Mrs Hinch reveals she had a gastric band and it left her in 'agony'

Cleaning influencer Mrs Hinch has revealed that a £6,000 gastric band left her in agony.

Sophie Hinchliffe is as well known for her glamorous ‘Essex girl’ look as she is for her cleaning tips, but she shocked fans when her #10yearchallenge post went viral earlier this year. The post showed Sophie – better known as Mrs Hinch – aged 19, eight stone heavier than she is today.

The cleaning expert has now revealed that her weight loss was down to a gastric band op when she was 21. She told The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine that she put on weight in her late teens when her love of pizza deliveries and McDonald’s takeaways turned into ‘eating for what felt like eating’s sake’.

The former hairdresser took out a loan to pay for the £6,000 operation and lost eight stone, but ended up in agony when the band slipped and became lodged in her oesophagus two years later. She had to have emergency surgery to move it back into position.

Sophie then had to undergo another op to remove the excess skin that was left on her arms after the weight loss. This led to another health scare when she developed a terrifying infection that could have seen her lose an arm.

The gastric band is still in place, but is now unclipped so it doesn’t work any more. Sophie says she wouldn’t have had the surgery if she had known the complications and risks involved.

She revealed that she decided to have the surgery after she couldn’t fit into a seat on a fairground ride. ‘It hit me… the stares, the way people look at you,’ she said. Sophie says that her experiences have made her angry about body shaming ‘because even if you lose the weight you never forget the comments.’

Read more: Mrs Hinch is releasing a book with her top cleaning tips

While Mrs Hinch has influenced a whole generation to get excited about cleaning, she says she’s had to ‘grow a thicker skin’ since her profile has grown. The Instagram star has 2.1 million followers but revealed that she used to shake when she read negative comments and even thought about closing her account at one point.

Luckily for her legions of fans, she changed her mind. ‘I’m not hurting anybody,’ she said. ‘I’m at home shining my sink. If me and my followers enjoy doing that there’s a lot worse going on out there’.