A woman who was once 29 stone and housebound for four years has lost almost half her body weight.
Sabrina Lee, from Walton, Liverpool, says she feels like a "completely different person" after shedding a whopping 12 stone.
At her heaviest, the 36-year-old couldn't walk from her bedroom to her living room without getting out of breath
She turned to food for comfort and began piling on the pounds while struggling in a relationship.
Suffering from depression, Sabrina became "practically housebound for four years" before she decided to join an NHS weight management programme in March 2019. She has since undergone weight loss surgery and has lost 12 stone in total.
Sabrina told the Liverpool Echo : "When I signed up to my new GP I got blood tests done and I was found to be type two diabetic. I was only 32 years old at the time and I was like 'oh god what have I done to myself?' Being so young I knew I had to do something."
"I should have expected it being at that heaviest weight but at the same time I thought I'm young. I felt a bit invincible."
She joined the NHS weight management programme and was paired up with a dietician, alongside doing sessions of physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
Sabrina said: "I was on the programme for seven months and I lost eight stone from March 2019 to October 2019. I got approved for the surgery and then had surgery in March 2020 just before the pandemic kicked off."
She has gone on to lose an additional four stone since having a gastric bypass - an operation which joins the top part of your stomach to the small intestine. Sabrina said: "It's a preventable measure for me.
"While I could lose that weight on my own I was thinking 'this is going to stop you from gaining a lot of weight back.' I think my thought process was if I have the surgery I physically can't go back to food so I have to find a healthier coping mechanism, so I got back into arts.
"Some people think it's a lazy diet and way around it. For me, it wasn't a quick fix or a quick choice, it was preventative. I know I can't go back to the worst point in my life."
"Instead of a standard dinner plate I use a side plate now. I only eat about half of what a normal person would eat.
"For example, in comparison to a normal person who would have two Weetabix for breakfast I would have half of one Weetabix with yoghurt or a little bit of milk. If you go out for a meal you know that's two meals for me."
According to the NHS, weight loss surgery is sometimes used as a treatment for people who are very obese. But it is a major operation that carries a risk of complications, and in most cases should only be considered after trying to lose weight through a healthy diet and exercise.
Sabrina said she still has weight to lose and has four stone of excess skin to be removed, but she is no longer a type two diabetic. Since her weight loss, she has been able to go back to university and is now in her final year at Liverpool John Moores studying Forensic Science.
She's also now learnt to drive - something she was unable to do before due to her weight - and is now in a "happy and healthy relationship."
She said: "I feel like a completely different person. I don't recognise that person in the pictures from when I was heavier. I can't even see myself in that person anymore."
