A 26ST mum says she ‘can’t feel sexy’ despite halving her body weight – as she’s been left with so much loose skin she feels like a ‘mole rat in the bedroom’.
Rebecca Deicu says she’s struggled with her weight since she was 10 and would regularly scoff meals with a portion size that could feed three people.
6
6
The 37-year-old, who ballooned to 26st and was a dress size 26 at her heaviest, says she was unable to fit on rollercoasters and feared she would break garden chairs.
After years of yo-yo dieting and unsuccessfully keeping the weight off, Rebecca took the plunge and requested to be added to the NHS waitlist for a gastric sleeve in 2020.
Rebecca had the stomach-shrinking sleeve fitted in March 2025, after spending five years on the waiting list.
The 5ft 6in teaching assistant has since shed 12 stone, slimming down from 26st to 14st and is now a dress size 14.
Read More of Real Lives
weigh to go
TikTok’s Becki Jones strips to a swimsuit after huge weight loss & fan praise
BIG CHANGE
I lost over 12st WITHOUT fat jabs – my legs are just a pile of putty
6
6
But Rebecca says she now feels less confident than ever before – due to the large amount of loose skin she’s been left with on her stomach, arms and legs.
The mum-of-one says she could ‘slap herself in the face’ with the loose skin on her arms and still hides under the same baggy tops she wore when she was a size 26.
Rebecca says she now feels less confident in the bedroom – as the loose skin has left her looking like a ‘mole rat’.
Now, Rebecca has set up a fundraiser to help cover the cost of surgery to remove the loose skin, after she claims she was told it wasn’t available on the NHS.
Most read in Fabulous
MYSTIC MEG
It’s a good day to focus on what’s possible rather than what’s not
SWING & A KISS
I went inside the wild Naughty Norfolk’s swingers event near royal estate
JAB IT IN
Dates ghosted me after I hit 15st – then I lost 5st with £10 buy
DOUBLE ACT
We’re twins & we share the same husband and sleep with him on alternative nights
Rebecca, from Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, said: “Having the gastric sleeve is the best thing I’ve ever done but because of that I’ve now got a huge amount of loose skin.
“It’s very uncomfortable. I have to wear very tight clothing on my bottom half to hold everything in, which is frustrating.
“I could probably slap myself in the face with my own loose skin on my arms. I can’t feel sexy.
“My husband is the most supportive, wonderful man. He loved me at 26 stone and he loves me at 14 stone and he has never changed how much he loves me.
6
6
“I feel like it [the loose skin] has impacted my relationship in some ways, especially in the bedroom.
“I’m way less confident now than I was before. It [the loose skin] makes me want to keep my clothes on and turn the light off.
“[If] you put me upside down I’m going to look like a mole rat.”
Frustrated, Rebecca says she feels like her new, slimmer frame, which she’s worked so hard for, is hidden underneath the shell of her old body.
Rebecca said: “It’s really frustrating, I want to be able to feel amazing in my body. I’ve put in a year-and-a-half’s worth of work and it’s not been easy.
“It’s so disappointing looking in the mirror and seeing that outer shell.
“I can see the inside ‘thin person’ that’s underneath all the skin, but I’m just in a shell.
“My arms made me feel embarrassed before because they always looked so big, I would never ever wear a strappy top because I felt so embarrassed.
“I was hoping that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed now but I feel just as embarrassed as I did when my arms were big.”
Rebecca says she has been left feeling so self-conscious she hides her body underneath the clothes she used to wear.
Rebecca said: “I’m still having to wear baggy clothing. Now I wear the t-shirts I could wear when I was 26st with leggings underneath.
“I need to wear a baggy t-shirt because of my arm skin, if I wear a tight t-shirt then the skin just hangs on the outside of it.
“The same with shorts. I couldn’t wear shorts during the whole of the summer heatwave because my skin just hangs on the outside of it.”
Rebecca is now fundraising to cover the £15,000 cost of having surgery to remove the loose skin.
Rebecca said: “I don’t have any regrets about the [gastric sleeve] surgery but I wish I’d known how bad my loose skin was going to be.
“I well up with tears just at the thought of it [having the loose skin removed].
“The thought of being able to wear a swimming costume [is amazing]. I’m not even worried about a bikini, I just want to be able to wear a swimsuit or to go on holiday and get a massage.
“I can’t even really get a massage because it would be uncomfortable.
“I would love to get another tattoo [too], there are so many little things that I would love to be able to do.”
A spokesperson for NHS Gloucestershire ICB said: “We are sorry that the individual concerned is unhappy following gastric sleeve surgery.
“We are unable to comment on individual cases. However, there is a process for considering individual funding requests which takes into account the available clinical evidence and each person’s circumstances.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
“We advise the patient to contact her local ICB Patient Advice and Liaison Service/Care Experience team for further information.”
You can donate to Rebecca’s GoFundMe here.