A family-of-four have lost 44-stone between them after undergoing gastric bypass surgery on the NHS.
Craig and Denise Watson and their two daughters Rebecca, 24, and Rachel, 21, all had their free surgeries within a six-month period.
News of their expensive operations, which could have cost taxpayers up to 40,000 for the Watson family, comes after surgeons claimed performing gastric operations could save the NHS money in the long run.
Drastic action: The Watson family from Sheffield have lost a combined 44st after all undergoing gastric bypass surgery on the NHS
The Watsons say they had tried everything to lose weight including joining a gym and consulting health professionals before they went to their GP.
Mrs Watson, 45, began putting on weight after giving birth to her first daughter and was unable to shed the pounds.
After her weight ballooned to 19-and-a-half stone in 2009 she decided to take drastic action.
She told BBC Radio Sheffield: ‘I went to the doctors and I was told that I wasn’t heavy enough to be considered for gastric surgery.
‘I deliberately put a stone-and-a-half on to be able to be considered for the operation.’
Her overweight husband was told he qualified for a gastric band because he also had high blood pressure and arthritis.
All the family’s stomachs were made smaller through keyhole surgery.
Mr Watson’s weight dropped from 29 stone to 20 stone and his wife of 26 years saw hers plummet by eight stone.
Mrs Watson’s dropped eight dress sizes to a size 16 and her husband’s waist size was reduced from 58ins to 40ins.
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