{"id":3390,"date":"2025-04-06T08:56:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T08:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/3390\/"},"modified":"2025-04-06T08:56:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T08:56:15","slug":"i-spent-6000-on-weight-loss-surgery-and-lost-9-stone-but-there-was-a-major-downside-i-didnt-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/3390\/","title":{"rendered":"I spent \u00a36,000 on weight-loss surgery and lost 9 stone – but there was a major downside I didn’t expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman who spent \u00a36,000 (AUD$13,000) on\u00a0surgery to shed over 9 stone in weight has opened up about losing her jealous friendship group after getting her ‘dream’ body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma Roma Jayne, 24, who lives in the Sunshine Coast, Australia, grew up ‘super fit and healthy’ and had an active childhood and would often play a lot of netball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, things quickly changed when she tore her ACL ligament in her knee while at school, which meant she had to avoid any strenuous physical exercise for a year.<\/p>\n

The injury coincided with Emma getting bullied at her\u00a0New Zealand<\/a>\u00a0high school, causing her weight to spiral out of control.<\/p>\n

By the time she hit her early twenties, she tipped the scales at 131kg\u00a0(20st 6lbs) and would constantly try to hide her body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her shattered confidence came to a head when she refused to leave the car on a family beach trip because she was so ashamed of her appearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her mother then suggested getting\u00a0weight loss<\/a> surgery,\u00a0as she had been through it herself with impressive results in 2019.<\/p>\n

After shelling out almost \u00a310,000 ($13,000), Emma went on to lose a whopping 50kg\u00a0(7st 8lbs) in the first year after going under the knife in 2022 for bariatric surgery, which works by making the stomach smaller so people feel fuller quicker.<\/p>\n

\"By <\/p>\n

By the time she hit her early twenties, Emma tipped the scales at 131kg (20st 6lbs) and would constantly try to hide her body<\/p>\n

\"After <\/p>\n

After shelling out almost \u00a310,000 ($13,000), Emma went on to lose a whopping 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year after going under the knife in 2022 for bariatric surgery<\/p>\n

\"Emma <\/p>\n

Emma said her jealous friends refused to take pictures with her and made passive aggressive comments about her style\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Emma never expected that she would end up being alienated and pushed out by some of her closest childhood friends, who were jealous of her new svelte physique.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She told FEMAIL: ‘The people I was surrounded myself with didn’t align with where I was going. That was reflected in their reaction to me losing weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You hope your friends are friends with you because you’ve got a mutual respect for each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘But when I lost the majority of my weight and I was feeling a long more confident, I was wearing the outfits I had always dreamed of wearing and taking more photos of myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘A lot of the friends that I had, because I think they were going through problems with their own weight, were a little bit jealous. I didn’t make them feel good about themselves anymore.’<\/p>\n

Emma is familiar with the feeling of envy, as she too had some resentment when her mother first started dropping dress sizes.<\/p>\n

‘I was like “That’s not fair, that’s cheating!” In hindsight that was just my own insecurities projecting out.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

The PR relationship manager said that she would often go out to drink with her old pals but since adopting a healthier lifestyle, she tried encouraging them to partake in more sober activities, such as hiking or grabbing coffee and going for a stroll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But they weren’t interested – leaving Emma to do many of these activities alone.<\/p>\n

\"Emma's \"Emma <\/p>\n

Emma’s breaking point was when refused to get out of a car on a family trip because she felt so insecure (before weight loss)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Despite <\/p>\n

Despite Emma losing around 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year of getting the surgery, she found that her jealous friends would never acknowledge her new slender frame<\/p>\n

She even tried going along on their nights out, instead ordering non-alcoholic beverages but she added they ‘didn’t like that at all’.<\/p>\n

Despite Emma losing around 50kg (7st 8lbs) in the first year of getting the surgery, she found that her jealous friends would never acknowledge her new slender frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I’d see them every week or weekend and they wouldn’t remark on how I looked. There were huge physical changes,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It was only when we would see someone I hadn’t seen in a couple of months who would say “You look amazing” that my friends would say “I don’t even notice it, she still looks the same.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It felt degrading for them to disregard my weight loss.’<\/p>\n

Some of Emma’s friends also refused to take photos with her and made comments about the new outfits she had been excited to wear.<\/p>\n

Previously, due to her weight, Emma had limited control over her style and what she could wear because of what was available in her size.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the pounds started falling off, she took the opportunity to try different clothes – but it was often met with passive aggressive comments from her old friendship group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These would include:\u00a0‘You look very dark and emo.’ Or: ‘That outfit is very random’.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma added: ‘It made me feel quite alone. It was almost like it would have been more convenient for everyone else if I was bigger and made everyone else feel a lot better about themselves at 131kg because I’m not a threat.<\/p>\n

‘It was a bit of a shock to me.’<\/p>\n

Emma has also noticed a shift in how she is treated by other members of the public, adding that she felt ‘invisible’ for years in her curvier frame.<\/p>\n

‘People are a lot nicer now. They will stop and chat to me on the street or in the supermarket. One thing I find bizarre is how often I get given things for free.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘In a cafe, someone might offer me a free coffee. People seem to be a lot more generous. That is something I had never experienced before.’<\/p>\n

But these changes haven’t always been positive.\u00a0Emma said that she has also been catcalled for the first time in her life since shedding the weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Emma <\/p>\n

Emma has enjoyed trying out different styles on her new figure since dropping dress sizes\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It’s part of being a woman that I hadn’t experienced until I lost weight,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘As I had gotten used to being unseen by other people, I was taken aback because I was thinking “surely they’re not talking about me?” But they were.’<\/p>\n

Emma now works out around five to six days per week and follows a high protein, low carb diet to keep the weight off.<\/p>\n

She enjoys encompassing a mixture of Pilates and strength training into her routine and says she and her active boyfriend will often go on runs together on weekends.<\/p>\n

Before her surgery, Emma would often visit a food court near work for lunch, eating rich dishes such as ramen and sushi five days a week. But now she cooks most of her meals and going to restaurants or out for drinks is rare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She’s now dating and her British boyfriend, who is a strength and conditioning coach, loves ‘everything’ about her and helps her feel more confident.<\/p>\n

‘Things that I have been insecure about for my entire life are the things he loves the most about me,’ she gushed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma said her life has changed so much since shedding the weight and that the surgery was ‘1,000 per cent worth it’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added: ‘I would pay that over and over again if I knew the experience I was going to have and what my life would look like now.’<\/p>\n

Her advice to people who want to slim down is to start the process with the goal of getting a little better each day, rather than putting pressure on yourself to meet unrealistic goals too quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: ‘It’s not this big daunting thing, it’s very simple if you just stick to it and work on yourself internally and the rest will follow.’\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emma’s daily routine\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

WORKOUTS<\/p>\n

Monday<\/p>\n