July 29, 2025: Lauren Manzo’s weight has been a hot topic since she first appeared on The Real Housewives of New Jersey in 2009 and its spinoff Manzo’d With Children. “People would tell me I was fat and gross on TV when I was 21,” says the 37-year-old hair salon owner to PEOPLE.
Food was a big part of the Manzo family’s lives in New Jersey because they ran a catering business and had family get-togethers. “We love to eat.” Manzo says, “We don’t eat to live.” But she had a hard time not feeling hungry all the time, even when she was full. “I could be full to the point where I was in pain, but my brain was still, ‘It’s time to eat.'” This made her feel self-conscious in middle school, so she stayed away from pool parties and excursions to the Jersey Shore. She recalls, “I was just a big girl, and I never knew why.”
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Even though she has tried hard, she has always had trouble with her weight. “I worked out my whole life.” I had people who trained me. “I was dieting,” Manzo says, recognizing that it was often the amount of food she ate, not just what she ate. She had tried a lot of fad diets and had “yo-yo” consequences, so she chose to have lap-band surgery in her early 20s. She later ignored alarming signs like vomiting to keep her “skinny” look.
Manzo finally had the lap-band taken off and gained “an insane” amount of weight, getting up to 208 pounds and feeling “unhealthy, swollen, and depressed.”
Three years ago, she saw a functional medicine doctor, cut out gluten and dairy, and lost 50 pounds. This was a turning point for her. She felt better, but she couldn’t lose any more weight until she started using the GLP-1 weight reduction medicine Mounjaro. This caused another 50-pound drop. “I really thought [Mounjaro] saved my life.” “I had never heard that term before,” she says regarding what people say about food sounds.
Manzo also talked about people who said GLP-1 was a “easy” approach to lose weight. She says, “It wasn’t the easy way out; the surgeries weren’t easy.” “I don’t think it’s fair to say things like that. What are you teaching your kids? That it’s okay to hit someone because of their body, especially if you know how hard they’ve worked?
Manzo is still on Mounjaro, but now he is focusing on reducing side effects by adding strength training and a balanced diet to build muscle mass. He says, “Being skinny doesn’t mean that you’re healthy.” Last year, she happily wore a bikini for the first time in Florida with her 8-year-old daughter.
She is now enjoying the daily benefits of being at a healthier weight, which makes things like getting ready and spending time outside much easier. “I could only be outside for 10 minutes at a time. I would be sweating, breathing hard, and feeling quite bad. I’m going to the pool with my daughter every day now.