GEORGE’S RADICAL WEIGHT LOSS BID

DAWSON MP George Christensen has undergone radical gastric sleeve surgery overseas in a desperate bid to reduce his 176kg weight.

The outspoken North Queensland politician went under the knife in Malaysia on April 18 with the help of Australian company Absolute Beauty Asia.

He last night said he had already lost more than 5kg since the surgery and doctors expect him to lose 60 per cent of his body weight within a year.

During the surgery, 85 per cent of Mr Christensen’s stomach was removed.

“I felt like death warmed up in the days following the surgery but since then it’s been pretty good but there are aches and pains, as you would expect,” he said.

“The most confronting thing is sitting down eating a meal and you feel full after you’ve only had four or five tablespoons of food and you’re looking at a full plate and thinking ‘ what’s wrong with me?’.

“I didn’t want to do it but I felt I had to do it and I was literally wanting to grab the door of the surgery so the stretcher couldn’t go in.”

Doctors have told Mr C Christensen he will need to lo lose close to 100kg to reach his id ideal weight.

He will have the support of a dietitian for the next six months and he plans to use a personal trainer to kickstart h his exercise once he is fully recovered from the surgery.

The MP said he noticed his health deteriorating after breaking his ankle in a fall in 2013.

“Since then I felt the deteriorating health impacts of being drastically overweight or morbidly obese and I clocked 176kg prior to the operation,” he said.

“When you have reached my size, the weight loss from healthy eating is very slow going and the exercise is particularly difficult when you have suffered a broken ankle.”

The turning point came when Mr Christensen started noticing his weight and poor health was impacting on his role as Dawson MP.

Long days spent on the road eating at truck stops or grabbing takeaways while travelling had taken their toll.

He was struggling with low energy levels, high blood pressure and sleep apnoea.

“In the last year I realised it was having an impact on my job and getting around and doing stuff has gotten more and more difficult,” he said.

“It was just something that had to be done for my own health and to be able to do what I do as the Member for Dawson.

“If I wasn’t the member, I don’t know if I would have done it, which is a bit sad.”