If someone is on a strength programme, they might not have enough energy to do what you’re asking them to do.”
He adapts his coaching accordingly. “You don’t want to push them so hard that they’re struggling in their normal life. There’s more risk of injury. You have to be aware of that.”
But for Matt, the deeper issue is what happens when the injections stop. “The whole point of training is to build habits,” he says. “If you’re just taking a fat-loss injection, people think, ‘I’ll just take that and that’s it.’ When you come off it, you go back to the same habits. You’ve not changed your mindset.”
David Hatt, 31, who runs MTN Coaching based in Hillington and works with around a thousand clients, agrees but adds another concern. “The wrong people are taking them,” he says. “These drugs should be for obese clients who have a lot of food noise and real issues with appetite. But some people are taking them for six weeks before a holiday.”
He also wants people to understand what the injections do not do. “They don’t speed up fat loss,” he says. “They just make sticking to a calorie deficit easier. If you already know how to lose fat safely, they won’t make you lose it any faster.”
For David, the biggest misconception is that the jag solves the problem. “In most cases, it’s like putting a plaster over a bullet hole,” he says. “As soon as people stop taking them, the hunger comes back because they haven’t changed anything underneath.”
Despite their concerns, none of the trainers feel threatened by the rise of injections. In fact, all three say the opposite has happened.
“I actually think it’s benefited us,” David says. “Even if people are taking them, they still need to know how to take them safely and effectively. They still need to build muscle.”
Laura has seen the same trend. “People are realising they can’t just do the jags,” she says. “They’re seeing messages from PTs about maintaining muscle and fuelling properly, and they’re coming in for support.”
Matt believes the injections have made people more curious about fitness, not less. “More people are coming in asking questions,” he says. “Some have used the jags and now want to know what to do next. They’re looking for advice instead of going down a TikTok rabbit hole.”
A changing landscape
Weight-loss injections have undoubtedly changed how many Scots begin their fat-loss journey, but they have not replaced personal trainers. If anything, they have highlighted what the injections cannot do on their own. The trainers I spoke to were clear that the jag may help people start, but it is the habits, strength work and long-term support that keep the weight off. Far from reducing demand, weight-loss injections are creating a new kind of client, one who arrives more aware of the risks, more motivated to learn and more ready to invest in their health than ever before.
