from athletic and healthy to Struggling with weight and addiction to food
Weighing in at just under 10 stone Dave was once a competitive dirt bike racer, living a very fit and healthy life. For many years he continued with this lifestyle but, somewhere along the line it started to go wrong.
David admits “I don’t know exactly where it started to go wrong but by the time I met my wife I was overweight”. Being overweight and not liking the way he looked Dave stopped his active lifestyle, swimming in particular, an activity he once loved and did on a regular basis was no longer something he could do.
With physical activity mostly at a halt, Dave developed a dangerous addiction to food. Buying shopping baskets full of chocolates, biscuits then returning home to eat everything in one sitting and, washing it down with a full carton of milk. For years this continued and he had fell into a cycle that he couldn’t get out of.
Despite trying his hardest to break out of the cycle with various diet programmes and plans nothing worked long term.
“I could lose the weight for a while but then I’d fall back into old habits and end up putting the weight back on and more”.
"I was spending a lot of money every week... just to keep my self fat really.
Shoulder Injury that lead him to reflect on his weight
Last year Dave had a serious injury to his shoulder and when seeking medical treatment for it conversations about his weight came up.
His Doctor explained to him that being the size he was which at that time was 26 stone was putting him at risk of serious health complications. Dave already knew that something needed to be done about his weight but this was when he started to take it seriously. He knew something drastic needed to change or he wouldn’t be living a long healthy life.
It was recommended by his Doctor that Mr Rishi Singhal, someone he knew, was an expert in the field of bariatrics and weight loss surgery. And, advised him to contact Rishi to discuss weight loss surgery.
First consult and turning his life around
Dave took his doctors advice and got in contact with Mr Singhal. From his first request to speak with Mr Singhal Dave was quickly called for a phone call consultation.
Rishi spoke to Dave about weight loss surgery, and after discussing Dave’s life style and the options available the gastric sleeve was recommended as the best procedure to help Dave finally take control of his weight.
The gastric sleeve removes up to 80% of the stomach including hunger hormone Ghrelin. After the surgery the patient will have much lower levels of hunger and only be able to eat small amounts.
The gastric sleeve was ideal for Dave as his problems were with over-eating and not being able to stop him self.
Initially dave was concerned that having gastric sleeve surgery would mean that he wouldn’t be able to continue doing dirt bike racing. However these concerns were quickly put to rest by Rishi. Weight loss surgery doesn’t stop patients like Dave doing physical activities, it actually increases their ability to do that.
Life after the gastric sleeve
On July 21st Dave had his gastric sleeve weight loss surgery in Birmingham. And, since that day he has gone from strength to strength.
Dave has done everything that the Healthier Weight aftercare team has advised and in just 8 months post surgery he has lost a remarkable 10 stone, 12 stone in total with the pre-op liver reduction diet.
In the past Dave had managed to lose significant amounts of weight but could never keep on track, now with the aid of the gastric sleeve he has no plan to let his head hunger get in the way of the success he has made so far.
It's more than just weight loss surgery
For all our patients it’s more than just weight loss surgery, it’s everything achieving everything they didn’t think was possible before.
Dave proclaims “it’s like stepping back 10 or 20 years, it feels amazing”.
For him, it’s all the little things that he appreciates so much more now, he is able to walk up stairs without struggling, to tie his laces and best of all, get back to the active life style he once loved.