JOIN USAsia's heaviest woman loses 214 kg
Just getting up from the bed and taking a few steps was a gigantic task for Amita Rajani four years ago.
She then weighed 300 kg and now the 42-year-old Amita weighs just 86 kg.
Amita and Dr Shashank Shah, the renowned bariatric surgeon, are working to take it down further. "This is something unbelievable...a weight loss that is unimaginable...from 300 to 86 in a span of four years, a weight loss of 214 kg," said Dr Shah, who practices in Mumbai and Pune.
The doctor's team has sent the details to the Limca Book of Records.
Shah, who is the founder of LaparoObeso Centre at the Lilavati Hospital and Hinduja Healthcare Surgical Hospital, Mumbai, said Amita was diagnosed not just with super morbid obesity but also deranged cholesterol, kidney dysfunction, type II diabetes and breathing problem. "Today she is perfectly fine and without any medicines," he said.
An emotional Amita, a resident of Vasai in neighbouring Palghar district, said: "I never thought I would be able to walk ever."
She now travels in Mumbai's suburban locals. "Even in the second class compartment," she smiles.
Amita was a normal baby but when she was six she started piling weight. "When I was in class 10, I weighed 126 kg, and by the time I reached the final year of college I was between 160-170 kg," she said.
She was even taken to London, but endocrinologists could not find the problem.
Talking about her problems, she said: "Once I fell from the bed. It took three hours to put me back safely. Recently, I fell again but I was able to stand in just two minutes... I am fully independent now and can move around alone."
Amita's mother Mamta Rajani said her family's prayers have been answered. "A few years ago she could not move, today, she goes out alone, all by herself," Mamata said
Shah said a proper treatment schedule was planned for Amita. "She was prepared for two months...In 2015, she underwent 1st stage metabolic surgery which was a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Later, her condition started improving and she lost a lot of weight and could walk on her own. In 2017, a second surgery — gastric bypass was performed on Amita, who weighed 140 kg then. So with these two metabolic treatments and her efforts, she lost weight," said Shah.
He said obesity is a big medical issue and mother of all diseases. "Every fifth person in India used to be overweight to some extent. But in a decade's time every third person is overweight," he cautioned, adding one must go in for consultations early.