RHONJ Alum Lauren Manzo Was Body Shamed, Told She Was 'Disgusting.' How She Realized ‘Skinny Doesn’t Mean Healthy’

Ever since Lauren Manzo debuted with her mom, Caroline, and family on The Real Housewives of New Jersey in 2009 (and its spinoff Manzo'd With Children ), Manzo's weight was a subject of public discussion: "On TV at 21, people would tell me I was fat and disgusting," she tells PEOPLE.

Growing up in New Jersey with two older brothers, Manzo says food was often at the center of family life. "We love to eat. We don't eat to live." From the Manzo's catering business to family gatherings, food was what they talked about. "Whether it's cooking or going to different restaurants – it's like a hobby," describes Manzo, 37, a hair salon owner.

The problem for Manzo was that she never felt like she had eaten enough: "I could be full to the point where I was in pain, but my brain was still, 'It's time to eat.'" 

In middle school, she recalls missing out on pool parties with friends and trips to the Jersey Shore because she was too self-conscious to wear a bikini or too uncomfortable in the heat. "I was just a big girl, and I never understood why," says Manzo.

Thinking about being overweight and what to do about it has been a lifelong struggle. "I exercised my whole life. I had trainers. I was dieting," says Manzo. "It wasn't necessarily what I was eating, it was the amount." 

When she was younger, Manzo, 37, tried fad diets, saying she would "always yo-yo," and the weight would come back again. It was an emotional cycle that eventually led to her decision to try lap-band surgery in her early 20s, later ignoring worrying symptoms like vomiting "because I was skinny."

She ultimately got the lap-band removed and gained "an insane" amount of weight. She was 208 pounds and felt "unhealthy, swollen, and depressed." 

Three years ago, Manzo saw a functional-medicine doctor, stopped eating gluten and dairy, and lost 50 lbs. She started to feel better, with less brain fog and exhaustion, but felt stuck about how to lose more weight. Then she began the GLP-1 weight loss drug Mounjaro and lost another 50: "I really believed [Mounjaro] saved my life. What they say about food noise – I had never heard that term." 

When Manzo was younger, critics said she was too heavy and then it became she was too skinny and that taking a GLP-1 was the "easy" way to lose weight. "It wasn't the easy way out – the surgeries weren't easy," she says. "Comments like that – I don't think it's fair, What are you teaching your kids – that it's ok to attack someone for their body, especially knowing how much they have struggled?" 

Still on the GLP-1, Manzo focuses on minimizing side effects by incorporating strength training and a balanced diet to gain muscle mass. "Being skinny doesn't mean that you're healthy," she says.

Last year in Florida with her 8-year-old daughter, she wore a bikini for the first time.

Manzo says she's loving the everyday benefits of being at a healthier weight. Getting dressed and spending time outside, especially in the summer months, is easier. "I used to be able to be outside for 10 minutes, tops. I would be sweating, breathing heavily, and so uncomfortable. Now, I'm out with my daughter every day and we're going to the pool."