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Fourteen stone lost after £3k procedure
The Gazette
|August 18, 2025
A SIZE 28 junk food addict who ate two McDonald’s breakfasts a day says even her family doesn’t recognise her after losing 14 stone - thanks toa £3,000 gastric sleeve.

Paige Vickers, who tipped the scales at 23st, said she was mercilessly mocked at school and dubbed a ‘whale’ by cruel bullies for being ‘on the bigger side’
Caught in a vicious cycle of bingeing and dieting, the 25-year-old piled on the pounds from eating takeaways, crisps and chocolates. On the days she didn’t have McDonald’s for breakfast, she would instead grab her food from Greggs.
Yo-yoing between 2Ist and 23st, Paige tried diet and exercise regimes to ditch the pounds but was unsuccessful. Struggling with how she looked, the 5ft 4in retail worker researched weight-loss surgery in Turkey and took the plunge, booking in the gastric sleeve op for June, 2024.
A little over a year on, Paige has lost a 14 stone and now weighs 9st 12lbs - slimming down from a size 28 to asize 10.
Unbelievable photos show Paige's transformation a year apart next to her partner, Matthew Wilkinson, 25, looking like a completely different person.
This story is from the August 18, 2025 edition of The Gazette.
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