Melanie Sivier said she ‘wanted to do it the hard way’
A woman turned down gastric band surgery on the NHS because she ‘wanted to do it the hard way’ and has now dropped nine dress sizes. Melanie Sivier, 38, weighed 159kg – 25st – at her heaviest – attributing the gain to steroid medications, comfort eating and issues in her personal life.
She decided on a trip with her mum and sister to take action and, after returning home, went to see her GP – who offered her gastric band surgery. But Melanie declined, instead hitting the gym, making sure she was doing 10,000 steps a day and overhauling her diet. Now, she weighs 98kg – 15st 6lbs – and dropped from a size 32 to a size 14.
Melanie, a finance worker from Croydon, south London, said: “I have just never felt comfortable having something done to lose weight when I know I can do it naturally if I am just patient. Especially with the whole Mounjaro Ozempic phase now, I just don’t feel like there is enough evidence that you are not going to have problems when you are older.
“People who go on the jabs to lose weight have to stay on them to maintain it. I find that scary. It is only meant to be for diabetes, and companies are selling it to people.”
Melanie said that her weight was so bad in school that it led to hypertension, causing fluid build-up on her brain, which permanently impacted her vision. During college she became depressed due to body image and began comfort eating takeaways or desserts and drinking wine, which only made things worse.
It was on a girls’ holiday in 2011 with her mum and sister that Melanie finally decided it was time to make a change. So, she swam and did aqua Zumba every day for a year, starting with only 25-minute sessions, and shifted her diet – going from a size 32 to a size 26.
Then she felt ready to start working out at the gym, training six times a week and walking 10,000 steps every day. Melanie eats in a calorie deficit and weighs her food, especially carbs, keeping a high fibre and high protein diet as well as drinking five litres of water a day. She also hasn’t had a drop of wine in 11 years and can no longer even stand the smell of it.
She said: “I realised that I needed to sort my life out and get healthy. I had felt so low for such a long time and I didn’t want to feel like this anymore.
“Everything just completely changed, it was great. The weight just fell off over a period of time. I am so glad that I started with just small changes.
“It is not about starving yourself, it is about eating the right things that are good for you and nutritious. I still eat three meals a day.”
However, the weight loss has not all been good, as Melanie has arthritis in her hips and excess skin on her arms and stomach. Her skin has been breaking due to thinness and she has to put padding underneath to keep the area dry.
She said: “It has been a great journey, but what is left is a lot of skin. Because I work out so much and sweat so much that my skin has thinned to the point where it has actually split about five times, which has been unimaginably painful.
“It is really hard. Sometimes I just feel trapped in my own body. I have breakdowns whenever I am getting ready to go out with friends to socialise because I can’t show my arms and I have to wear something that covers my stomach.”
After visiting her GP, Melanie was informed that she couldn’t get surgery to remove this skin through the NHS. A private surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London has quoted her £18,195 for the operation, which she is unable to afford.
Melanie also has a heart condition called Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), causing palpitations, which means she can’t risk getting cheaper surgery abroad. Her friends encouraged her to start a GoFundMe page and it has since raised more than £2,000.
She said: “I have been told by the NHS that they won’t help me because I didn’t have the gastric band. That was devastating.
“After my private consultation I just felt so safe and so validated. Then they sent me the price list and I was in shock.
“I am one of those people who lives month to month, I don’t have massive savings. I still live in a house share because of the cost of living.
“I know it is only £2,000, but it is quite overwhelming. I did not think that anyone was going to actually donate.”
