I hate all the pies

Fan loses 16st so she can watch Man Utd

By Gemma Calvert

SQUEEZING her 26-stone body into the turnstile, Man United fan Lisa Rea went redder than her XXXL team shirt as she realised her giant frame was firmly STUCK.

SLIM FIT: Lisa at the turnstile now

And when finally she forced her way through the turnstile, Lisa made herself a solemn vow...

"That was the moment for me when I thought ‘Enough is enough'. I had to get tough with myself and change my life for ever," said Lisa, 35.

Now, two years on, she has shed an incredible 16 stone and is a trim size 12.

She saves so much on food she can afford a season ticket for her beloved Manchester United and looks forward to pulling on her replica shirt—SIZE SMALL—on match days.

Lisa said: "Before, I couldn't even fit in the seat. I was squashed in uncomfortably against other supporters. It was so embarrassing.

"I'd get bruises because I'd force myself through the turnstile by wiggling about. The humiliation was indescribable."

Her size also had a devastating effect on Lisa's role as a mum to daughter Katie, now four.

She said: "I couldn't fit down the slide at the park and I once got stuck on a snail ride at a fun fair when I took Katie on a day out."

And her 44JJ bust was so big her little girl could use it to SHELTER from the rain.

Lisa's nightmare began when she was 18 and developed polycystic ovaries. She recalled "Until then I was very slim. But I started to put on weight. I literally put on ten stone in as many months.

"That was when they diagnosed polycystic ovaries. I'd go on diets, lose a bit of weight, then put it straight back on. When I got to 20 stone I gave up dieting. But I wouldn't eat all day and then I'd have a big tea because I was really hungry. Then by 8pm I'd want something else to eat. I ate most of my food at night.

"I never ate a lot though, believe it or not, but it was the wrong stuff. It would be pie and peas, with chips and gravy, or I'd get a takeout."

Lisa as she was with ex-hubby

Lisa was referred to a specialist. "The consultant said, ‘You're just fat and you eat too much'."

She then began experimenting with new diets.

"I was a walking dictionary of diets, I'd tried them all but nothing worked," she explained.

"I tried not eating, eating loads with WeightWatchers, I replaced meals with diet shakes and food combining but I never changed size. I thought I was fighting a losing battle."

Finally, desperate Lisa, a taxation officer, decided gastric bypass surgery was her last chance.

Sagging

The NHS refused to fund the surgery, claiming Lisa did not have health problems because of her size. But mentally Lisa was buckling.

"I knew that without the operation I would die —possibly by my own hand. I had contemplated suicide," said Lisa, from Worsley, Manchester.

She remortgaged her house and paid £11,500 to have her stomach stapled in January, 2006

Now she can only eat a quarter of a microwave meal for one before she feels full.

Thrilled with her new weight, Lisa, who split from husband Gino eight months after the op, is saving up for a boob job to give a lift to her sagging 32G chest.

She said: "I used to call them my puppies but now I joke that they look like spaniels ears."

She's confident she'll soon look as good up front as Man United.

But though she now has plenty of room in her seat in the ground, there's one place where she doesn't fit in—the fast-food stand.

"I see the other fans eating the pies and I feel physically sick. I don't miss fast food at all."