The miracle weight-loss cure?

For 15 years, Heidi Worth hated her body so much she wouldn't set foot on the beach, even though it was just yards from her front door. Weight over 23st and a size 34, she was far too embarrassed to even think about stripping off into a swimsuit.

Now the mum-of-two from Cornwall has shed nearly half of her weight and spends most of her time in a skintight wetsuit as she trains to be a scuba-diving instructor.

And the miracle that helped her fight the flab? A gastric band.
These days, the operation is becoming a popular way to shit those pounds. And celebrities such as Sharon Osbourne, Anne Diamond and This Morning presenter Alison Hammord have led the way.

But is intrusive surgery really the best way to achieve a sleeker figure? Surgeons certainly seem to think so. Five years ago weight-loss surgery was still relatively uncommon. But now the number of gastric band and gastric bypass ops being carried out in this country is skyrocketing.

Caroline Deakin, national weight-loss manager of SurgiCare, says, 'The numbers have doubled in the past year and are set to double again this year. We have a record number of enquiries. It's becoming more and more popular.'

But choosing to go under the knife can't be an easy decision. After all, many people who need to take such drastic action are also the ones most at risk from complications during surgery.

The risks include a pulmonary embolism - a blood clot in the lungs - that can develop a couple of weeks after surgery and can be fatal. Bypass patients can also suffer peritonitis - an imflammation of the line of the abdomen - which then requires further surgery.

Surgeon Roger Ackroyd, of BMI Thronbury Hospital in Sheffield, admins there is a very small percentage of fatalities with these operations. But he adds, 'The risks of surgery are less than walking around weighing 30st.

'It's big surgery for big patients, so it's potentially dangerous, but life-changing as well.'

Bands and bypasses are available on the NHS for the morbidly obese - those with a body mass index of 40 or more - who have tried dieting and exersice without success. It's also available for people with diabetes and high blood pressure.

For Heidi, 36, her band was a lifeline. 'I'd been fat since i was a child. I'd tried all the diets, but nothing worked,' she says.

Her wake-up call came four years ago when she was working as a student nurse. 'i had a diabetic patient who was the same weight as me and couldn't walk because of her size. She was about 20 years older and i knew i was looking at me in the future.'

In 2004 she paid £4000 to have surgery in France.

'I had keyhole surgery and it took just 20 minutes. I was back home two days later. A year after the operation i had gone down to 13sst,' she says.

But if the sound of a gastric band being fitted under general anaesthetic sounds invasive, the newest trend is even more so.

Gastric bands allow for some cheating - some people have been known to liquidise chocolate bars - but gastric bypasses take weight loss to a further extreme.

Katheryn Ware opted for the more drastic option of gastric bypass surgery, which is irreversible, and a new trend thats increasing in popularity.

For more information on weight-loss surgery go to www.surgicare.co.uk .