Saturday, August 26, 2006
The 34-stone teenager - BBC News
Fewer dieters are as honest about their weakness as Bethany. "It's will-power. I tried all the diets with the help of the hospital."
As she needs to lose at least 20 stone (127kg) to reach a healthy weight for her 5'6" (168cm) frame, that requires an awful lot of will-power, strenuously applied over a number of years.
"You lose your will-power really. Food comforted me; it made me feel better. When you are feeling low, and something makes you feel better, you're going to want to keep doing it," explains the soft-spoken 19-year-old from her Lincoln home.
...
One patient in 100 dies from weight-loss surgery, so it's a risky procedure. Bethany decided it was a risk worth taking after her doctors warned her that without it, she'd most likely be dead by the age of 30.
The operation is starting to have an effect, but still Bethany's weight is killing her. Her heart is overloaded, her periods have stopped as her body overproduces oestrogen, and she risks developing a raft of diseases such as diabetes. She doesn't go to the cinema because she can't fit in the seats. "I'm all right with doorways but I still worry about it - what if, you know?"
...
She's self-conscious about walking or exercising, finding it embarrassing that others can hear her getting out of breath.
Nor is this helped by the stares and catcalls that accompany every outing - Bethany's size has made her public property.
"People stare at you, you get glares, you get children saying 'Mummy, why's she like that?' They just chuck everything at you - throw abuse from across the street."
"If someone had been particularly horrible to me, like a drunken person across the street shouting 'Oi you fat bitch' [she giggles to take the obvious sting out of the memory], I'd feel so low that I'd just go to the corner shop and buy two or three packets of sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink."
So what does she do now to make herself feel better? "I hug my mum. That helps."
Fewer dieters are as honest about their weakness as Bethany. "It's will-power. I tried all the diets with the help of the hospital."
As she needs to lose at least 20 stone (127kg) to reach a healthy weight for her 5'6" (168cm) frame, that requires an awful lot of will-power, strenuously applied over a number of years.
"You lose your will-power really. Food comforted me; it made me feel better. When you are feeling low, and something makes you feel better, you're going to want to keep doing it," explains the soft-spoken 19-year-old from her Lincoln home.
...
One patient in 100 dies from weight-loss surgery, so it's a risky procedure. Bethany decided it was a risk worth taking after her doctors warned her that without it, she'd most likely be dead by the age of 30.
The operation is starting to have an effect, but still Bethany's weight is killing her. Her heart is overloaded, her periods have stopped as her body overproduces oestrogen, and she risks developing a raft of diseases such as diabetes. She doesn't go to the cinema because she can't fit in the seats. "I'm all right with doorways but I still worry about it - what if, you know?"
...
She's self-conscious about walking or exercising, finding it embarrassing that others can hear her getting out of breath.
Nor is this helped by the stares and catcalls that accompany every outing - Bethany's size has made her public property.
"People stare at you, you get glares, you get children saying 'Mummy, why's she like that?' They just chuck everything at you - throw abuse from across the street."
"If someone had been particularly horrible to me, like a drunken person across the street shouting 'Oi you fat bitch' [she giggles to take the obvious sting out of the memory], I'd feel so low that I'd just go to the corner shop and buy two or three packets of sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a fizzy drink."
So what does she do now to make herself feel better? "I hug my mum. That helps."
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