A mum-of-two has said she suffers with painful excess skin after losing nearly seven stone.
Fiona MacDonald weighed 17st 7lbs after she put on five stone during lockdown. The 30-year-old took out a loan to have a £5,400 gastric bypass operation in Lithuania.
The student nurse flew out to have the surgery in July last year and has since slimmed down to 10st 11lbs. She went from a size 20 to a 10, but has been left with excess skin which rubs together and can create tears.
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She said: "I still have to eat healthy and work out, it’s not a quick fix that meant I automatically lost weight, I still have to make good decisions.
"The excess skin is really painful, the overhang on my stomach rubs badly and it can feel like it’s burning. With the nice weather coming it can be hard because the skin can start to smell when I sweat and I have to wear a lot of talc to stop it rubbing. When I run or go to the gym now I have to wear a corset belt to keep everything in place which is uncomfortable.”
Fiona hails from Kilmarnock and said she has always struggled in her relationship with food. In 2017 she lost five stone following a Weight Watchers programme, but put it all back on while at home during the pandemic with husband Andrew, 30 and kids Harris, six, and Marnie, four.
She added: "I have always had a problem with my weight, I even remember my mum taking me to a dietician when I was seven. I have tried Weight Watchers, Slimming World, diet pills, and lost some weight but I always just gain it back. In 2017 I did Weight Watchers after I had my second child and lost five stone in a year.
“But I become obsessed with working out and watching what I was eating, it wasn’t healthy. During lockdown we were at home together all the time just eating and drinking and I gained back the five stone I had lost.
“I was at the lowest I had ever been, I was so unhappy physically and mentally. I didn’t recognise myself anymore. I realised I had tried everything and I knew my relationship with food was never going to change. In January 2021 I started to look on Instagram at people who had lost weight through surgeries.
“I contacted my GP who said I wouldn’t be eligible to get it done on the NHS and that even if I was I would have to wait years. Then I approached some surgeons in the UK but they said it would cost between £10,500 and £11,000 which I knew I couldn’t afford.
“Before the surgery I used to be obsessed with thinking about food all the time, as soon as I woke up I was thinking about what I was eating that day.
“It’s so sad because you are just stuck in that mindset and food controls your whole life. I used to love Italian food, pizza and pastas, but now I wouldn’t thank you for that stuff.
“I love lean food and can eat smaller portions and stay fuller for longer. I am not sure if I will go back to Lithuania or go Turkey to have the surgery but if I can raise the money I’d like to have it done this year.”
Fiona hopes to raise £6,000 for the breast surgeries and a 360 Fler De Lis operation, which will remove the excess skin. She has raised £675 of her £6500 and you can visit her Go Fund Me page here
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