“My name is Gemma. I’m married and a mum to two boys.
“I’ve been overweight since my late teens and began gaining weight when I stopped competitive swimming at 12 years of age. I used to train most mornings at 5am for two hours and then the same on a night as well as a gym session. I was burning off so many calories that my body couldn’t keep up and I started to be unwell all the time. I had no immune system and after a week out with a chest infection, it became too hard to pick up where I left off, so I quit. That’s when the weight started creeping on.
The weight just kept creeping up
“I was still active and out and about a lot but when the later teenage years came, so did the drinking and eating out. I met my husband when I was 19 and became content quickly. He worked shifts so to spend time together, we would often go out for meals. A meal turned into two courses and then three. The weight just kept on creeping up.
“I have tried so many things to help get the weight off. Weight Watchers, Slimming World, gym. Nothing seemed to work. I would start something and there was always something that would get in the way. I even went to weight management through the NHS and still struggled to get the weight off. I would become so downhearted and disappointed that my head would go and I would just stop trying. I would read all these stories of people having a good few week on a diet and losing loads of weight and I’d lose one - two pounds and think, “what’s the point?”
“I started going to the gym and had to stop because my blood pressure went that high I passed out and was sick. Then I moved to weight lifting and tore my ligaments. I couldn’t walk because of the pain in my knee. Every time I started something, I had to stop.
“During my time going to weight management through the NHS I started a new job. My appointments to see the dietician were every month, during the working day. I didn’t want to tell anyone where I was going as I was really embarrassed about it. I changed a few appointments and because I did, they kicked me off the programme. I’d done most of the process, sleep tests, psychiatrist, the lot! It was a total waste because they wouldn’t sort appointments out of working hours.
Not taken seriously
“My weight continued to gain, although at a slower pace, but loads of health problems followed. I have cysts that would become infected on my legs and belly that hospitalised me. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I fell and hurt my knee. It took years to of physio and still it wasn’t better. Every time I went to the doctor with a problem I was dismissed and told it was because of my weight. I could go with a throat infection and felt it was sometimes turned around to be the cause of my weight. I never felt like I was taken seriously because of my weight.
“In 2023 I saw a knee specialist who told me he had never seen degeneration in 18 months like he had in my knee in 30 years of experience. He begged me to have weight loss surgery to save my life. He predicted I had already lost 15 years of my life and after looking at some blood test, I was actually dying!
“I have never felt so scared or upset. I knew I was big but this was a massive shock. I have two young boys to live for so I went straight home and booked an appointment with a private specialist to have a gastric bypass. I had the surgery in July 2023 and can honestly say it’s the best thing I have ever done.
“Since having my surgery I have realised exactly how much being overweight affected me. I held back doing things with the kids, I wouldn’t “expose” their fat mum to other people and would hide away. I never felt confident playing with them out and about at the park. I felt like I embarrassed them being seen. They never made me felt like that but it’s how I felt.
A new lease of life
Now Gemma feels she has a new lease of life.
“I’m happier in myself. I feel more confident and able to do more things and join in. I was told I need a full knee replacement but because of my age, I could only have a partial and needed it as soon as possible. Since losing weight I’ve hardly had pain so have been able to delay the surgery. My overall health is better. I don’t wake up feeling like an old lady. I can walk so much more without been out of breath or shattered. I can shop at normal shops and not be limited to one shop and flowery clothes! Not all overweight people want to wear flowery clothes! I feel I can eat around people now without people judging me for what I’m having.
“I’ve also noticed a difference in medical people’s treatment of me. If there’s a problem, it’s no longer because I’m overweight, I’m taken seriously.
More help needed
“Being overweight is a massive struggle and a problem for people and it’s really not understood how it affects people. There should be more help out there and an understanding that you can’t just lose weight. If people could, they would. It’s so much more complicated than that.”