A WOMAN who started her first diet at the age of six is to use a remote control stomach band to control the amount of food she eats.
Maria Lodovia Corvi will be the first person to have the gastric band fitted in Britain when she has an operation at Alexandra Hospital, in Manchester.
The Easyband contains a tiny antenna which allows doctors to tighten and adjust it electronically.
Maria, 29, has spent é9,500 on the operation. She had saved the money to renovate her home but now hopes it will help her slim down from a 20-stone size 20 to a size 12.
Maria, from Derbyshire, said: "I don't like needles so for me it was an easy choice when I heard about the Easyband. I'm feeling a bit nervous and excited. I have thought about weight loss surgery several times. "I was put on my first diet by my mum who took me and my sister to see a nutritionist when I was six.
"I have tried all the diets going and I have been to health farms and last year I started a hospital diet. I did lose a few stones but I have gradually put the weight back on.
"Losing weight will make me feel more confident and happier with myself."
Doctors will attach a silicone band around the upper part of the stomach which will restrict food intake and increases the sense of fullness.
On previous bands, doctors could only tighten them by injecting fluid into a port to inflate the band.
Needles
The port can be difficult to find and using needles means there is a small risk on infection.
The new Easyband has an electronic receiver which allows the doctor to control it by remote control.
Dr David Ashton, from the Healthier Weight Centre which has a base at Alexandra Hospital, said "This is potentially a huge advance for gastric band surgery.
"It allows highly accurate and painless adjustments, whilst removing the risk of infection or leaks."
Only 50 people worldwide have been fitted with them as part of an international trial while more than 300,000 of the original gastric bands have been used.
Maria, who is an administrator for a utilities company, will undergo the 45-minute procedure with four other people and will be supported by her mother who is flying in from Luxembourg.
Although her family are against surgery and have talked her out of operations several times, they backed her when they realised how determined she was this time.
After trying a series of diets, including Atkins, Maria found her weight yo-yoing. Last year she started a 600-calorie-a-day diet as a hospital inpatient but found it didn't help enough.
She also designed her own diet of breakfast cereals, soup, a diet-ready meal and fruit for snacks, but found it difficult to stick to in the evenings and sometimes gave in to a takeaway or to her favourite tortilla snacks.
WHAT do you think of the weight-loss by remote control method? Have your say.
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try not eating so much then you wouldn't need a band to control your eating, try using some self control instead of a remote control
I love the idea... it is known that a regular LapBand is easy to cheat, so if it can be controller remotely, it is great ! www.themorbidme.com
When and if the expensive products and fad diets fail, you could try eating healthily and doing some excersize?
some people just need more discipline with eating habbits! (not including the ones with an actual medical reason). don't just diet go out and get active you will be amazed with the results. more free advice take it people. what you going to do on a friday night when the batteries run out and the surgery is closed till monday hahahahaha
Oh Ali dont you think if she had willpower she wouldnt be having this operation. She obviously is unhappy and she has paid for the operation herself, so good luck to her.
This isn't such a simple problem. It's not just eat less and you get thinner. But this is a great idea, no needles to adjust the band. A bid improcement over the existing products.
I see that we have the usual raft of ill informed comment. I wish Maria well and hope that the treatment helps her. I guess that many people won't need to undergo surgery, but in some cases there really is little option.