There are people who are able to lose weight once they put their mind to it – they take up diets and work out and get back to fitness. For some people, this is not such an easy feat and it was not, for Holly Matherne. This 39 year old nurse has been on a lifelong combat with obesity since the age of six and says that she has been on every possible diet, nutritionists, has met with a lot of weight trainers and others. While she did lose some weight, it was always much less than what was desired and required and whatever weight she lost, she kept regaining.

Weighing 370 pounds last fall, she has decided that it is about time that she took things in control before she loses her capacity to live a full and enjoyable life. She decided to go for a sleeve gastrectomy which involves removal of her stomach to the most part. The process is pricey and irreversible.

The best part about this surgery according to her surgeon Dr. David Treen was is that it is effective in almost all the patients who opt for it, and most patients lose weight twice as fast as they would have otherwise. This according to doctors is the most apt option for patients whose weight is completely out of control.

The surgery takes about an hour to complete and there is very little shedding of blood. A portion of stomach forming almost about 85 percent is cut out and the rest is stapled. This also means that along with the portion of stomach that is being removed, a hormone called Ghrelin is also reduced drastically in levels once stomach has been stapled. This means that the patients never get hungry and so far any side effects are unknown, but the effects themselves are said to be astonishing.