Gillian Hester

Gastric Band My Silent Friend Gillian Hester

Three & a half stone doesn't sound a great deal but when you are only 4'11? it is more than one third of my ideal weight. A day to day account of a two year journey sharing the ups and downs of having a gastric band fitted as a female aged 51. With a new year looming the thought of another year growing more & more obese continually dieting for days and then binging for the rest of the month did not appeal. Drastic measures needed to be taken. The answer came from a magazine advertisement - the Gastric Band. Very fat as a child I grew up trying every diet on the planet, my weight and moods yo-yoing throughout my whole life. On a permanent diet during my teens I was active show jumping professionally, ski-ing and cross country running these activities kept the weight reasonably at bay. Crunch time came when my late husband was diagnosed with cancer. I started to consume around 6,000 calories a day, living on junk, crisps, sweets, chocolate, fast food and alcohol, the weight piled on and I became a gross couch potato. Slowly but surely my health deteriorated. Depression set in and my joints & hips began to give me excruciating pain. The mood swings became unbearable. This diary gives a day to day account of gaining my life back, adjusting to the band, how my health improved and returning to an active interesting life once more, now managing comfortably on 1,000 calories a day.