Lisa Smith, 44, from St Helens, Merseyside, says she has been placed in a baffling position after being told she must gain weight in order to qualify for an operation to remove excess skin from her stomach.

The mother-of-three has lost 16-and-a-half stone, but despite that achievement, she says she cannot access the surgery she needs to address the loose, sagging skin around her abdomen—unless she puts some of the weight back on.

Lisa’s health journey began after the birth of her son in 2008, when she was diagnosed with diabetes-related heart failure. She says NHS doctors delivered a stark warning at the time, telling her to “diet or die.”

At her heaviest, Lisa weighed 28 stone. Determined to improve her health, she followed a strict diet and achieved a dramatic transformation, dropping from a dress size 36 to a size 8. She now weighs just over 11 stone, even though she continues to take insulin daily to manage her condition.

Lisa says she was initially told that if she reached her target weight, the NHS would fund surgery to remove the excess skin. Later, she claims, she was told there was no money left to pay for the procedure.

However, she now meets criteria for skin-removal surgery because her diabetes diagnosis may qualify her for treatment—yet she has been told she must regain some of the weight she worked so hard to lose.

Lisa says she is speaking out because she believes the situation represents a waste of taxpayers’ money, and she insists she does not want to “abuse the system.”

“I’m just trapped in the most ridiculous situation,” she said. “I lost more than 16-and-a-half stone myself through healthy eating but my health is worse than ever.”

She says the pressure to meet eligibility requirements had serious consequences. “I was told to lose more weight to get funding which triggered anorexia and bulimia,” she said. “And now that I’ve done that I’ve been told there is still no funding, so my best chance would be to put the weight on again and have NHS weight loss surgery—which I would get because of my diabetes.”