New Delhi: It was almost like getting her life back, 42-year-old Amita Rajani, resident of Vasai area in Maharashtra, lost 214 kg in four years.

Rajani who pre-operatively weighed 300 kg is the heaviest Asian woman to have successfully undergone a weight loss surgery. And now after 4 years, she weighs 86 kg.

Amita's life took a drastic turn at the age of 6 when she started piling up weight.  At the age of 16, she was a massive 126 kg and couldn’t do her daily routine with ease. This took a toll on her self-esteem too. Even leading endocrinologists from India and from the UK, were unable to find the exact cause of obesity.

Amita’s misery continued as she piled up a whooping 300 kgs, and was unable to step out of the house. Her family was worried as she would require constant assistance even to help her walk and carry out other daily activities. Moreover, Amita would need oxygen support intermittently owing to breathing issues.

She was given special nursing care with the help of hundreds of towels. For eight years before the surgery, she was confined to bed.

Her life changed after meeting Dr Shashank Shah, a renowned bariatric surgeon and founder of LaparoObeso Centre, at Lilavati Hospital and Hinduja Healthcare Surgical Hospital, Mumbai who investigated for undergoing bariatric surgery. Amita was not just diagnosed with super morbid obesity but also deranged cholesterol, kidney dysfunction, type II diabetes, and breathing problem.

Four-year long surgery

Before the surgery, she was prepared for two months. A separate ambulance was arranged where the door was removed and then a large six-and-a-half-inch sofa was fitted in the ambulance to take her to the hospital. In the hospital, she was put on a tailor-made diet, and a special bed, clothes and a weighing machine were arranged for her.

Her surgery was divided into two stages. In 2015, she underwent 1st stage metabolic surgery which was a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy at LOC. Later, her condition started improving and she lost oodles of weight and could walk on her own.

In 2017, a second surgery-gastric bypass was performed on Amita at LOC, who weighed 140 kgs then. So with these two metabolic treatments and her efforts, she lost weight.

Dr Shashank Shah said “Obesity is next to cancer or HIV, and is the mother of all diseases and is more common in women compared to men. This is so because women have physiological reasons for weight gain like pregnancy or menopause while men are subjected to abdominal obesity. Significant abdominal obesity can give rise to chronic life-threatening disorders like cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. Also in women, being overweight is emotionally more attacking. Thus, obesity is a root cause in all those who lost their lives due to diabetes, kidney diseases, BP or high cholesterol.”

"In some cases like Amita, these disturbances are extremely severe. But today, after four years of surgery, she is free from health issues like diabetes and blood pressure. Her kidney functioning is normal, and she has been asked to stick to her diet as well. Now, we are in a process to get Amita’s case registered in the Limca Book of Records,” he added.

A joyous Amita Rajani stated, “Earlier, I was bed-ridden but I am independent now and can move freely after battling the bulge. I can wear clothes of my choice and live life the way I want to.”