Man says weight made him anxious and short-tempered with his family, loses 50kg after surgery

Losing weight can have many benefits for your health.

But for one man, it also improved his relationship with his family.

Stomper Sanjeev, who lost 50kg after undergoing bariatric surgery, said: "Previously, my weight had led to issues with my wife and children, mainly due to my short temper caused by my self-anxiety.

"However, by learning to trust them and open up to them when I was vulnerable, I was able to escalate our relationship to a higher level.

"This unforeseen benefit of the surgery is just as important to me as the weight loss as losing weight while still being on bad terms with my family would simply be running away from my problems."

Bariatric surgery reduces the functioning capacity of the stomach, which results in a reduction in caloric intake.

Based on the Ministry of Health guidelines, bariatric surgery is an option if you have:

• a body mass index (BMI) more than 37.5 or
• a BMI more than 32.5 and obesity-related medical conditions such as type-2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnoea.

The Stomper, who is 1.64m tall, weighed around 130kg at his heaviest, which means his BMI was more than 48.

He had the surgery in 2015.

"The operation forced me to eat less due to my smaller stomach size and adapting to this change has been extremely challenging," said Sanjeev, 51.

"This has also taught me to appreciate food and enjoy every meal I have rather than wolfing it down for pleasure’s sake."

He told Stomp he reached his ideal weight of 61kg early this year.

"My confidence increased due to clothes fitting better and I was overall less self-conscious. This allowed me to give higher quality presentations and workshops, which is an integral part of my job, and thus engage with my audience better," said the Stomper, who works as a group compliance officer with a pharmaceutical company.

"I believe my story is a work-in-progress, with me overcoming many issues in my life at the same time acknowledging there are plenty of challenges left to face. Obesity may just be one issue that I have had to overcome.

"I hope my story inspires others by showing them there are many others struggling to face the same battles that they face and that these seemingly insurmountable challenges can indeed be overcome."