• Bek Godden was 22 when she realised her weight had spiraled out of control
  • The Gold Coast-based woman gorged on sweets and junk food in front of the TV
  • After being diagnosed with hypertension she knew something had to change
  • She underwent Gastric Sleeve Surgery but insists it was a very difficult decision to make.

Bek Godden’s unhealthy eating habits began as a child, where her parents never made her eat vegetables and soda was like “water” in their household.  But despite the 25-year-old’s major sweet tooth, her weight was never really an issue because unhealthy food was always balanced with competitive tennis practice.

“My poor eating habits that had always been there really only caught up with me once I left school and I wasn’t exposed to regular exercise or sport,”

After piling on the weight and ballooning to 255 lbs at her heaviest, Bek has since shed a staggering 136 lbs and now no longer recognizes herself.  After moving out of home she was able to sit in front of the TV uninterrupted and gorge on skittles, jelly beans, chocolate, sugary cereals and family sized Twisties.   There was no-one around to account for her overeating but herself, and that’s when things spiralled out of control. “My turning point would definitely be after I was diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) and I became aware that I had put on weight,” she said.

“However when I started regularly exercising and eating healthy, after a couple of months, I hadn’t lost any weight.” At 22 the young woman – who was then 255 lbs – decided to speak to a doctor, quizzing them on why she hadn’t been able to shed the pounds. They told her that due to her hypertension she would struggle to get fitter because she couldn’t exercise as rigorously as she had in the past. It was putting too much pressure on her heart.

“I was suffering palpitations quite frequently and was at risk of a heart attack. I was 22 at that point and that was terrifying,” she said. ‘That’s when I knew I had to do something drastic to get my life back on track.” After exhausting every type of diet and exercise regime she could, Bek’s only option left was to explore Gastric Sleeve Surgery. “I actually did have a few people tell me they thought it was the easier way out and “no one should resort to surgery just to lose weight”,” she said. ‘But until you’re faced with your own mortality because of your weight, you’ve tried everything else with little to no result, it’s hard to imagine being so desperate to want to resort to removing 80 per cent of your stomach just to save your own life. “If anything I have told people to avoid this surgery unless they have exhausted EVERY other option as it has been by far the most difficult thing I have EVER done in my life.”

“You unfortunately don’t wake up post operation and you’re skinny and just eat less. “You still have to put in the work to lose the weight and you still very much have the same “fat” mentality as you had before the surgery. “For example, I would still want to eat the same portions, and because I could eat so little, I completely lost my passion and desire for food.”

She recommends those wanting to pursue the same surgery option have a mental health plan in place with their doctor, in case the recovery takes its toll. Eighteen months since the surgery Bek has lost 136 lbs and is now a comfortable size six at 119 lbs.

“I don’t stick to a diet as I don’t want to limit myself or risk falling back to a place where food is dominating my life so I just make sure I make healthy choices,” she said. ‘There is always a healthy alternative when making meals and its just about being creative and planning ahead. ‘As far as exercise I mainly attend gym classes (body pump, RPM and boxing classes are my favorites) as I find the structure and guidance forces me to push myself more and I definitely feel more accomplished after a class workout. “Sometimes it takes me a minute when people ask me what size I am,” she said, explaining that she doesn’t even recognize herself.

Her excess skin is made “more apparent” if she lapses on the workouts and she can only eat a maximum of one cup of food at a time, but she’s slowly getting used to her new body.