Woman Shed 17 Stone After Refusing 'Risky' Surgery

A woman who refused weight-loss surgery because she 'didn't want to die on the operating table' has shed over 17 stone.

Doctors told 39-year-old Maxine Wren that she would die within a year if she didn't change her diet or have gastric bypass surgery.

Maxine decided to change her life when she discovered that her sister was pregnant, and she went from a dress size 36 to an 8/10 in time to wed her hubby, John.

"Even though I knew people who had been successful with Slimming World, I was still petrified and it took me three weeks to actually walk through the doors. I worried the other members would stare at me or that I was so big I'd break the scales.

"This was my last chance though and I had to do it. Everyone was really friendly so I had nothing to worry about and I lost a massive 12lbs in my first week - for the first time in my life I felt like there was light at the end of the tunnel."

Maxine decided to shed the weight in March 2013, ditching the takeaways for healthy homemade meals.

She got married just over three years later, in August 2016, and said: "Words can't describe how special it was to walk down the aisle more than half the woman I was.

"For the first time in my life, when I look in the mirror I like how I look - and I felt like a princess on my wedding day."

Speaking about Slimming World, she said: "It's not a diet because there's nothing you can't have and there's no need to go hungry.

"I've learned how to make the healthiest choices and can even eat out if I want to. My favourite dish has to be a Slimming World-style kebab, it's really satisfying and tastes so naughty but it's not at all.

"I hope I'm proof to people that there's never any amount of weight you can't lose.

"Everything's changed. I don't hide away anymore. I always say Slimming World didn't just save my life, it's given me life."