January 25, 2019

Sharon Osbourne: Surgery and a healthy attitude to achieve weight loss – Five people you may not know have had weight loss surgery

In her late 30s Sharon Osbourne was, by her own admission, “a 16-stone puffball”.   She described an unhealthy relationship with food, and as she struggled with depression she ate more and more to help combat her feelings. Leading the “rock n’ roll” lifestyle alongside her husband Ozzy also resulted in consuming lots of junk food whilst on the road and her weight  yo-yo’d up and down as she over ate then crash dieted.

Having spent years struggling to get her weight under control and after suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, congestive heart failure and depression, in 1999 she had a laparoscopic surgery to fit a gastric band. This type of surgery is where an adjustable band is fitted around the top of your stomach making your stomach hold less food, and resulting in you feeling fuller quicker. The aim of this being to reduce someone’s weight.

Sharon Osbourne is reported to have lost in the region of eight stone following her gastric band surgery and went from a size 22 weighing 16 stone to a size 10 weighing eight stone.

After the surgery - the psychological struggles

Despite gastric band surgery and clear weight loss, Sharon Osbourne highlights the problems many people face.  Psychologically, she had not dealt with the reasons why she was over eating in the first place, and years later she confessed to ‘over eating’ causing her extreme pain and (on occasion) vomiting. This culminated in a bingeing lifestyle.

In 2006, she had the band removed and tried alternative methods of weight loss including talking therapy and diet/lifestyle changes. Looking back on her experience, Sharon said she felt like a “cheat” undergoing weight loss surgery, instead of conquering the root cause of her problems and adopting a healthy lifestyle to achieve her desired weight loss.

Now, Sharon is an advocate of diets and regular exercise and particularly favours the Atkins diet. She offers practical advice to others struggling with their weight and offers these top tips:

  1. Choose a diet plan that suits your social life – instead of opting for severely restricted calorie diets, perhaps consider a plan that can be worked in with eating out in restaurants.
  2. Find healthy snack alternatives that you still enjoy and look forward to in between meals
  3. Focus on day to day benefits, not just the number on the scales, such as having more energy and sleeping better

Revisit us on Monday to hear how Vanessa Feltz battled with the psychological struggles of weight gain and what drove her to undergo weight loss surgery.

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