Act Fast, Cut The Fat

Health researchers warn that being overweight can kill you, unless you do something about it, quickly.

- Cate Odera

On her own and in a foreign land, Khadija Iman Mohammed said goodbye to her past, signed a consent form and was wheeled into a theatre room to undergo a gastric bypass surgery in a hospital in India.

‘My mum wanted to accompany me, but that meant a few days delay and I was afraid that if I was given more time, I would change my mind,’ recalls Khadija.

She went in with little information on her procedure, ‘I didn’t do any research prior to booking my plane ticket or appointment in India. All I did was speak to Big Ted who had recently lost weight drastically after surgery.’

In 2017, at the age of 28, Khadija, who is 5ft 6 inches was a staggering 140 kilograms. ‘It’s not something that you realise is happening to you, especially if one is dealing with some of the things I was experiencing in my life,’ she says of her weight gain. Her doctor did not mince his words, he told Khadija, she was obese.

Obesity is increasingly becoming a cause for concern and medical practitioners the world over are now insistently pointing out the health risks that come with carrying extra weight including the acquistition of non-communicable diseases or worse, death.

‘I had difficulties walking and breathing. I also had dizzying spells and lacked confidence in myself, but the biggest impediment was the endometriosis. ’

Khadija explains that she was a healthy teenager. ‘I was sporty. I swam a lot and played rugby in high school. But when I went to university in Malaysia, I got too comfortable,’ she says. ‘When I went there, I was 75kgs. It was the whole party scene and living life up, that led to the weight gain,’ she states.

While in Malaysia she discovered that she had cysts caused by endometriosis. ‘I needed the cysts removed so my mother asked me to come back home to be close to my family during post-operation recovery.’