Chronic illness left me the skinniest I’ve ever been – I’ve never felt worse

At my slimmest, I was malnourished, and it took a massive toll on my mental health (Picture: Hannah Van De Peer)

Stepping on the scales for the first time in 10 days, I saw the result I’d been fearing: I’d lost 21 pounds in under two weeks. 

It was June 2025, and I was preparing to have my gallbladder removed. Despite the fact that I was in so much pain and had virtually no appetite, my hospital had put me on a strict, two-week diet to shrink my liver, to make it easier for the surgeon to access the gallbladder itself. 

In the Ozempic era, rapid

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