‘We bought each other surgery for Xmas–sex is amazing now!
Jodie Coleman and fiancé Mark Harwood have lost 20st – and it’s put the spark back into their romance
Last year, Jodie Coleman and Mark Harwood tipped the scales at a whopping 44st. But after buying each other gastric bypass surgery for Christmas, they look and feel like a different couple – so much so that friends and family barely recognise them.
Jodie, 35, and fiancé Mark, 40, had tried several diets since getting together 11 years ago. But when Mark’s mum died in 2014, the pair realised they desperately needed to do something about their weight.
Mark found a clinic in Lithuania to perform a gastric bypass op – and, as Jodie wanted one too, they agreed to pay for each other’s surgery as an early Christmas gift.
BEST GIFT
Since then, they’ve lost an incredible 20st between them. Jodie has gone from 18st to 7st 7lb, while Mark has dropped from 26st 7lb to 16st.
Mum-of-three Jodie, from Norfolk, says, “It’s the best gift we could have got each other. Christmas used to be all about food for us. We’d lay on a huge buffet for ourselves – you could have fed about 30 people with the amount of food we’d buy.
“This year, the gastric bypasses mean we’ll have small portions. Probably just a roast potato, a bit of turkey, half a pig in blanket and a small amount of veg. It won’t be a feast – but it’s worth it!”
Jodie, who works in sales and has Brooke, 12, from a previous relationship, and Lochlan, eight, and Fletcher, six, with Mark, had been slim as a teenager. But after having children, her weight crept up, and by the time she met Mark in 2008, she was a size 16. At
5ft 4in and weighing 14st 7lbs, she was classed as obese.
WILLPOWER
She says, “Mark was big too, and loved food as much as me. We were bad influences on each other. We’d have a huge fry-up for breakfast, a big lunch like fish and chips, and then we’d get an Indian takeaway for dinner with all the trimmings, such as extra rice, naan breads and samosas. And we’d always have something sweet afterwards.
“After a couple of years, my weight had crept up to 18st.
And Mark, who is 6ft, weighed 26st 7lb and had to wear 6XL T-shirts. As we got bigger, we hated going out as we felt people were staring at us. It was tough on the children, as their friends said things like, ‘Your dad’s really fat.’ It was heartbreaking.
“There were problems everywhere we went, especially at Christmas – we had to skip the children’s nativity plays because we couldn’t sit on the small seats, or even just stand at the back. And pantomimes were a no-no for the same reason. Every now and then, we’d try to diet, but our lack of willpower – and our love of takeaways – meant we’d fall off the wagon.”
Matters came to a head in January 2014. Mark’s mother, Susan, died after a battle with cancer. She’d been big most of her life, despite having an NHS gastric bypass in 2009. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and her death made Mark confront his own mortality.
He couldn’t walk far without getting out of breath and his GP warned him several times that he needed to lose weight because he was putting his heart under strain. So, he began researching gastric surgery and decided to go privately to skip the NHS waiting time, which is now three years.
Jodie says, “When he told me he was doing it, I decided to go too – I didn’t want to be the only fat one! Like Mark, I couldn’t walk upstairs without getting out of breath and my knees always ached. I felt at least 20 years older than I was.”
Mark found a hospital in Lithuania and, for both of them to go, it cost £11k – which they decided to give to each other as an early Christmas present.
NEW LIFE
The couple flew to Lithuania in August 2018. Jodie says, “We’d heard horror stories about surgery overseas, so we did our homework. When we found a surgeon in Lithuania who trained British surgeons, we knew we were in safe hands.
“It was expensive, but it was the most perfect gift to each other. We knew it
would give us a new lease of life.”
Mark was taken down to theatre first, followed by Jodie an hour later, where surgeons operated to permanently reduce the size of their stomachs. Hours later, they came around from the anesthetic in a private ward and, the following day, they were discharged back to their hotel room to recover. And a few days later they were given the green light to fly home.
Jodie says, “We felt sore but we were excited. The weirdest thing was not knowing what to do with ourselves – cooking and eating had taken up so much of our time before. Now we could only manage purée and soups and had no appetite at all.”
Slowly, they began reintroducing small portions of solid foods into their diet. By last Christmas, they’d already lost 3st each and were able to manage a small dinner.
TRANSFORMED
Jodie says, “We both felt amazing. We didn’t exchange gifts because we’d already given each other the best present possible – new bodies!”
By January this year, the pair had lost enough weight to feel confident enough to join a gym – and, since then, their bodies have transformed even more.
Jodie says, “I was worried about loose skin, but I’ve toned up nicely.”
She shrank to an incredible 7st 7lb and a size 6 to 8, and Mark to 16st. And there’s also been an unexpected bonus.
Jodie admits, “Our sex life was virtually non-existent before. We’d do it occasionally, but neither of us felt sexy being so big – now it’s amazing!
“It might sound odd, but when we get undressed at night it feels like we’re cheating on each other because we both look so different. We fancy each other like mad and I can’t keep my hands off him. The sex really is better than ever.”
Now, the couple – who have been engaged for ten years – are thinking about setting a date for their wedding. Jodie says, “Neither of us could bear the thought of getting married when we were obese. The thought of shopping for a wedding dress or walking down the aisle filled me with dread. There’s nothing holding us back now. Our kids are thrilled and tell us weekly that they love their new mummy and daddy.”
Jodie is so pleased with her new look and lifestyle that she’s started a business helping others to travel abroad for surgery.
She says, “For some people it isn’t as simple as just eating less – they need extra help. Mark and I definitely did and it’s made a huge difference to our lives.
“We’re looking forward to this Christmas, though we have no idea what to get each other – we’ll never be able to top buying each other brand new bodies.”
WE FANCY EACH OTHER LIKE MAD AND I CAN’T KEEP
MY HANDS OFF HIM!