by Bev Sklar (Subscribe to Bev Sklar's posts)
Oct 20th 2009 2:00PM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss

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Johnson sisters before surgery. Photo: Jason Buckner, Daily Mail / ZUMA Press

With body mass indexes all over 50, worsening health and no luck dieting for years, three British sisters decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery at the same time. Since the operations last February, 29-year-old Sharon, 37-year-old Georgina and 36-year-old Pauline have lost a combined 308 pounds. As the weight dropped, the Johnson sisters also faced a roller coaster of post-surgical ups and downs.

It was all Sharon's idea -- after seeing Pauline's neighbor lose a ton of weight after bariatric surgery, she convinced her sisters to give it a try. With a slim dad and a mom who's never been obese, they weren't raised within a family of overeaters. The Johnsons admit to a food addiction, going from large teenagers to extremely obese young women with serious health problems.

Georgina was warned she'd die within 10 years thanks to the strain on her heart. Over 300 pounds, Sharon had to live with a painfully inflamed fallopian tube as surgery was too risky. Pauline had high blood pressure and little luck socializing with parents at her son's school -- others would "look right through me," she told The Daily Mail.



The Johnsons reportedly requested same day surgery for moral support. Initially after gastric bypass, they ate mainly mashed food. Hunger wasn't an issue, but eating only pureed meals was a chore.

Johnson sisters after surgery. Photo: Jason Buckner, Daily Mail / ZUMA Press

Sharon's post-surgical symptoms have been the roughest -- for the past five months she's sick after every meal, a side-effect potentially from an inflamed new stomach outlet. She's also been unable to fight off infections, dealing with chest, sinus, ear and bladder infections.

A lack of nutrients has Paulina losing so much hair she's wearing a wig on special occasions. Then there's all that loose skin, which is not eligible for removal until their weight has stabilized in two years.

For the sisters, it seems the positives outweigh post-surgical complications. At their previous weights, life was crippling. Georgina now has the energy to take her son to school and may return to her career as a care worker. Sharon is off her antidepressants. Pauline tossed her high blood pressure meds, her periods have returned and she's trying to have another child.

All three are cooking healthy foods, exercising and Pauline's son has lost 14 pounds. No doubt, bariatric surgery is serious business with potential complications affecting people differently, even sisters. But no one can deny the quality of their lives has improved after losing hundreds of pounds together.

Click on the gallery below to read about other people who have teamed up to lose weight.