Surgery Diary – Day 5, Part 4
A Personal Reflection
Lying here in a hospital bed in Turkey 🇹🇷, slightly sore, stitched, stapled and wrapped up like a human parcel, I’ve had plenty of time to think.
And when I look back at where I started, it honestly feels like remembering a completely different person.
Not that long ago my life was ruled by:
✅️Type 2 diabetes.
✅️High blood pressure.
✅️Tiredness.
✅️Tablets.
✅️More tablets.
✅️And then a few more for good measure.
I was carrying around a pharmacy in my pocket and a mountain on my back.
At my heaviest I was 22 stone.
That’s 308 lbs.
That’s 139.7 kg.
Today I sit at 9 stone.
126 lbs.
57.2 kg.
Total weight lost:
13 stone.
182 lbs.
82.5 kg.
Let that sink in for a moment. I’ve lost the equivalent of a fully grown adult human.
Clothing sizes tell the story even louder:
I've went from a 4XL top to a small.
From a 48-inch waist to a 26/28-inch waist.
Even funnier, I now fit comfortably into women’s sizes I never imagined in my life:
From a womans size 28 to a perfect size 10.
That isn’t a diet.
That isn’t a phase.
That’s a complete life rebuild.
Three years ago I was heading down a road that ends early.🧟♂️ ⚰️
✅️Diabetes worsening, ✅️blood pressure climbing,
✅️energy gone, ✅️confidence destroyed.
✅️moral shattered
✅️self worth gone
✅️accepting a disease
Then I made a decision.
❌️No magic.🪄
❌️No miracle cure.
✅️Just fasting,
✅️discipline,
✅️mindset change,
✅️better habits
✅️medical support when needed, 🩺💉💊🏥
✅️relentless consistency. Day after day. Month after month.
The surgery🔪 I’ve just had isn’t about vanity. It’s about finishing what I started. After losing that amount of weight, excess skin is inevitable. No gym in the world fixes that.
So this operation is the final step in a journey that saved my life.
From illness to health.
From medication to freedom.
From hiding from mirrors to finally recognising the man looking back.
None of this happened by accident. And none of it happened alone. My wife Lady-Jacqueline Braid stood beside me through every pound lost, every tough day, every wobble and every victory.
Right now I’m slightly sore, bruised, stitched, stapled; tired, and healing.
But I’m also proud.
Proof that it’s never too late to change the story.
And this new chapter is only just beginning.
And to my wife Jacqueline, the truth is simple. None of this would have happened without you. You believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, stood beside me through every hard day, every doubt, every pound lost, and every step of this journey.
Your patience, strength, humour, and love kept me going when I wanted to quit. You didn’t just support a transformation, you lived it with me.
I owe you my life in some dramatic way, but I do owe you the life I have rebuilt, because you helped me find it again. And for that, I will always be grateful.❤️❤️
