A newspapers’ magazine editor has benefitted from what could be the ultimate work-based freebie when she underwent stomach surgery worth £8,000.

Debbie Eales, group magazines editor at the Kent Messenger Group, visited her local private hospital in Maidstone to write a feature about a gastric band surgery patient.

But when doctors said they needed a second guinea pig to make the feature more accurate Debbie decided to volunteer.

The surgery involves a shrinking of the stomach meaning patients can only eat small amounts of food and lose weight quickly afterwards.

Debbie underwent a range of psychological and physical tests which also showed up a liver condition meaning she will one day need a liver transplant.

Now three months after the operation she is back at work, three-and-a-half stone lighter and much fitter and healthier.

Debbie, (50), told holdthefrontpage: “I had a grandchild who was due in December and I was 17-and-a-half stone.

“I had spent my whole life yo-yo dieting.

“I passed all their tests but unfortunately the pre-op tests threw up a liver problem I didn’t know I had.

“I’d had the symptoms of a liver condition for three years and the general physician said the gastric band surgery could do my liver good.”

The operation has forced some lifestyle changes upon Debbie.

She can now consume no more than 1,000 calories a day and eats just two ounces of food at a time.

Being a magazine editor, Debbie is often invited to restaurants for food reviews but sadly these are no longer possible.

She carried a feature about the operation in the group’s Focus magazine before Christmas with a follow-up due in the March edition.

Debbie will also be keeping readers informed through a quarterly diary during the year as she strives for her ultimate target – to reach a size 14.