(Image source from: Quint Fit)

The woman from Maharashtra’s Palghar, who once weighed over 300 kgs and held the distinction of Asia’s heaviest woman, has shed a staggering 214 kgs over a four years time period, her bariatric surgeon Shashank Shah said on Wednesday.

The 42-year-old Amita Rajani’s ordeal started at the age of 6 when she suddenly started piling up kilos though she was born a normal healthy baby of just 3 kg, Shah said.

"By the time Amrita was 16, she was upward of 126 kgs, couldn't perform any of her real-world activities easily and the sheer weight bogged down her self-esteem," Shah, a world-renowned bariatric surgeon and founder of the LaparaObeso Centre at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, told IANS. "I was totally bed-ridden earlier, but now I am completely independent, move around freely, wear clothes of my choice and lead the life I enjoy after Dr. Shah helped me drop those excess kilos," Amrita said.

Her now relieved mother, Mamta Rajani described the immense difficulties she encountered while taking care of her former heavyweight daughter. "I had to help her with all her chores, eating, dressing, controlling fluid retention with towels and bedsheets that soaked the excess fluid discharge. But, now she is in shape and the full credit goes to Dr. Shah," she said.

After detailed investigations, Shah said her problem was not confined to just super morbid obesity, but also spread to deranged cholesterol, kidney dysfunction, Type II diabetes and breathing problems.

"We had to prepare for almost two months before the surgery. A special ambulance with its doors removed was arranged, a huge six-and-half-feet sofa was fitted inside it to transport her to hospital. There she had a special heavy duty bed, special clothes, a weighing machine and of course, a strict tailor-made diet," Shah told media persons.

The weight-loss surgery was divided into two stages, including the first metabolic operation in 2015 involving a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. After that, as Amrita's condition improved and she began putting down weight and could move around on her own before which the second surgery was performed in 2017, a gastric bypass when she weighed around 140 kgs.

"After these two surgeries combined with her steely efforts, she kept losing weight and is now at a manageable 86 kgs. She has also lost her related health issues like diabetes, blood pressure, and kidney problems," said a proud Shah. Now, the process is on to get Amrita a mention in Limca Book of Records, he added.

"Earlier, every fifth person used to be overweight to some extent, but in the past decade or so, every third person is overweight/obese now. This is due to environmental influence which has affected metabolism by disrupting the endocrine system and obesity is now virtually an epidemic," he warned the younger generation.

By Sowmya Sangam