‘The food was controlling me, rather than me controlling the food’

Gerry Barrett (63) never had weight issues as a young man, when he liked to train five or six days a week, doing weights, karate and other physical activities.

It was after getting married in his 20s and starting a family that he began to put on weight. With a broad, 6ft 1in (1.85m) frame, he says he was always able to carry a lot of weight and has worked continuously in telecoms since he was 17.

“By the time I was 40, I was probably 22-23 stone [140-146kg] and I finally went up to my highest of 28½ stone [181kg].”

Over the years he attended weight-loss organisations. “I would always lose about 2½ stone and then I would stop and put the 2½ stone back on again.”

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Barrett, who lives in Ballivor, Co Meath, was reluctant to go to the GP about it. “I felt as a man I should be able to sort these things out. And I didn’t and, to some extent, I felt as if I had failed.”

He looks back now and sees he had developed an addiction to food. “The food was controlling me, rather than me controlling the food.”

But that insight came only after exploring both the medical and psychological reasons for overeating at the public weight management service in St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, Co Dublin. It took him about six years to get into that service, such is the demand.

“What really turned the corner for me was being diagnosed with diabetes type two in my early 50s. Then I got sleep apnoea and I was diagnosed with afib [atrial fibrillation]. The real killer was when I went to the doctor, I was getting blood tests every six months, and he said to me, ‘Gerry you have to do something about your weight because I have to increase your diabetes medication because your bloods are still high.’”

That gave him new resolve to tackle his weight. Weight-loss nutrition products worked for him and he lost about four stone before he was due to have a gastric sleeve operation in Loughlinstown four years ago. While his partner questioned the need to go ahead with surgery when he was doing so well, he reckoned he was in good shape for it and, having been on the waiting list for years, didn’t want to postpone. “I had the operation and it changed everything.”

I want to get back down to 17 stone because I remember how well I was and how well I felt. There is too much to lose if I don’t

He started getting back into bushcraft and other nature-related activities he had been involved in with a group of friends, enjoying camping out around the country and going over to the UK for events. “We just have so much craic and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had stayed how I was.”

Between using the nutrition products and surgery, he lost about 10 stone (63.5kg) altogether. However, over the past year he has noticed his weight beginning to creep up again. “I need to knock it on the head,” says Barrett, who was at the GP to discuss this the day we speak.

“I need to get back on track. I want to get back down to 17 stone because I remember how well I was and how well I felt. There is too much to lose if I don’t.”