A morbidly obese student shed half her body weight with the help of a gastric bypass – but says the five stone of excess skin she’s been left with makes her resemble a ‘melting candle’.
Jessica Bell, 26, weighed 31st and ate an entire loaf of bread every day before finally opting for NHS-funded weight loss surgery.
After being fitted with a gastric balloon and sleeve – a drastic operation that restricts the amount of food the stomach can hold – Jessica, from Northumberland, lost 15st 4lbs.
But the healthcare student is saving for yet more surgery, because she says the saggy skin left behind following her dramatic weight loss is crippling her confidence.
Jessica Bell, 26, from Northumberland, eventually opted to have a gastric balloon and sleeve fitted when her weight reached 31 stone
Thrilled to have shed half her body weight, Jessica says she still struggles with her self-confidence because of the excess skin she’s been left with
Jessica, who says her grief at the loss of her grandparents when she was a child triggered years of comfort eating, was warned by doctors that her weight put her at risk of going blind.
She was initially too heavy to qualify for weight loss surgery, but after determinedly shedding 2.5st she had a gastric balloon fitted. Another 5st later, she was fitted with a gastric sleeve.
The weight loss has left her with excess skin Jessica is convinced weighs at least 5st, and she says she now feels like a ‘melting candle’ every time she looks in a mirror.
Jessica is now saving for her third operation as she is unable to have her excess skin removed by the NHS, as it is classed as a cosmetic procedure.
Jessica said: ‘My excess skin looks like the remnants of a melting candle.
‘It hangs from my stomach, arms and legs, it’s everywhere.
‘It makes me feel really self-conscious, and that my surgeries were for nothing as I still look big.
Jessica used to eat a whole loaf of bread every day, but now sticks to extremely light meals
‘I was eating a loaf of white bread every day when I was at my biggest, I’ve cut it out of my diet completely now.
‘I now weigh 15 stone, but I’m sure at least five stone of that is my excess skin.
‘Despite reaching a healthy weight, I will never have a healthy BMI because of the skin.
‘I’m currently a student so I can’t afford to have it removed – and although I had two procedures through the NHS, they can’t cover this one as it’s cosmetic.’
Jessica, seen left before her transformation and right afterwards, once started her day with four slices of toast loaded with butter
Jessica first starting gaining weight she was just 13 and spiralled in 2010 – something that left her weighing 31 stone.
But she was too obese for weight loss surgery and was given strict instructions to lose weight.
Thankfully Jessica took their concerns seriously and dropped two and a half stone before her first weight loss surgery in October, 2014.
She added: ‘I had always been a bigger child, because I comfort ate. My grandparents died at a young age and I didn’t know how to cope with it, so I comfort ate.
Having previously eaten a loaf of bread every day, the student has now cut it from her diet completely
As her weight reached 31 stone, Jessica – seen after her surgery – was warned that she was at risk of going blind
Although she’s lost half of her body weight, Jessica says she wants to rid herself of excess skin in order to feel more confident
‘That just carried on through my teens and early twenties, I used to eat to take the pain away, but then would feel guilty so started to guilt eat.
‘I never grew out of my habits, when I was younger I used to hide food or secretly eat when I went out with friends, and when I got older I would have more freedom to eat whatever I wanted.
‘However when I was told that I could go blind at a size 32, that was the first time it hit home for me, and I knew that I had to lose weight.
Jessica, seen left as a child and right before her weight loss, started comfort eating at 13 due to her grief over the loss of her grandparents
‘I was diagnosed with intracranial hypertension which meant that, because of my weight, I had too much fluid on the brain that would have caused me to go blind if I didn’t slim down.
‘So before getting my gastric balloon I lost two and a half stone to show my dedication, then the balloon allowed me to lose five stone, then I got a gastric sleeve.
‘Thanks to my stomach shrinking, and just eating side-plate portion sizes, I was able to lose a further eight stone.’
Despite Jessica having lost over half of her body weight already, she is still striving to slim down even further to feel comfortable in her own skin.
Due to student costs and a poor credit rating, Jessica is unable to rid herself of her excess skin anytime soon.
Jessica added: ‘I hate my excess skin so much, it makes me feel really unattractive and like all of the work was for nothing.
‘I want to be able to dress like a 26-year-old student should be able to dress, but instead even when I went away I was wearing a massive cover up t-shirt and shorts, to hide my excess skin.
‘I know that I’ve lost a lot of weight, but I don’t feel as skinny as I should. Instead, I feel uncomfortable – both physically due to chafing and mentally.’