A woman who had weight loss surgery after ballooning to 22st says people should be aware that going under the knife is not a cure-all - after she developed another eating problem post-op. Tisjana Woodward, 27, decided to have a £3,500 gastric sleeve procedure in Turkey after her portion sizes got out of control.
The surgery was a success and, in the immediate aftermath, she lost 8st. But Tisjana, from Stratford, east London, then found her previous food problem had been replaced by another: binge eating.
Her weight now fluctuates and she finds herself skipping dinners and main meals for small snacks like crisps and cheese. Tisjana, who rents out properties, has described her problem as a "transfer addiction" - and says people need to be aware surgery is not a remedy for all ills.
She said: "Surgery is good, but it doesn't cure everything. Transfer addictions are a massive thing. People don't know about that and binging habits.
"Before you have gastric sleeve you can eat and eat and eat. But when you've got one you can't eat or you'll be sick. So people turn to other addictions to try and replace it - like spending habits, smoking, or other food habits like snack binging."
Tisjana has polycystic ovaries, which makes it hard for her to lose weight. She says her situation was badly affecting her mental health, so she choose to have surgery in April 2022, heading out to Turkey.
She had 85% of her stomach removed and went on to lose 8.8st (123.2lbs) through eating much smaller portions. Tisjana said: "Before, my eating habits and portion sizes got really bad. I was pretty fed up with myself. I wasn't happy. I'd just had enough."
After surgery, Tisjana was given a six-week diet plan post op which she ignored, instead trying to overeat which made her ill. She said: "I tried to force myself to eat and I was violently ill. I didn't see a change for six months, I was losing weight by the scale but visually I couldn't see anything. It took a long time to be able to see it."
She eventually lost 8st - although that weight loss has since stopped too. It was then that she developed her binging habit, at the start of 2023 - and Tisjana says it's affected her happiness.
She said: "It's a massive achievement losing all that weight but I'm just not happy with myself at the moment. A gastric sleeve is not a quick fix - I'm happier than was before surgery but not 100% happy."
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In an attempt to stop her new habit, Tisjana now keeps a food journal and has shared her experience on TikTok where she realised she wasn't alone. Tisjana said: "I think the first thing you have to do is admit it to yourself.
"How I go about it is keeping a food journal - I try and document what I eat. You still have to diet like a normal person, you can't eat whatever you want.
"There are things I don't do like going in certain aisles in supermarkets, I make it my mission to get my dinner but refrain from going down snack aisles. TikTok has been amazing.
"I'm a very open person and as soon as I put up a video about my binging habit after surgery, I realised there are so many people going through it - I get messages every day. If I'm busy I won't binge, if I'm not busy I will binge all day, that's my issue.
"Nobody tells you what could happen, nobody tells you about transfer addictions, you're never told by the surgeon, which I think is crazy. I don't regret having the gastric sleeve, there are struggles and they're part of the journey, but they need to be spoken about."
