Gym manager, 34, reveals how she bounced back and had ‘a stone of flab cut off’ in cosmetic surgery operation
Claire Murray weighed 20st when she reached her thirties, but no amount of exercise was going to get rid of it
“‘WHAT a shame,’ the guy in the pub said to me. ‘You’d be pretty if you weren’t so fat.’ I tried to laugh, but I was dying inside.
"I knew he was right, but I guess I’d resigned myself to the fact that I would probably always be fat.
"As a child, I’d slowly piled on the pounds, constantly eating junk food and turning to crisps and sausage rolls for comfort if I felt lonely or sad.
"Although my parents and younger brother Jonathan were healthy and a normal weight, I’d always been different.
"By the time I turned 11, I weighed 13st and was bullied at school. I tried every diet I could – the apple-a-day diet, the bread-only diet – but nothing worked.
"When I reached my 30s, I realised things had to change. At 5ft 6in, I was 20st, a size 24 and sick of people making fun of me, like that guy in the pub in early 2013.
"Things came to a head a few months later, when a group of us decided to go to Turkey for a holiday.
"I cried my eyes out the night before and almost didn’t go because I was so terrified that I wouldn’t be able to get the seat belt around me on the plane. Enough was enough.
"When I got home, I joined a gym and started running every day on the treadmill. I built this up, and six months later I even ran a half-marathon. I was losing around 4lb a week, but in February 2016 my weight began to plateau. My body shape had changed and I was slimmer, but I still weighed 14st and I wasn’t dropping as much as I had at the beginning.
"I realised that part of the problem was the excess skin left around my stomach after losing the weight. No amount of exercising was ever going to get rid of it – it was like a big pouch.
"I went to my doctor, who said surgery was the only solution. I knew it was a major operation – I’d be at risk of death from excessive bleeding, plus loss of feeling in my tummy, and blood clots – but I was desperate.
"That June, I took eight weeks off from my job as a sales manager for a phone company and underwent private abdominoplasty surgery at BMI Albyn Hospital in Aberdeen. It cost £6,000, which I paid for mostly out of my savings, and my parents gave me the rest.
"My mum Avril, 56, was worried about the complications, so my dad Michael, 57, did his best to support us both as he knew how much it meant to me.
"During the six-hour procedure, surgeons removed over a stone of excess flab – slicing me upwards and downwards so that they could cut out the fatty flesh.
"When I woke up I felt numb, but soon I experienced awful pain came every time I moved. I had to keep a compression stocking on my torso for eight weeks to allow the hundreds of stitches to knit.
"It was hot, sweaty and painful whenever I moved, but after four weeks I was able to see the results when they checked my scars.
"Even though I looked horrific because I had a road map of thick purple scars all over my stomach, I cried with joy because it was the flattest I’d ever seen it.
"It made everything so worth it – my confidence went through the roof.
"Six weeks before the surgery I’d met Mark, 29, who works in tech support.
"He loves me for me, but has supported me all the way.
Factfile
Abdominoplasty, otherwise known as a tummy tuck, is the fifth most popular cosmetic surgery procedure worldwide.
Widely considered one of the most extreme plastic surgeries, it’s not generally available on the NHS.
The op involves surgeons cutting and lifting the skin and tightening the abdominal muscles below by sewing them together.
"Together we follow a healthy diet and I still exercise every day. I now work in a gym and am 12st – most of which is muscle – and a size 10-12.
"I used to live in baggy, dark T-shirts and leggings, but now I love skinny jeans, tight dresses and skirts.
"Losing weight and having surgery was the best thing I ever did.”
Photography: Robert Perry
Hair & make-up: Rhona Stewart
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