The woman who eats 5,000 calories a DAY to stay alive after weight loss surgery went horribly wrong

• Julie Dunbar, 51, had weight loss surgery after her weight hit 20st 7lb
• Lost 14 stone in a year and became dangerously malnourished
• Needed tube feeding and three more ops to partly undo stomach reduction
• Now has illness resulting from severe malnourishment and lack of vitamins
• Has to eat 5,000 calories a day to get enough nutrients to stay alive

Most people who undergo weight loss surgery expect to eat less after the operation.
But one desperate woman now has to consume up to 5,000 calories a day in order to stay alive, after the operation left her severely malnourished.
Pub landlady Julie Dunbar, 51, decided to undergo gastric surgery in an attempt to lose weight after tipping the scales at a hefty 20st 7lbs and suffering from a number of illnesses.
But she soon lost more weight than doctors expected and became dangerously malnourished - dropping a worrying 14 and a half stone in just 12 months.

Piling it high: Julie Dunbar has to eat 5,000 calories a day after weight loss surgery left her severely undernourished

Full-time job: Ms Dubar says her daily calorie requirement (pictured) means she is 'constantly eating' and spends at least £200 a week on food

She needed three operations and was even fed through a line in her nose to try and get nutrition into her fragile body.
Ms Dubar, from Leeds, was finally diagnosed a year later with Wernicke Encephalopathy, an illness resulting from severe malnourishment and a lack of vitamins and nutrients.

 

She now has to eat constantly throughout the day after doctors told her to consume as possible to ensure she gets the right nutrients to stay alive.
She eats a staggering 5,000 calories a day, including a two-egg omelette with 175g of cheese for breakfast, multiple packs of fruit pastels and jelly beans, at least 10 chocolate biscuits and a full main meal of chicken Thai curry, or shepherd's Pie.
Ms Dubar said: 'No one believes what I eat on a normal day. Our food bill is phenomenal -  it must cost about £200 a week to feed me.
'Eating is now a full-time job. I always have food in my hands and I am always eating. I even wake up in the middle of the night to grab something to eat.

Ms Dunbar, 51, decided to have weight loss surgery after her weight crept up to 20st 7lb

Malnourished: Ms Dunbar's weight plummeted to 6st after surgery and she had to be fed through a tube

'It's tons more than I used to eat when I was overweight. My eating habits are worse, but I have never looked as good in my life.
'I'm now a size 8 and sometimes even those clothes are too big for me.
'It was enjoyable for the first week, but now it's a pain and I hate it.
'Even if I don't feel like it, I still really need to eat. I can drop 6lbs in a matter of days when I don't eat enough.'
Ms Dunbar underwent surgery in December 2010 at the Spire Private Hospital, Leeds, after saving up the required £10,900.
The operation, a duodenal switch with a bilo-pancreatic diversion, involves part of the stomach being removed, but leaves the valve that controls food drainage to be left intact, making it harder for the body to absorb nutrients.

Then and now: She says she now eats far more than when she was overweight

She began losing weight immediately after the operation and it was hailed such a success that her sister Karen, 50, who weighed 21st 7lbs, also decided to have the same procedure.

HER DAILY 5,000 CALORIE DIET

BREAKFAST:

Three cups of coffee with milk

Two egg omelette with 175g of cheese (around about half a block)

Two yoghurts

Bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes

DINNER:

Thai curry with rice, roast dinner, shepherd's pie

SNACKS THROUGHOUT THE DAY:

A whole packet of parma ham or smoked salmon

Chicken liver parfait on toast

Cheese and biscuits

100g of cashew nuts

Biscuits and chocolate

Lots of fruit

Water, milk and Lucozade

Bags of sweets, especially jelly beans and fruit pastels

A huge piece of cake in the middle of the night

But while her sister's weight began to level off at 10st, Ms Dubar's continued to plummet until she reached a tiny 6st and could no longer keep any food down.
Doctors were twice forced to admit her back into hospital on an emergency basis.
In June and September last year they carried out two further operations to try and release more of her stomach to allow her to take in more food and nutrients.
But  she was so malnourished she developed Wernicke Encephalopathy, normally seen in alcoholics, people with HIV or those who have been starved, leaving her with memory loss and balance problems.
'To combat the illness, I need to absorb as much as I can from food,' she said.
'For example, whereas a normal person would consume about 30-40g of protein a day, I need to take 125g in to get my levels up to where they should be.
'It has completely changed me as a person.
'At the beginning I was really happy, because I was dropping lots of weight.
'But then it's supposed to stop and it just didn't.
'There was no light at the end of the tunnel - it was an absolutely awful time.
'In the pub where I work people looked at me and thought "she isn't going to make it".
'My face was like a skeleton and it was totally sunken in, there wasn't an ounce of flesh on me. I was just bones.'
Now, thanks to her huge calorie intake, she has managed to prevent her condition from worsening.

She is now a healthy eight stone but has to continue to eat as much as she can to ensure she continues to gain weight.