Melanie Sivier, 38, from Croydon, south London, turned down gastric band surgery offered by the NHS because she 'wanted to do it the hard way'. She has since lost 9 stone (57kg), dropping from a size 32 to a size 14.
Weight gain and health issues
At her heaviest, Melanie weighed 159kg (25st). She attributes her weight gain to steroid medications, comfort eating, and personal issues. Her weight led to hypertension and fluid build-up on her brain, permanently impacting her vision.
During college, she became depressed due to body image and turned to takeaways, desserts, and wine, which worsened her condition.
Decision to change
In 2011, while on a girls' holiday with her mother and sister, Melanie decided to take action. After returning home, she visited her GP, who offered gastric band surgery. She declined, opting instead for natural methods.
Melanie said: 'I have just never felt comfortable having something done to lose weight when I know I can do it naturally if I am just patient. Especially with the whole Mounjaro Ozempic phase now, I just don’t feel like there is enough evidence that you are not going to have problems when you are older.'
Weight loss journey
She started swimming and doing aqua Zumba daily for a year, beginning with 25-minute sessions, and changed her diet, going from a size 32 to a size 26. She then began working out at the gym six times a week and walking 10,000 steps every day.
Melanie eats in a calorie deficit, weighs her food (especially carbs), and maintains a high-fibre, high-protein diet, drinking five litres of water daily. She has not had wine in 11 years.
She said: 'I realised that I needed to sort my life out and get healthy. I had felt so low for such a long time and I didn’t want to feel like this anymore.'
Challenges after weight loss
Despite her success, Melanie now faces health issues related to her weight loss. She has arthritis in her hips and excess skin on her arms and stomach. Her skin has thinned and split about five times, causing significant pain.
She said: 'It has been a great journey, but what is left is a lot of skin. Because I work out so much and sweat so much that my skin has thinned to the point where it has actually split about five times, which has been unimaginably painful.'
She also has a heart condition called Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which causes palpitations and prevents her from seeking cheaper surgery abroad.
Struggle for surgery
Melanie's GP informed her that the NHS would not cover surgery to remove excess skin because she did not have the gastric band. A private surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London quoted £18,195 for the operation, which she cannot afford.
Friends encouraged her to start a GoFundMe page, which has raised over £2,000. She said: 'I have been told by the NHS that they won’t help me because I didn’t have the gastric band. That was devastating.'
Melanie added: 'I am one of those people who lives month to month, I don’t have massive savings. I still live in a house share because of the cost of living.'
