Food addict, 35, who spent £420 a week on takeaways sheds 13 stone

Starting the day with two double sausage and egg McMuffins wasn’t doing Tammy Jones’ bank balance any favours – nor her waistline. 

The Wolverhampton mother-of-two, 35, weighed 23st 10lbs (332lbs/150kg) at her heaviest, wore a size 32, and needed a walking stick to get around. 

She said: ‘I spent £60 a day on takeaways because I was having them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

‘I’d order £40 of Chinese food with salt and pepper ribs, chow mein, chicken balls and chips, then I’d eat the leftovers the next morning.

‘I was drinking double the recommended amount of calories just in Coke.

‘I was self-employed and worked from home because I had no confidence to go out, and I was walking with a stick at 31.’ 

However, after a series of health scares, she was inspired to take charge of her life, and after having a £3,500 gastric sleeve operation in Turkey, she has since shed a huge 13 stone (182lbs/82kgs).

Gastric sleeve surgery is a type of bariatric (weight loss) surgery which involves removing a large part of the stomach, so it is much smaller than it was before.

It is offered on the NHS, but only to people who meet strict criteria; they must be obese and have tried all other weight loss methods without success.

By reducing the size of the stomach, patients are not able to eat as much, and furthermore their hunger is satiated sooner. 

This reduction in calories—which is substantial compared to their pre-op life—can lead to weight loss. 

And cutting out the daily McMuffins alone would have reduced Ms Jones’ calorie intake by over 1,000 calories. 

The NHS advises that adult women eat 2,000 calories per day, and no more than 20g of fat – and there’s around 34g of fat PER double McMuffin.  

Before her life-changing op, Ms Jones was a self-confessed ‘food addict’ who spent her days constantly thinking about her next meal – and she estimates she spent £420 every week on fulfilling her appetite’s desires.

A typical day would include two double sausage and egg McMuffins, four hash browns and a hot chocolate for breakfast, followed by four Greggs pasties and two sausage rolls for lunch.

Dinner was a Chinese takeaway with all the trimmings, washed down with 10 litres of Coke.

But in 2021, after previously being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, she developed pneumonia and came close to death due to her weight pressing down on her lungs.

In September 2022, she flew to Turkey to have gastric sleeve surgery, using the money she used to spend on takeaways.

She said: ‘When I got pneumonia, my lungs were being crushed by my weight.

‘I could have died, and it was petrifying.

‘My brother and husband helped me to pay for the surgery, on top of the money I used on takeaways, because they thought they were going to lose me.

‘The recovery wasn’t easy.

‘Food is an addiction like alcohol and drugs; it was mentally exhausting.

‘I had no choice but to get past that because my stomach was 20% smaller than before.’

The stay-at-home mother now weighs 11st 4lbs and wears a size eight.

Ms Jones has continued to reinvest her junk food cash into her health. In August 2024 she began using £150-a-month Mounjaro jabs, which helped her lose an extra four stone.

She also splashed out a further £7,500 on a breast lift and tummy tuck in September this year. 

Ms Jones’ weight struggles started after she had her first child at 17.

She said: ‘I’ve always been a yo-yo dieter, and I’ve always been a big girl.

‘When I had my first daughter, I couldn’t lose the weight.

‘I’ve tried every diet you can think of, Slimming World, Weight Watchers and Cambridge.

‘I’d lose a stone, then decide to treat myself.

‘Now, I’ll buy a treat bag of chocolate buttons, put them in a freezer bag, and if I get a craving for something sweet, I have six.

‘I’ve swapped bagels for bagel thins, and I weigh everything, including condiments.

‘And I only eat light mayo because I love mayo.’

Ms Jones says the weight loss has transformed her life.

She’s reversed her diabetes diagnosis and is going on holiday to Tunisia in June, where she’ll wear a bikini for the first time in years.

She said: ‘Life is so different. I can take my kids to the theme park.

‘When I was bigger, I wouldn’t have even risked going on a ride.

‘Now, I can be confident to queue up for a ride at a theme park and know that I can get on it.

‘My confidence is through the roof.

‘I don’t have to lock myself away, and I was pinching myself when I first bought a size eight top.

‘Before the weight loss, I wouldn’t have even booked a holiday to Tunisia.

‘But I can wear a bikini and not cover up, and I’m so excited.

‘I used to dread summer, and I used to cancel on my own family parties.

‘I can look forward to them now.

‘People don’t recognise me. I was in the supermarket the other day, and I bumped into a woman I grew up with.

‘Her daughter was saying, ‘Mum, it’s Tammy’.

‘She said, “Oh my God, I didn’t recognise you at all”.

‘It feels so good.’