'I turned down gastric band and jabs to lose 9st the hard way'

'I turned down gastric band and jabs to lose 9st the hard way' Melanie Sivier, 38, weighed 25st at her heaviest and was a size 32 A woman who turned down gastric band surgery on the NHS because she 'wanted to do it the hard way' has since shed nine dress sizes. Melanie Sivier, 38, tipped the scales at 159kg - 25st - at her heaviest, putting the weight gain down to steroid medications, comfort eating and difficulties in her personal life. During a trip away with her mum and sister, she resolved to make a change and, upon returning home, visited her GP - who offered her gastric band surgery. Melanie refused, instead throwing herself into the gym, hitting 10,000 steps a day and completely transforming her diet. She now weighs 98kg - 15st 6lbs - and has 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 revealed that her weight was so severe during her school years that it led to hypertension, causing a dangerous fluid build-up on her brain, which permanently damaged her vision. During college, she fell into depression over her body image and turned to comfort eating takeaways, desserts and drinking wine, which only worsened matters. It was during a girls' holiday in 2011 with her mum and sister that Melanie finally made up her mind to turn things around. She took up swimming and aqua Zumba every day for a year, beginning with just 25-minute sessions, and overhauled her diet - dropping from a size 32 to a size 26. Feeling ready to take the next step, she began hitting the gym six times a week while clocking up 10,000 steps daily. Melanie eats in a calorie deficit and weighs her food, particularly carbs, maintaining a high fibre and high protein diet alongside drinking five litres of water each day. She also hasn't touched a drop of wine in 11 years and can no longer even bear 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." Yet the weight loss hasn't come without its drawbacks, as Melanie now suffers from arthritis in her hips and has excess skin on her arms and stomach. Her skin has been breaking due to its thinness, requiring her to use padding underneath to keep the affected 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 consulting her GP, Melanie was told that NHS funding for surgery to remove the excess skin was not available. A private surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' hospital in London has quoted her £18,195 for the procedure, a sum she is currently unable to afford. Melanie also suffers from a heart condition called Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which causes palpitations and means she cannot risk pursuing cheaper surgery overseas. Encouraged by her friends, she set up a GoFundMe page, which has so far raised in excess of £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."