A woman who dropped 8st after weight loss surgery has said she has developed a new eating problem after losing weight. Tisjana Woodward spent £3,500 on a sleeve gastrectomy in Turkey last April. But she says that following the procedure she can’t stop binge eating.
Ms Woodward said that her weight gain had a negative impact on her mental health while her polycystic ovaries meant it was hard for her to lose weight.
After the surgery, Ms Woodward’s weight dropped from 22st to 14st. Despite the success, Ms Wood said she started binge eating, causing her weight to fluctuate.
She also said that she often skips dinner and main meals, swapping them for snacks and cheese.
Ms Woodward said her problem was what is known as a “transfer addiction” where a person swaps one compulsive behaviour for another.
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Speaking to the Daily Star, Ms Woodward said: “Surgery is good, but it doesn’t cure everything. Transfer addictions are a massive thing.
“People don’t know about that and binging habits. Before you have a gastric sleeve you can eat and eat and eat. But when you’ve got one you can’t eat or you’ll be sick.”
A gastric sleeve, also known as a sleeve gastrectomy, is an operation where a large part of the stomach is removed so a patient can’t eat as much as they did before.
Ms Woodward had 85 percent of her stomach removed in the procedure, reducing her appetite.
She added that some patients can “turn to other addictions to try and replace it – like spending habits, smoking or other food habits”.
Ms Woodward added: “Before, my eating habits and portion sizes got really bad. I was pretty fed up with myself. I wasn’t happy. I’d just had enough.”
After her surgery, Ms Woodward was given a six-week diet plan but found she was overeating, making her ill.
She said: “I tried to force myself to eat and I was violently ill. I didn’t see a change for six months, I was losing weight by the scale but visually I couldn’t see anything. It took a long time to be able to see it.”
Ms Woodward added that her binge eating, just like her weight gain, has affected her mental health.
In an attempt to stop her new habit, Ms Woodward decided to start keeping a food journal and share her experiences on TikTok.
She said: “Nobody tells you what could happen, nobody tells you about transfer addictions. You’re never told by the surgeon, which I think is crazy. I don’t regret having the gastric sleeve.
“There are struggles and they’re part of the journey, but they need to be spoken about.”
