Mum ‘addicted’ to food for 30 years reveals why £10,500 gastric sleeve DIDN’T solve her problem – and reveals what DID

A mum has revealed how she managed to tackle a 30-year food addiction that even a gastric sleeve couldn’t fix – by retraining her brain.

When Michelle Geoghan had the drastic surgery at the Royal Derby Hospital, she knew it was a last resort to beat the “food monster” that compelled her to eat.

But while the £10,500 operation fixed her stomach and helped her lose weight, it did little to tackle the real problem: her relationship to food.

The mum from Brownhills in the West Midlands had been struggling with “shame and binge eating” for as long as she could remember.

It wasn’t until she ‘re-trained’ her brain that she finally felt free of the demons that had been plaguing her for decades.

“After losing over 10 stone from the surgery, I discovered I had an even harder battle to fight – my surgery fixed my stomach but could not fix my head,” the 51-year-old told What’sTheJam.com.

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“Gastric surgery is often seen as the ‘easy way out’.

“People think once you have surgery, your weight loss problem is ‘fixed’.

“My 30-year cycle of binge eating and shame didn’t just stop with surgery – in fact it made it even worse.

“As an emotional eater, my ‘food monster’ still compelled me to turn to food as a coping mechanism.”

Michelle weighed 20 stone at her heaviest; in April of 2022, she reached her lowest weight of 9st 1lbs – shedding over half her body weight.

But the mum to Abigail, 23, and partner to Richard Newton, 47, didn’t feel like it was enough, constantly criticising herself.

This stress saw her once again eat excessively but with the addition of “very destructive, self-harming behaviours” in a bid to stay slim after her 2020 gastric operation.

Michelle would binge on items such as chocolate bars, cakes, and sweets.

She then began abusing laxatives, over-exercising, and even making herself sick.

Michelle said: “My mum had left me the money that had paid for my gastric sleeve privately after she passed away in 2019, I pictured her being so disappointed in me.

“I was soon weighing every single thing that I ate and counting every calorie – I even had panic attacks around food.

“The people in my life knew I was counting calories and weighing food but didn’t realise how obsessive it had become.

“I did everything secretly.”

Thankfully, Michelle soon accepted that she needed help.

She tried to get treatment through her GP, as she had previously done way back in 2012, before concluding her best option was private treatment due to long waiting lists.

But then, while doing her own research, she stumbled upon Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT), which helps the brain cope better with triggers.

Her life has now changed completely.

Michelle is now a size 10 and her weight fluctuates around 10st.

Michelle said: “I didn’t realise that I had an eating disorder, but I knew that my weight was essentially ruling my life.

“I reached out to my private healthcare provider as they provided psychological support as well as the gastric surgery – I was told to let the feeling wash over me, distract myself and write a diary.

“Then one day, I was scrolling through Facebook and discovered BWRT, booking sessions with a coach, Anna Ferguson.

“After the sessions, I felt like I had my life back.

“I am very lucky that I found this method because, without this, I have no doubt that I wouldn’t be here today.

“Now it’s 2024 and I’m living a happy, healthy life.”

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