Woman who quit at 19th place says she’ll do it again despite losing an organ

A woman who ate 10 bars of chocolate a day shed 19 stone thanks to surgery and would do it again – despite losing her gall bladder to complications. Martha McCarthy, 32, tipped the scales at 29kg before undergoing gastric bypass surgery in Estonia in August 2021.

Her weight ballooned from years of “secret eating” – consuming up to 4,000 calories every night when she was alone in her room. Martha had a “sweet tooth” and would drink up to seven cans of Diet Coke a day, followed by chocolate bars.

At her oldest, she had to order clothes specially made to fit her size 28 to 30. When a five-minute walk to the store left her “crying in agony,” she decided it was time to make a change.

Martha did her research and found a weight loss clinic in Estonia and paid nearly £5,200 (€6,100) for flights, hotel and surgery. The surgery was a success and the weight came off – with her shedding a whopping 19st 9lbs and down to 9st 5lbs and a slim size 14.

Unfortunately, she suffered health complications after the operation – including a leaky gut and gallstones. Despite numerous trips to St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, and having her gall bladder removed, Martha was operated on again “in a flash”.

The trainee optician, from Bray, Ireland, said: “The operation was done correctly – I just had a bad reaction to it. But I would do it again 100 times over, no questions asked.

“I’d rather have these health problems than the ones I had from being overweight. I’m so much better – it’s changed my life.”

Martha started putting on weight in her mid-20s after she started working full-time and allowed herself to afford takeaways and nights out. You often skip breakfast, have a deli sandwich for lunch, followed by food for dinner.

But the self-confessed secret eater said she’ll consume most of her calories while single. While working in a hotel, Martha would sneak a “toilet break” to eat sausages from the breakfast buffet.

At night, she ate chocolate and other snacks in her room – eating between 3,000 and 4,000 calories each night. Martha – who was living with her family at the time – said her relatives were always “worried” about her diet.

She said: “I hide a lot of packaging but my family knew I was eating badly in secret. Chocolate was my favorite and I didn’t care what I ate, I took whatever was offered.

“I would also drink a lot of empty calories like milkshakes and coffee with lots of syrup and cream. Martha suffered from high blood pressure and sleep apnea – when a person stops breathing during sleep. She’s tried various diets over the years, but found “Nothing worked” for her.

She was even prescribed Ozempic – a drug that suppresses your appetite – but was forced to stop after feeling constantly nauseous.

During the 2020 national lockdown, Martha “barely left the house” and continued to gain weight. When going to the shops became too difficult, she decided to make a change.

“I was crying in the aisle because my knees hurt so bad,” Martha said. “I got fed up so I started researching weight loss surgery and found a clinic abroad.”

The procedure involved reducing the size of the stomach and passing food into a small pouch in the intestine. On her return to the UK, Martha watched the weight “fall off” – shedding 10 stone in nine months.

But the rapid weight loss left Martha with a catalog of health problems, including gallstones. She has been hospitalized several times in recent years due to internal stomach ulcers, hernias and a leaky gut.

Despite these complications, Martha is happy with the results of her surgery and is currently saving for skin removal surgery. Martha said: “I used to think surgery was the easy way out, but it’s definitely not. You always read about success stories or total failures – but I’m somewhere in between.

“I’m proof that there can be complications afterwards and I want to be completely transparent about the process. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but I have absolutely no regrets.”