Season 4

Guy Poingdestre has lost an incredible 19 stone since he had a gastric bypass in 2007. He was literally eating himself to death. His life hit rock bottom - when due to a condition called sleep apnoea; suffered by obese people, he lost his job as a bus driver, which made his eating habits even worse as he was home all day. Four years later he is still losing weight and has now found love! He lives in Dorchester with his partner Brian, two cats, and two giant rabbits. He has just started driving buses again two days a week and is trying desperately to get funding for more surgery to remove the giant fat suit the surgery has left behind.
Irene Footer has been a weight watcher for the last 30 years and she's tried everything. With a BMI of 47, Irene is desperate to lose weight. Irene shows us her freezer, it's stocked high with small pots of her post-diet liquidized food which she has cooked with recipes from her cousin Carol's bariatric cookery book. As a lifelong food obsessive, how will she cope with her new tiny stomach?

Martin Gibbs has lost 18.5 stone. His food addiction has now been replaced with an addiction to fitness and exercise. He has just completed the London to Brighton bike ride. We join him as he gets measured for a new suit the tailor pulls out his previous pre-surgery measurements for the suit he had made for his sister's wedding. The difference is incredible.
Ian Whyte is fed up of being unable to do things because of his weight. Ian and his wife Sharon even had their 4 your old daughter Annabel through IVF because his weight had caused fertility issues. Now his biggest fear is that he won't see his daughter go to school. Ian gets NHS funding for a gastric bypass operation with Dr. Shaw Somers, he's been waiting for this for years. Will the gastric bypass change his life for the better?

At 28 stone Chris Webber is a life long dieter and his weight has been keeping him from meeting a woman. We catch up with Chris at his home in sunny Spain. His ambition is to take his children to a theme park, previously he'd always been too big to fit on the rides.
At 23 years old Rachel Barrass was weighing over 25 stone and had endured a life time of abuse and bullying. We revisit Rachel who is now a proud mother of 3. She ensures her children eat well, she doesn't want them to go through what she had endured. But how is her egg sized stomach holding up? We catch up with Rachel as she reflects on how the surgery has saved her life and how her four year old can eat more than her!

Andy Richardson and brother Paul have a combined weight of half a tonne! Andy, weighing an enormous 42.5 stone, undergoes weight-loss surgery. He is now less than half the man he was.
Julie Festusy, with a BMI of 70, is super morbidly obese. Carrying the excess weight has taken its toll on Julie's body. She urgently needs a knee replacement but for this operation, she's been told she'll need to lose 70% of her weight. A gastric bypass performed by Dr Shaw Somers is her only hope. She's also desperate to get back to Tanzania to see her husband, but at her current weight, she's unable to fit in an airplane seat. If she doesn't have the procedure she'll end up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Two patients have struggled with their weight since childhood. Helen is determined to lose half her weight, to make the simple things in life possible again. Sean had weight loss surgery just 9 months ago and has lost a staggering 14 stone.

At 19 stone Caroline Horlick is not only battling with her weight, she also has a large hernia. Caroline believes she cannot find a job because of her peculiar shape, the hernia sticks out so much she gets mistaken for being pregnant. She has been turned down for surgery many times. She is desperate. No one will operate on the hernia until she loses weight, and to lose weight she needs surgery. Surgeon Chris Pring offers her a gastric sleeve procedure but warns her it's going to be tricky and if the hernia ruptures in the meantime it will become an emergency life-threatening operation. Caroline is hoping it will hold out until her op day.
Gary Salmon is in urgent need of kidney transplant. His sister has offered him a kidney but at his current weight the procedure would be far too risky, so a gastric bypass to lose weight is his only hope. Will his Renal consultant be happy with his weight-loss so they can accept the kidney donated by Gary's sister and finally perform Gary's kidney transplant?

Dave is super morbidly obese. With a 6 foot 3 inch waist he's as wide as he is tall. He's hoping a gastric bypass will help him lose half his body weight.
Carol is a life long food obsessive, she's written over 80 cookery books, food was her life but since having a gastric bypass 18 months ago she's now lost over 6 stone and with rails and rails of clothes that no longer fit its time for a clear out.

60-year-old Margret Foster is about to become one of the oldest people in the country to have an obesity operation. "I think unless you've bee a dieter and had weight problems, you'll never understand a fat person."
And Luke Shepard, the school cook, who, since the operation to reduce the size of his stomach has lost a staggering 11 stone. " I'd be lying to you if I told everybody that it was easy. I hate the fact that people would think to themselves, oh he's had this surgery, that's fixed his problem. Because it doesn't. They can fix your stomach but they can't fix your head."

Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and for some, it can reduce fertility, and stand in the way of ever having children. This week, meet two patients who want children but must conquer their weight problem first. Jo wants to create a unique record of her journey towards a different body and greater fertility. And David, a 42 stone man finds the simplest tasks difficult has now become a dad.

On this episode: two couples whose lives have been blighted by chronic immobility. Tina is overweight, and suffers from severe arthritis, she even struggles to walk to the operating theatre. "This time next year, I could be in a wheelchair. For good." And Caroline, whose obesity has been compounded by a giant hernia. She's desperate to move again, like a normal person.