Woman who refused weight-loss surgery because she didn’t want to die sheds 17st and now unrecognisable

A woman who refused weight-loss surgery as she "didn’t want to die on the operating table and never meet her nephew" shed more than 17 stone. 

Maxine Wren, 39, was told she would be dead within one year if she didn't change her diet or have gastric bypass surgery.

She has now become Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2018.

After discovering her sister was pregnant, determined Maxine shed the pounds to go from a dress size 36 to an 8/10 in time for her wedding to hubby John.

She had ballooned to 27st 12lb at her heaviest but now weighs 10st 4½lbs.

The qualified nursery practitioner this week was crowned Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2018 at a glamorous event in central London.

Maxine, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, said:

I didn’t want to die on the operating table and never meet my nephew, so I decided to join Slimming World instead and I’m so glad I did.

Even though I knew people who had been successful with Slimming World, I was still petrified and it took me three weeks to actually walk through the doors. I worried the other members would stare at me or that I was so big I’d break the scales.

This was my last chance though and I had to do it. Everyone was really friendly so I had nothing to worry about and I lost a massive 12lbs in my first week – for the first time in my life I felt like there was light at the end of the tunnel.

The slimmer, who decided to tackle her flab in March 2013, ditched the greasy takeaways and convenience food for hearty homemade meals.

Words can’t describe how special it was to walk down the aisle more than half the woman I was.

For the first time in my life, when I look in the mirror I like how I look – and I felt like a princess on my wedding day, Maxine added.

Maxine has struggled with her weight since a very young age after being born with a rare bone disease, called Blount’s disease, which affected her mobility.