Weightloss on afterpay: The cost of one woman's Wegovy journey

A Wegovy-user from Wellington says the benefits from losing 16kg far outweighed the stigma and financial burden attached to using weight-loss medication.

Valentina Florez-Betancur, 26, was one of 35,961 GLP-1 patients in New Zealand — according to Health NZ data from May this year.

Florez-Betancur was on the drug's highest dosage, which she said cost around $469 for four weeks of use.

"A lot of the times I do have to use afterpay to get my prescription."

She said it was upsetting the drug wasn't funded, but — to her — the cost was worth it.

"It does put a big dent in my pocket, but it has made me a healthier person."

Florez-Betancur's GLP-1 health journey first began after weight gain during a period of depression, which led her to be categorised as severely overweight.

"I went from being around 60kg to 83kg in the span of two years."

She said her weight seriously affected her future plans to conceive and live healthily,

"The possibilities were probably really low of me being able to have a healthy pregnancy, I would probably develop diabetes as well."

Florez-Betancur said she began using the drug following her wedding in December 2025 and noticed its effects immediately.

"First, just my face and my stomach, the swelling went down quite rapidly within the first week of starting Wegovy."

Now six months on, and 16kg down, Florez-Betancur said the difference was more than physical.

"It just has made a big change and my family has noticed it. With some of my confidence of wanting to go out to dates with my husband and look nice.

"'Because before I just like, 'no, let's stay home and eat'."

Florez-Betancur said that while she now eats less — what she eats hasn't actually changed,

"A lot of people believe that once you go on Wegovy you become this health-freak, that you don't touch like a McDonald's burger or anything, but it's really not like that."

Dietitian weighs in

Dietitian Kylie Russel said GLP-1 users who didn't prioritise things such as protein, vitamin D and fibre posed a new challenge in her field,

"As a dietitian, my practice has completely changed," she said.

"Historically, working with someone to lose weight has always been about 'how do I get this person to eat less?'

"But now my job is about 'how do I get this person to eat enough of these key foods to ensure overall nutrition adequacy?'."

Russel said the number of those developing deficiencies was a concern, but that the issue was entirely preventable with the right support.

Florez-Betancur said despite being part of a Facebook group of around 15,000 GLP-1 users, it was hard to have discussions about using the drug.

"A lot of us are anonymous because there's still the big stigma around."

She said those considering the GLP-1 shouldn't be put off by this, adding: "you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

"A lot of people, if you're overweight, they judge you, If you go on GLP-1's, they judge you. So just do what makes you happy."