Melanie Sivier, 38, from Croydon, south London, turned down gastric band surgery on the NHS because she wanted to lose weight naturally. She has since lost 9st (57kg), going from a size 32 to a size 14. At her heaviest, she weighed 25st (159kg), which she attributes to steroid medication, comfort eating, and personal difficulties.
Health Struggles from Childhood
Sivier began gaining weight at age eight. During school, her weight caused hypertension, leading to fluid on the brain that permanently damaged her eyesight. In college, she experienced depression related to body image and turned to takeaways, puddings, and wine, which worsened her condition.
Turning Point and Transformation
In 2011, after a holiday with her mother and sister, Sivier decided to change her life. She started swimming and doing aqua Zumba daily, initially for 25 minutes, and overhauled her diet. This dropped her from a size 32 to a size 26. She then began hitting the gym six times a week, walking 10,000 steps daily, and following a calorie-deficit diet high in fibre and protein, while drinking five litres of water a day. She has not drunk wine for 11 years.
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." She added: "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."
Rejection of Medical Interventions
When Sivier consulted her GP about weight loss, she was offered gastric band surgery, but she refused. She also expressed scepticism about weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro and Ozempic, saying: "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."
Ongoing Challenges and Fundraising
Despite her weight loss, Sivier suffers from arthritis in her hips and has excess skin on her arms and stomach. The skin is fragile and has torn five times due to sweating from workouts, causing severe pain. 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."
Her GP told her she is not eligible for NHS skin removal surgery because she did not have the gastric band. A private surgeon at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London quoted £18,195 for the procedure, which she cannot afford. She also has supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a cardiac condition causing palpitations, ruling out cheaper surgery abroad.
Friends encouraged her to start a GoFundMe page, which has raised over £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."
