‘Now I know what I can eat’

FOR Maeve Dempsey the worst thing about being obese was the name-calling.

That was just five months ago when the 13-year-old from Mullingar, Co Westmeath, weighed over 14 stone and could only wear size 20 in clothes.

Dr Eva Orsmond, a doctor who specialises in treating obesity in children, said Maeve was “severely morbidly obese” when she first saw her last November.

With the doctor’s help Maeve has lost two-and-a-half stone in weight and now fits comfortably into size 16 clothes. Her target weight is 11 stone.

Maeve’s life has also changed for the better. She is now a confident and energetic teenager who looks forward to going into town to shop for clothes and meeting her friends.

She exercises regularly, participates in school sports and plays Gaelic football.

Her father, Luke Dempsey, is manager of the Longford team.

Maeve recalled when she found that running on the treadmill at home for just a minute was really hard. Now running on it is no problem at all for her.

“I can now eat anything I want - even a Big Mac meal at McDonalds. That meal adds up to a 1,000 calories so I would not be able to eat anything else during the day. It’s all about counting the calories,” she explained.

Junk food, however, is no longer a temptation for Maeve who now prefers to stick to a healthy diet. Her lunch box usually contains two rye crackers, carrots and an apple.

“I usually get jeered about what I eat at school but when I look at what’s in the other lunch boxes I just think how lucky I am because I know what to eat now,” she said.

Her mother, Mary Dempsey, a primary teacher, recalled that Maeve weighed 13 stone by the time she reached sixth class and put on a further stone during the year.

“Maeve is a gifted footballer but she was finding it harder to run because of her weight. By sixth class she would not budge from the house and spent all her free time watching TV.”

Mary realises she had left it almost too late for Maeve to get help, but she really did not know what to do.

Thankfully, she contacted Dr Orsmond after watching her being interviewed on RTÉ’s The Big Bite. Also on the show was a boy who had been successfully treated at her clinic.

“I needed someone from outside the family circle to tell me we were in serious trouble. We have all lost weight now and are healthy eaters. I have also noticed that my weekly shopping bill is costing a lot less.”