How one woman went from a size 22 to a trim 12 after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery abroad

Tania Pezzolesi, 60, from Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, says to the outside world she appeared bubbly and outgoing when she weighed 16-and-a-half stone.

But the former local government worker felt unhappy and self conscious, convinced people were judging her for her size.

Tania said: “I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. At school I could never go to the clothes shops that my friends could go to. I seemed really happy and like the life and soul of the party but I wasn’t.

“Growing up I desperately wanted to play football but the warm-up was jogging twice around the pitch. I was too fat and too unfit.

“On holiday at the beach I wouldn’t move from under the umbrella because I thought everyone was looking at me. It affects your whole life and how you feel about yourself.”

Tania says she used a host of weight loss methods over the years but nothing worked.

She added: “I tried all the diets - Weight Watchers, Slimming World, the grapefruit and egg diet. I tried everything under the sun. Every Monday I would start something new.

“I would starve myself for a week and then when I had only lost a pound at the end of it, it would feel so demoralising so then I would go and eat.”

Tania decided to make some drastic changes following the death of her mother, with the loss making her ‘reassess everything’.

She embarked on a new relationship, took early retirement, moved to the seaside from London and, after extensive research, booked to have bariatric surgery at Weight Loss Riga in Latvia.

Tania said: “When my mum died it changed my perspective on everything. I just thought, ‘Life is too short’. She had always wanted me to lose weight because of the impact it would have on my health.

“My partner also lost her mum so we both said we didn’t want to work and then die. Both of our mothers were looking forward to retirement but weren’t able to enjoy it.”

In March 2019 Tania booked to have a gastric sleeve operation at the state-of-the-art clinic after following the journeys of former patients on Weight Loss Riga’s Facebook group. The procedure involves removing approximately 75 to 80 per cent of the stomach.

As a result, patients are not able to eat as much because they feel full after a much smaller amount of food.

Now weighing 10st, Tania says she has a new lease of life and enjoys walking and renovating her new home with wife Nicola.

She said: “I’ve never been this size in my life. My only regret is that my mum didn’t get to see it. I gave up smoking and now I enjoy walking football and can walk for an hour or so every day. Before I would have turned into a tomato.

"The surgery is a tool, not a solution. I eat healthily now. I might have half a chicken breast, some peas and carrots and I’m full.

“Before the surgery I had no willpower but now I’ve lost the weight I’m desperate not to put it back on.”