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April 2010 |
Fed up with her bulge, hairdresser Kim Smith took drastic to slim down…
 When I kicked my 40-a-day smoking habit 15 years ago, my body ballooned from a size 16 to a size 30.
I had tried every diet to lose weight, but just couldn’t stick to them. It wasn’t like I gorged on junk food, I always ate good, home-cooked meals. But I never felt full, so I just carried on eating. I was cutting a client’s hair one day, when I felt her eyes on me. ‘You could do with going on a diet, dear,’ she said.
At 5ft 2ins and 16st 10lb, it was hardly a newsflash, but I was miserable being fat. People in the street already stared at me in disgust. I couldn’t wear anything but leggings and baggy tops and my mobility suffered – I had to use a wheelchair. I was always moaning about my weight to my husband, Steve, 50 and my daughters, Gemma, 21 and Rebecca, 19. But I knew only I could make a change. So when I heard of Fern Britton having a gastric bypass, my heart skipped a beat. She looked fantastic.
 I began to research on the Internet and, two months later, I had a consultation with a surgeon, Shaw Somers, at Streamline Surgical. Armed with information and advice, I reassured Steve it was the right thing for me. I re-mortgaged my house to pay the £11,000 for the op. My families were nervous about it, but I was determined. In February 2009, Steve and I went to Egypt. I couldn’t fit the meal tray down in the plane seat, but I didn’t care. It wouldn’t happen again.
A month later, in March 2009, I arrived at the private hospital in Harrow, ready for my gastric bypass. The day after the op I felt completely normal – no pain or discomfort. And a week later I was back at work. The only thing that had changed was what I could eat. For a week I was on a liquid diet, then liquidized and mashed food, before slowly introducing solids. Soon I was eating a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and a small portion of chicken and fresh veg for dinner. I got full up too quickly to overeat and in just eight months, I’d lost seven and a half stone. Now I’m 8st 10lb and I’ve never been happier. My clients can’t believe the transformation I’ve been through. I can’t help but smile - I’m so much more confident and I’m finally turning heads for all the right reasons! My health is a million times better, I can move around easily. And shopping is like a dream – at long last I can buy whatever takes my fancy!
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