Emma's story

Before I had my children I was just eight stone. Then the weight piled on. I tried every diet. All the diets I went on just made it worse. I'd lose a stone, then pile it on again.

Going on a night out with friends or my partner Mark, I'd get so upset because of the clothes. At my biggest I was a size 22-24, but I'd buy a size bigger because I hated seeing all the bulges. I used to cry and get the hump – I really hated going out!

Then my friend's hairdresser was having a botox party and I went along. A friend said to me "You see Sarah over there," looking at this slim lady, " Sarah was a size 26 about eight months ago."

I got talking to Sarah and she said she'd had a gastric bypass. I'd always wanted a lap band, but Mark said, you can't just let anyone do it. Sarah told me about Mr Heath. I spent 2 hours talking to her, asking all kinds of questions, I completely forgot about the botox.

When I got home I was like a kid with a new toy cause I'd got Dugal's number! I phoned him and made an appointment. That was in the November. He said I could have it done in December, but I'm a hairdresser and we are so busy over Christmas. So I decided to go in January.

On the Friday I was due to go in to have my lap band operation, I did a full day's work then went in that night. I wasn't nervous, I was more excited, chatting away to all the people in the hospital. After the operation Dugal said to me "There are going to be days when you will hate me and days when you'll think I'm wonderful." And he was exactly right.

It's very hard at first getting your head around all the changes – what you can and can't eat. You're like a baby moving from liquids onto solids. Dugal was really supportive. When I thought I couldn't do it he said to me "Everybody goes through this you' will come through this. It will just take a little time" and we did.

I lost about a stone a month. Yesterday I weighed myself. I'm now 9 stone 8. I love going out to buy clothes. I'd always wanted to be able to just walk into shops and buy anything I wanted – clothes used to cost so much!

I'm so pleased - really pleased. I even recommended Dugal to someone in the hairdressers. He's a lovely man– every time I see him he just puts a smile on my face.

Sharon's story

I had a bypass 3 months ago so I'm still at the beginning of my journey. Here's my story so far... I've been big since my teens, and tried every diet. I even lost 7 ½ stone once. Then I put it all back on – and an extra stone too. When you get to being "morbidly obese", all the diets, all the pills and all the potions just don't work any more. There were times when I felt really desperate.

Last Summer I hit rock bottom. I put on so much weight through my pregnancy that I had a really difficult birth. I was totally exhausted. I weighed 26 stone and 9lb. I couldn't play with my baby. I couldn't even walk and I'd been such an independent lady. I was practically bedridden. I thought "I'm going to end up dying if I don't have this operation done."

I saw a surgeon on the National Health Service and although I qualified for surgery, I would have had to wait years to have the operation. Mr Heath was recommended to me by a friend who'd had a band fitted.

Whereas the doctor I saw in the National Health Service had made me feel like a failure, Mr Heath made me feel hopeful. He didn't pull any punches. He said it was going to be hard. But he made me feel I could do it.

The staff at the hospital were lovely – really supportive. Right after the operation I felt so weak and "I thought what have I done?" Now I don't regret a minute of it. In the three months since surgery my life has changed.

For a start how I felt about food three months ago and how I feel about it now are completely different. And this is where the gastric bypass has worked where everything else has failed. Before the operation I never felt full.

Now half a small ready-meal, or a small handful of cornflakes is enough. I just don't feel hungry. My cravings for something sweet are satisfied with just the smallest sliver of cake – like a tiny finger – and that's enough. I'm eating meals the same size as my 2½ year old daughter.

So far I've lost 5 stone. My life is so different. I can now sit on the grass in the sun and play with my little girl. Today they asked me to look after the children at her kindergarten and I could actually run after the kids.

I'm still getting used to thinking of myself as smaller. I try to buy size 32 clothes and my Mum has to tell me "You're not that big any more."

I'm so grateful to Mr Heath. I feel like now I can be a normal person with a normal life. So far, three month's down the line, I have to say, it feels like the best thing I've ever done.