Halina Ashdown Shiels, managing director of Advanced Cosmetic Surgery, tells Patricia Weston how she underwent surgery to lose weight
What do you do to keep fit?
I have a very busy lifestyle. I get up at six in the morning and take my granddaughter's Yorkshire terrier for a walk about three times a week. I use the stairs rather than take the lift and I walk everywhere. Before I lost weight I couldn't even walk the length of Grafton Street; now I can easily do that and more.
How did you manage to lose so much weight?
When my sister died suddenly of an aneurysm I started comfort eating. I put on so much weight I went up to a size 16 and I used to always be slim. I was going to have a stomach by-pass but my daughter did some research because she didn't want me to go through with it. She found a surgeon who was involved in designing the gastric banding system. He puts an elastic band around your stomach to stop you eating too much.
I had it fitted and it worked, I went from a size 16 to a 12. I'm quite happy now the way I am.
Do you eat a well-balanced diet?
Since I've lost the weight I have become healthier and I feel I have to eat healthy. As I'm so busy I have to prepare food before I go to work. I can't cook so I just cook vegetables and split it into containers, then I get Weight Watchers fish and mix it with the vegetables and heat them up in the microwave at work. I have to plan ahead so I don't eat any junk.
The banding has definitely made me more interested in getting fit and eating healthy; I really wouldn't have been bothered before.
Any vices?
I'm still smoking - well, you have to have something bad in your life!
What other cosmetic procedures have you had done?
I've had liposculpture, a neck lift, my eyes were done when I was 40 and I've had a boob job for the last 25 years.
Patricia Weston's exercise prescription:
If you have lost a lot of weight, you may want to tone up your stomach muscles. Achieving a flat stomach needn't involve doing hundreds of crunches:
A more effective way of getting great abs is to perform exercises in less than 20 repetitions to cause enough muscular fatigue and get a better result.
Combine the reverse curl with an abdominal crunch.
Lie on your back with knees bent. Lift your shoulders off the floor, concentrating on moving your ribs towards your hips. Hold your chin off your chest.
Then bend your knees toward your chest as far as is comfortable, keeping your hips on the floor. Contract your abdominal muscles and lift your hips off the floor bringing your knees towards your chest.
Don't swing your legs, concentrate on using your abs to lift your pelvis toward your lower rib cage. Perform three sets of eight repetitions slowly.
Improving your posture can also help flatten your stomach. Practice tightening your stomach when you stand by imagining you're tying a belt around your waistline. Tighten the belt as you pull in your abs as far as possible but don't hold your breath.
Hold your abs in, breathing from your chest for 10 seconds, then slowly release.
When you are seated, perform pelvic tilts to improve posture and keep your lower back stretched and supple.
Patricia Weston is an NCEHS fitness instructor, personal trainer and Pilates teacher.
Consult a qualified healthcare provider before embarking on any exercise regime.