110lb weight loss - skin removal!
Donation protected
Here I am on day one of what became the longest and hardest challenge I've done.
At 18 I weighed in at just shy of 300lbs - my dad had not long passed away after a 1 year battle with cancer and I'd just undergone drastic recontructive surgery on my leg leaving me misserable and in bed for months with nothing to do with myself but eat.
A few months later I moved in to halls at University where this photo was taken. I was so ashamed that I cropped my face out so no one would know it was me. This picture is what started my last attempt to lose weight.
Making Progress
Over the next few years I turned my life around.
It wasn't easy. At 19 I had a Gastric Band fitted privately - I couldn't see a way out, a way to stop my weight creeping higher and higher. I'd tried every diet going and nothing helped. In hindsight it has affected my life more than I could have imagined but I know it was the right choice for me and a big tool in getting where I am now.
Following my Band, I joined Slimming World and my local gym. Over the course of the next couple of years I lost 110lbs and went from an inactive couch potato to a veggie loving gym bunny.
And this is me today!
I'm now over 100 lbs lighter than I was. I've dropped 8 whole dress sizes going from a 28 to a 10.
But I am still not done - due to a medical condition which affects all my joints and skin, no amount of gym time or healthy eating will tone my skin up - I have been left with a whole load of excess skin.
I have worked so hard to get the body I wanted and to be healthy and happy and the only thing left holding me back is all this skin - it feels like all the hard work over the years was for nothing.
I've seen my NHS doctor who is completely behind me - and he refered me to the reconstructive surgery team.
They refused to even see me.
They said I was too heavy.
That was heartbreaking - I made an appointment with a private surgeon who confirmed that my excess skin is just that, skin. The amount of skin I need to have removed would put me at a healthy weight but still the NHS team will not see me.
My bodyfat % is now at a point where it is so hard for me to lose any more weight, it's the skin that is making me "too heavy" - I'm expected to lose another 2 stone by the NHS. My only other option is to pay privately to have the skin removed at a cost of 30,000.
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I can never hope to afford this so I'm left trapped with skin several sizes to big for me, skin that doesn't just leave me miserable and forever covered up but is uncomfortable, causes sores when I'm warm, rubs when I walk and stops virtually anything bar stretch clothes from fitting my disproportioned body.
That's why I've set up this page - I need your help to get the reconstructive surgery I so desperately need. I'm now 25 and feel like time is running out for me to be able to live the life I should be able to. I've come so far and feel like this is my last hurdle!
At 18 I weighed in at just shy of 300lbs - my dad had not long passed away after a 1 year battle with cancer and I'd just undergone drastic recontructive surgery on my leg leaving me misserable and in bed for months with nothing to do with myself but eat.
A few months later I moved in to halls at University where this photo was taken. I was so ashamed that I cropped my face out so no one would know it was me. This picture is what started my last attempt to lose weight.
Making Progress
Over the next few years I turned my life around.
It wasn't easy. At 19 I had a Gastric Band fitted privately - I couldn't see a way out, a way to stop my weight creeping higher and higher. I'd tried every diet going and nothing helped. In hindsight it has affected my life more than I could have imagined but I know it was the right choice for me and a big tool in getting where I am now.
Following my Band, I joined Slimming World and my local gym. Over the course of the next couple of years I lost 110lbs and went from an inactive couch potato to a veggie loving gym bunny.
And this is me today!
I'm now over 100 lbs lighter than I was. I've dropped 8 whole dress sizes going from a 28 to a 10.
But I am still not done - due to a medical condition which affects all my joints and skin, no amount of gym time or healthy eating will tone my skin up - I have been left with a whole load of excess skin.
I have worked so hard to get the body I wanted and to be healthy and happy and the only thing left holding me back is all this skin - it feels like all the hard work over the years was for nothing.
I've seen my NHS doctor who is completely behind me - and he refered me to the reconstructive surgery team.
They refused to even see me.
They said I was too heavy.
That was heartbreaking - I made an appointment with a private surgeon who confirmed that my excess skin is just that, skin. The amount of skin I need to have removed would put me at a healthy weight but still the NHS team will not see me.
My bodyfat % is now at a point where it is so hard for me to lose any more weight, it's the skin that is making me "too heavy" - I'm expected to lose another 2 stone by the NHS. My only other option is to pay privately to have the skin removed at a cost of 30,000.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I can never hope to afford this so I'm left trapped with skin several sizes to big for me, skin that doesn't just leave me miserable and forever covered up but is uncomfortable, causes sores when I'm warm, rubs when I walk and stops virtually anything bar stretch clothes from fitting my disproportioned body.
That's why I've set up this page - I need your help to get the reconstructive surgery I so desperately need. I'm now 25 and feel like time is running out for me to be able to live the life I should be able to. I've come so far and feel like this is my last hurdle!
Organizer
Victoria Arthur
Organizer
