A mother who says she was once so overweight she 'couldn't get back up off the floor' has undergone an incredible £7,000 transformation. At her heaviest, Nathalie Holland tipped the scales at 21st 8lbs but thanks to surgery she no looks a different person.
Nathalie said she turned to food as a grief coping mechanism after the death of her ex-husband. The mum-of-two began to suffer with low self-esteem when she reached a size 28 while helping her eldest daughter, Isla, 8, cope with the death of her dad, reports the Mirror.
But when the mum-of-two, from Wakefield, couldn't get back up after changing her second daughter Freya's nappy in 2019 Nathalie booked a flight to Turkey to have a gastric sleeve fitted, which reduced the size of her stomach to just 3oz.
The sales manager said: "I realised I couldn't get back up off the floor because I was so heavy and I just laid there crying. I was so focused on looking after Isla that I wasn't taking care of myself, I was just eating anything and everything all day to take my mind off it.
"I couldn't manage the five minute walk with my daughter to take her to school without feeling like I was going to pass out. I had tried every diet and I couldn't shift the weight, I just yoyoed up and down the scales.
"I once sat in a garden chair and when I got up it came with me because the arms were stuck around my bum. I was mortified. I hated the way I looked, I was hiding myself away and never seeing my friends because I couldn't bear the thought of anyone seeing me.
"I had been researching the sleeve surgery all through my pregnancy and I decided enough was enough. If I had got any bigger I would have died and I couldn't let Isla lose both her parents."
After breaking the news to her mum and fiancee, Alex, Nathalie flew to Irmet Hospital in Istanbul and underwent vertical sleeve gastrectomy at a cost of £2,800 including flights.
In the months following, she could only manage a few mouthfuls of food and immediately began shedding the pounds. But her rapid weight loss left Nathalie with large folds of excess skin and in January this year she returned to Istanbul for a tummy tuck and breast implant surgery.
The remaining operations set her back another £4,900 bringing her total transformation cost to £7,700, but Nathalie says she feels happier than ever.
Since the operations, the mum has shed a total of 10st 4lbs, now wears a size 10-12 and has even bought her dream wedding dress ready to tie the knot with Alex in June next year.
During a recent girls trip to the party island of Ibiza, Nathalie had the confidence to wear a bikini for the first time ever and claims she feels sexier now at 31 than she ever did in her 20s.
She said: "I feel like a completely different person. Alex jokes that he feels like he's slept with 10 different women because all of the changes my body has been through. I've always had the gift of the gab but this is the most confident I have ever been. When I go out people come up to me and tell me I look amazing.
"I feel like I'm in my prime. Before I lost the weight I wouldn't even let Alex see me get undressed but it felt amazing to go on holiday and wear a bikini for the first time with confidence."
Now Nathalie is sharing her journey on Instagram to inspire other women and help them understand what is involved with having this kind of surgery.
She added: "Some people claim that having this surgery is the easy way out but I think a lot of people don't realise how much you have to prepare yourself and be mentally strong. You can't just go into it on a whim its a serious commitment.
"But it has been lovely to hear other people's stories and help other women who have got in touch wanting advice or someone to talk to as they consider having the same surgery."
Follow Nathalie's transformation on Instagram @a_little_less_of_nathalie_vsg
