In 2016, Adam weighed 27 and a half stone and underwent a sleeve gastrectomy (stomach operation) in the hope of regaining a physique that would allow him to heal himself and move forward with his life.
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This turned out to be a total failure. Following thesurgery, which was a great success both technically and physically (Adam lost 13 stone), the young man faced a real psychological downfall.
A courageous speech
In 2019, Adam disclosed his plight on Twitterand explained that he couldn't bear to see his reflection in the mirror, despite his physical metamorphosis. Internet users kept congratulating him, but he eventually deleted the tweet, which was a real source of anxiety for its author:
I deleted the tweet at a time when my self-esteem was at an all-time low, people were still interacting with me on an almost daily basis even 4 months after I posted it, and the comments all ignored the purpose of my tweet by congratulating me on my weight loss although my relationship with my body was - and still is - as complicated as ever
That's not all. The young man openly talked about his relationship with his body, putting the spotlight on the psychological trauma he has suffered.
A question then arises: why are long-term psychological follow-ups not systematic in the context of such a serious surgery?
Diet, exercise, hospital visits... Adam told us that he had tried everything to fight against his weight, until the day he opted for the sleeve. Indeed, on the internet, the controversial surgery seemed to be the miracle solution for Adam's problems. After the euphoria from the first few stones he lost faded, he was shocked. Adam no longer recognised himself in the mirror:
First of all, I literally didn't recognise myself anymore, I felt like I was seeing someone else in the mirror, and even though many people find this positive, it was a very strange feeling, as if I had just woken up in someone else's body. (...) Little by little, I took fewer and fewer photos, and looked at myself less and less in the mirror to avoid seeing my body, which I found deformed. My depression then returned
But that's not all. Adam developed new eating disorders that he had never experienced before. According to him, the obvious cause of this relapse is directly related to the lack of psychological support:
I was promised support, but I was left alone, and I fell off the wagon when I realised that weight loss had not cured my depression, my relationship with food or improved my self-confidence. I had no nutritional or psychiatric follow-up, only one or two appointments with the surgeon to make sure the healing was going well. I would have needed to be accompanied, advised and warned of the reality after the weight loss
Weight loss, even drastic weight loss in the context ofsevere obesity,was not an end in itself for Adam:
It is rather the beginning of a long process of re-appropriation and rediscovery of oneself and the rest of the world.
Since then, the young man said he still doesn't like his body, but he is working on it. His social phobia is fading and he is slowly getting used to his new physique.
