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Woman crowdfunds for surgery to remove 15lbs of excess skin after shedding 12 stone
7 August 2019, 15:54 | Updated: 7 August 2019, 15:58
Steff Kent, 32, is asking strangers for help after losing 12 stone following a gastric bypass
A woman is pleading with the public for help raising money for surgery to remove the excess skin she was left with following getting a gastric band fitted.
Steff Kent, 32, lost a whopping 12 stone after the surgery - but has also been left with 15lbs of excess skin.
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She is now crowdfunding to try and raise £15,000 needed for the £17,000 surgery to remove the skin, and set up a GoFundMe to help.
At her heaviest, Steff, who is from Dorset, weighed 32 stone - and spent 10 years trying to lose the weight on her own.
She finally managed to shift the weight after having a gastric band fitted in December of last year - but she has been left with "painful" excessive skin that "bounces" whenever she moves.
Writing on her GoFundMe, Steff said: "Having the skin removed would be life changing.
"I've spent my entire life getting gradually bigger regardless of the effort I've put into exercise or dieting."
She added: "I have never been slim, been able to wear a skirt or shorts without feeling horrific or getting dirty looks or comments made.
"Being able to not feel like the biggest person in the room, being able to look in the mirror and like what I see will change my life.
"I have always been overweight. When I was 2-years-old I weighed 2 stone, at 10-years-old I weighed 10 stone.
"I’ve had people shout “run fatty” half way round a marathon from a pub bench whilst drinking beer."
Steff claims that she would regularly run marathons, despite being clinically obese.
She said: "Even at that weight I was running and exercising as much as I could.
"I had run several marathons in the previous years, was going to gym several times a week, swimming and working a job on my feet anything up to 18 hours a day at times but even when I told people this they told me I must be lying.
"I was constant battle of having to take medals in to show the doctors or photographs of me taken during a run.
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"I showed them my fitness logs just to try and get them to believe me, often to be told I could have purchased the medal on eBay. I'd show them food logs and food diaries only to be told I must be lying."
Steff added that she still feels insecure about her body because of the weight loss, saying: "Under my stomach and the top of my legs get sore and wobble with every step.
"I get a rash on the skin on my arms. I can’t really run anymore exercise wise due to the pain of the bouncing skin.
"At night I wake up due to pain in my neck and shoulders which means I constantly have zero energy.
"I don’t like wearing short sleeves as my arms literally flap. You can also hear my legs clapping together as I walk which is embarrassing."
Steff has raised £360 of her £15,000 goal. You can visit her GoFundMe here.
