Compare prices of gastric bypass surgery in France with UK prices Teen who shed half her body weight to avoid gastric bypass wins slimmer of the Year award A teenager who lost half her body weight after being told she might need gastric bypass surgery has won a top slimming award. At her heaviest, Isabelle Kennedy, 18, was cruelly nicknamed Hagrid at school after the Harry Potter giant. She said: “I had no self confidence and hated myself. It breaks my heart to say that now. I’m a different person.” Isabelle, who is 5ft 10in, has been named Slimming World’s Young Slimmer of the Year after going from 20st 11lb to 11st 3lb. She was diagnosed with liver disease aged 15. Doctors said she might need the gastric op but she decided to slim down on her own and mum Su inspired her to join Slimming World. Cruel school bullies nicknamed Isabelle “Hagrid” after the Harry Potter giant Isabelle said: “Emotional eating was the biggest challenge. “I went through a family divorce which acted as a trigger. I was a comfort eater and would come home from school and binge. “Addressing that relationship was the first thing I had to do.” Isabelle no longer has liver disease after Slimming World helped her shed her excess Isabelle, from Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, also started exercising and found it helped her to cope with stress. She no longer has liver disease and is hoping to go to university. But she said: “I’ll always go to a Slimming World group because it’s so important not just to my physical health but also my mental wellbeing.” from an article in the “Daily Record” Read More …. Read more…<\/p>\n