FIGHTING THE SUGAR RUSH

Bryony Bateman, 33, had to take drastic action to combat her sweet tooth

- MISHAAL KHAN, TIFFANY WALLIS

Skulking down the stairs at 1 am, I tiptoed into the kitchen and went straight to the cupboard, grabbing the family-sized bag of chocolate buttons. I ripped it open, shoving piece after piece into my mouth, polishing it off in 10 minutes. I listened for every sound and knew if my husband Neal, then 34, caught me, I’d say I was getting a glass of water. Every morsel tasted sensational and the rush of sugar-fed my fixation. Quietly, I crept back upstairs to bed, where Neal slept soundly, our four-year-old daughter Eva in her room next door. I carefully got under the covers, my family none the wiser about my midnight feast.

It was October 2018 and I was obsessed with sugar. From chocolate to doughnuts to Nutella-laden toast, I couldn’t get enough. Yet, I was hiding my addiction from my family, too ashamed to admit I had a problem. My weight gain had started suddenly in 2012 when I’d piled on 6st in just four months. I worried, knowing that something wasn’t right, and it left me depressed. Before, I’d weighed just over 10st and wore a 10-12, but when I went to the GP, my concerns were brushed aside and I was told to eat less and move more.

But by June, a lump bulged out of the right side of my neck and soon after, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Doctors said the cancer had been the trigger for my weight gain.

After an eight-hour operation to remove my thyroid, and radioactive iodine treatment in August, I was given the all-clear in March 2013.