Michelle's amazing story

I read this in Woman magazine and then found the WLSinfo forum. I shall be forever grateful.
This was the catalyst I needed to start my own journey. Thank you Michelle, you are a star.

Staring at the Chocolate blamange on the canteen tray, I couldn't believe what the teacher was telling me. 'Sorry, Michelle, just an apple for you today'.
I was seven years old, and as far as I could tell, I was being forbidden pudding at school. Back then, I didn't really realise what they were saying. I didn't feel like a fat child, and hadn't been teased about my shape.
But as I neared my teens, it seemed that teacher was right to be cautious, as my weight went up and up.
Ironically, when I was 11 I went to boarding school for a couple of terms and lost weight. In fact, the school warned my Mum that I could be anorexic ! But I was just being careful. Back at home, I went back to snacking whenever I wanted. By the time I was 14, I was 14 stone. A year later I'd piled on another stone.
And so it went on. I tried every diet - a 'powdered drinks diet', 'soups diet', and Weight Watchers. But the plans were hard to stick to, and I felt restricted by their do's and don'ts. 'Not for me' I'd say, despondent on a night out as everyone else tucked in to wine and pudding.
As I reached my early 20's, I was just getting bigger and bigger. In 1991, I was 21 years old and had got married to my boyfriend Stuart.
I had the full works - horse and carriage, big white dress and party. Looking at the video, though, my eyes filled with tears. My boobs were spilling out of my size 28 dress. At 21 Stone, I was huge, like some buxom wench. But still it was not enough to kick me into action.
As a wife, and later in my 20's as a mum, I relished cooking big family meals like chilli con carne and shepherd's pie. In the evenings I snacked on crisps I'd bought for the kids. And I loved takeaways.
I'd reached a comfort zone, and with my family around me, I didn't want to leave it.
By the time I reached 34, things started to change. My Mum, who'd been ill for a few years, had been piling on weight too, as her condition had left her housebound. Looking after her was like looking into a mirror of the future.
'That will be you if you don't do something about it,' I thought to myself.
Pictures of my kids flashed through my mind. I had to take control of the situation. So, one evening I steeled myself and stepped on the scales. '26st 8lb' I whispered. I was enormous. At 5ft 71/2 in, my clothes were a size 34, the biggest you could get. And a size for every year of my life that I had spent eating myself into this state. 'I can't just diet this away' I thought. I'd seen people at slimming classes who had a lot of weight to lose, but I felt I was beyond that.
What else could I do though? The only option I could think of was surgery. I turned to the internet for help. Running through search engines, I found a support site called www.WLSinfoforums.org.uk, where people who'd had weight loss operations shared their experiences and pooled information about where you could go to have surgery.
One operation in particular stood out - the duodenal switch. Unlike a lap band or gastric bypass, which would restrict the hole through which food could pass into my stomach, the duodenal switch would actually remove a large part of my stomach and bypass most of my small intestine.
The result would be that I could only eat small amounts of food before I felt full. After a year, my stomach would  start to stretch back towards a more normal size, and I could increase my portion sizes again. By then, I'd be slimmer. It seemed too good to be true.  And calling up a UK clinic, it was. At £12,000, the op was well out of my financial reach. Then I started looking abroad. The same operation, performed in Belgium, would cost me £6,500.
Stuart and I had divorced by now, so I could use the money from the settlement to pay for my op. My old life would be paying for my new beginning.
Strangely enough, Stuart was the one I chose to accompany me to Belgium in February 2005. We were still on good terms.
My eldest daughter Lisa came too - but I didn't want it to be just me and her, in case something went wrong. The risk was low - there was a 1% mortality rate - but still it was there. At the hospital 45 minutes outside of Brussels, suddenly it all became horribly real.
'I'll see you soon' I told Lisa as they wheeled me to theatre, I was desperate just to get it over and done with. Waking up a few hours later, I was through the hardest part. But now the big question loomed.  Was this going to work?
After 24 hours, I was allowed soup and then a whole meal. I managed a few mouthfuls. 'I feel so full !' It's brilliant !' I beamed. But it was just the beginning. The operation meant that 50% of the protein I ate, as well as 75% of the fat, would no longer be absorbed properly. I have to eat a high protein diet and take special vitamins every day for the rest of my life if I wanted to loose weight and stay healthy too.
I was in hospital for four days before I was allowed home. After a month, I dared to weigh myself. 'I've lost more than 2 1/2 stone !' I told the kids .
As the months went by, the weight began to fall off, and I set myself little shopping goals, like shipping in a particular high street store within a certain time.The first time I bought clothes in Next and Dorothy Perkins, I was overjoyed.
Eventually, I reached 18stone, and with it another goal. 'I'm off to the gym,' I told the kids one evening'. As their jaws dropped I headed off to the treadmill. I didn't just want to be slim, I needed to tone myself up as well. Every three months I had blood tests to check my health.
Now a year and three months after the op, I wear a size 14-16 and weigh 12st10lbs. My goal was 13 stone, so the success I've achieved is amazing. And I am still loosing weight.
I am like a new woman, and best of all for the kids, it's like having a new mum. I'm back at college - I've enrolled in a floristry course. I wouldn't have felt like doing that when I was big. It took drastic action to get my life back on track, but it was the best risk I ever took.

This is Michelle now. Isn't she stunning !?!