I am a 25 year old girl,  who from the age of 13 has had a weight problem; I was a very active child, playing all matters of sports within school from Netball, Football and Hockey. When the novelty of being in the school teams wore off and the interest in boys took over,  the pounds piled on.

So from the age of 14 I have been on a diet, constantly worried about what I put in my mouth, and terrified that I would be judged for even being seen holding a bag of crisps, or ordering something other than a salad for lunch.

You become immediately aware that people are saying "God, she shouldn’t be eating that" (mostly because I say it about other people myself).

I’ve never been a greedy person, always stopping when I felt full, never felt the need to ‘clear my plate’, I love fruit and veg, fish and white meat. So the weight I was gaining was a total mystery to me.

I joined a gym to do extra exercise to shift the weight, I also started Atkins and after a lot of hard work, many headaches and falling out with family (headaches and bad temper are both side effects of the Atkins program) I managed to lose 2 stone, I felt great! Confident and curvy.. but the Carbs found me and guess what, the weight pilled back on + an extra stone for good measure.

There was no other option but to discuss the idea of Gastric Surgery....

My mum and I talked for hours about the different options, I had already tried keeping a food diary, eating no carbs, fad dieting, exercising and nothing had worked. I was at an advantage that my mum was in the ‘Weight Loss’ business, starting WLS Group with Michelle Bowater. So I had all the information on tap.

I had heard so many stories about celebs having ‘The Band’ and being successful, however I wanted a procedure that was permanent, needed little maintenance and would change my whole outlook on food. We came to an agreement that the Gastric Bypass was the best option for me.

When I got the call from WLS to secure my operation date I felt a mixture of things, on the one hand I was nervous about the procedure, being someone who feints at the sight of a needle or the whiff of a hospital meal,  I wasn’t looking forward to it, but on the other hand I was finally going to be SKINNY!

I am now 3 years on and have gone from 15.7 stone to 8, it is the best thing I have ever done and haven’t looked back once, I now have a baby girl called Isabelle Daisy who was born in September 2009 and a loving&supportive partner, Rob and I finally tied the knot on 17th June 2011 at Wood Hall Hotel and Spa, it was the most perfect day i could have ever imagined.
I would have never dreamt in all my wildest dreams 4 years ago that i would be happy, skinny, have a beautiful family and be married to the man of my dreams, and have worn a size 10 wedding dress!
My life has changed completely and i havnt looked back once, im now wondering what the next 3 years will have in store for me.