Junk food addict who lost 14st after surgery has learnt how to ‘cheat eat’ burgers and kebabs and says she ‘still feels fat’
Nicola Foster, 40, was left with swathes of loose skin after her gastric bypass operation
A MUM regrets her free NHS weight loss surgery as the poor aftercare led her to "cheat eat" her favourite junk foods and didn’t address her "food addictions".
Nicola Foster, 40, from Stockton-on-Tees, weighed 26 stone but has now lost 14 stone, dropping from a size 32 to a 12 after a local diet group helped her get back on track.
Her fiance Kevin Warren, 48, also joined her on the journey and shed six stone himself.
The pair have criticised the NHS as they claim they that offering gastric bypass surgery without a post-operative course on healthy eating and meal preparation is setting patients up for failure.
Nicola said: “Together with my fiancé we’ve lost a whopping 20 stone.
“If I had my time over knowing what I know now I’d lose weight using weekly meetings - supporting and teaching healthy eating, diet and exercise rather than a gastric band bypass.
“My weight loss surgery made me lose weight fast but didn’t address my food addictions and the NHS has to deal with that.”
Nicola, who has sight in only 10 percent of one eye and is legally blind, is now left with more than two stone of loose skin which she is hoping to have removed through the NHS.
She said: “Mentally despite losing 14 stone I still feel fat and had it not been for a local diet club and my fella’s support I’d actually still be overweight because I’d taught myself to cheat eat burgers, kebabs and crisps to literally feed my food addictions.”
Nicola hopes her personal weight loss journey will inspire other people to team up with their partners and shed the pounds the healthy way without resorting to surgery.
Once she has recovered from the skin removal operation, Nicola plans to become Britain’s first blind weight loss consultant and help others address their issues around eating.
“If my story helps just one person make a better life choice decision about surgery or how to lose weight I will have done my job,” she said.
“They [the NHS] need to ensure all patients have counselling and classes after surgery to learn to ‘re-eat’, to exercise and then to always commit to skin removal surgery.
“It really is a three-part process and in my case learning to mash my favourite junk food and chew it until it was smooth enough to swallow meant as a food addict I learnt to bypass my bypass.
“It’s not something I am proud of but it happens regularly so I am speaking out.”
Nicola had always been overweight, but she piled on the pounds as a teenager and was never able to shift it.
She said: “Savoury junk treats like KFC, pizza, McDonald's, kebabs and crisp were my food drug of choice and at 34 in 2009 I was hitting the scales at 26 stone.”
Nicola began struggling to walk and her breathing was affected by her size, so her doctor referred her for a free NHS Gastric Bypass in 2010.
She explained: “The weight fell off at such a rate my body could not keep up and that meant my skin elasticity couldn’t keep up.
"The skin didn’t shrink it hung off me and still does.”
Nicole eventually went straight back to her favourite junk food. She would over chew and mash it up so she could swallow it.
“I’d buy burgers, kebabs and other junk food and chew and chew on them or mash them until they were soft enough to eat due to my untreated food addiction,” she confessed.
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“I wasn’t proud of the fact but I returned to cheat comfort eating and gained three stone even with a gastric band.
“I was a food addict and I needed the KFC burger, kebab fix so mashing and chewing the food until it was smooth enough to swallow was my hit.
“It didn’t mean I wasn’t determined to lose weight – but the NHS left me without support.
“People who think weight loss is simply about eating less have never been addicted to sugar or junk food.”
She continued: “I admit the gastric bypass was a bad decision – the NHS didn’t tell me what to expect, I wasn’t given healthy eating support or any real support to deal with my food addiction.”
Nicola was left depressed after the initial weight loss as she saw the fat falling off her and being replaced by heavy hanging skin.
The turning point in Nicola’s life came two years ago when she was walking her dog.
"I realised my mum died of diabetes, I’d had a bypass to stop me eating, I was cheating and I needed help," she said.
Nicola went online and found other people with similar issues on Facebook support groups like Diet or Die or After Gastric Bypass Surgery.
She said: “Many ladies spoke of how going to a local diet group helped. So Kevin who weighed 20 stone agreed to help and we found one locally.
“I was embraced and for the first time had a weekly meeting to go to, recipes and help to eat healthy, an exercise plan and face to face support.
“There were other people like me in the group who’d had weight loss surgery and were cheat eaters and people just desperate to have others to discuss their issues face to face with.”
The couple are now stars of their local Slimming World group. Nicole’s fiancé is helping attract more men and Nicola is sharing her story and personal battle.
What is a gastric bypass?
- A gastric bypass is one of the most common types of weight loss surgery in the UK
- The surgery reroutes the patient’s digestive system so that food does not pass through part of the intestines
- This means the patient can only eat very small portions and the body absorbs fewer calories from the food consumed
- The procedure can help you lose up to 65 per cent (two-thirds) of your excess weight, within two years
- It is only recommended for people who are obese with a BMI of over 40, if they have already tried to lose weight in other ways
“Kevin was 20 stone and knew he had to lose weight so we went together. He was the only man in the group and it made me realise there is also not enough support for men.
“Together we stopped my cheat eating, we both lost weight together and I got myself a healthy food and eating, as well as exercise, education.
“Slimming World made me re-educate myself and so did Kevin. The group as much as the programme helped me.”
Kevin has now lost just over six stone and Nicola 14 stone.
She said: “Cheat eating on gastric bands, bypasses and balloons is extremely common.
“If it takes me coming forward to raise awareness I will. Fighting obesity is more than just a surgery. I hope once I have surgery to remove this loose skin I can become a weight loss advocate and consultant for my group.
“I will be the first blind person to do this but with help of my fiancé we would make a great team. We’ve lost the weight and it’s staying off and I’ll never ‘cheat eat’ again.”