Patients’ personal weight loss stories

Diana

Diane at 300, 275, and 185 pounds

Diana always had what she called a “propensity for pudgy.” When she was younger, she rode horses and was always very active. So long as she kept active, she was able to stay trim. By the time she had her third child, though, her growing family absorbed all of her exercise time, and her weight began to creep up from the steady 145 she had previously been able to maintain. “With each successive child [she eventually had seven], I’d gain about 20 pounds…The needs of the children, the needs of the business and the needs of the husband, all outweighed mine.”

By the time her weight reached 319 pounds, she had high blood pressure, bone spurs in her heels, and was developing bad knees. She even developed sleep apnea, a condition where she actually stopped breathing for short intervals when she attempted to sleep. Her doctor warned her that she was almost sure to develop diabetes.

So, she went back to the Richard Simmons diet, which she had used successfully in the past. This time she lost only 10 pounds. Since her mother had had good luck with OPTIFAST® while living in the Midwest, Diana came to Sunrise Health to try it herself. On OPTIFAST® at 950 calories per day, at first she lost weight rather slowly, but after a couple of months, it “began melting off.” In the last picture here, she had lost 123 pounds and has continued to lose. She has resumed some regular foods and is making time to exercise again. She says, “I’ll never be fat again because I know what to do.”

Not so surprisingly, many of our staff members have lost lots of weight by following our programs while working in our clinics. These three have lost over 180 lbs.and are still losing. We asked them to tell you about it.

Nikki

Nikki after losing over 70 pounds

Hi, my name is Nikki and I am a mother of a 17-year-old girl. I am 36 years old, 5’8” and proud to say my weight is now 160lbs. I would not have been so open about telling my weight 2 ½ years ago!

I guess you can say my weight gain started after I got married. It’s easy to get so comfortable in our relationships that we start to enjoy food more than we think! I guess I didn’t realize how I looked until someone showed me an old Christmas picture of myself, taken three years ago. I felt disgusted, ashamed, and most of all, very depressed. How could I have let myself look like that, and what were my friends and family thinking? I had reached a high weight of 230+ lb. Now, when my daughter and I look at pictures and videos of family functions from that time, she says, “Mom, please don’t ever let yourself get that heavy again. I love you, but I did not like the way you looked.”

I had tried many ways to lose weight, from soup diets to Weight Watchers to even starving myself, only to become sick from lack of nutrition. I did lose my first 20 lb. by taking Metabolite, but it took forever to lose and it became very expensive. I decided to find a weight clinic (not Sunrise!) that could help me and I thought I had. However, that clinic did not seem too concerned about my health. I would go in, pick up my medication and see a doctor once a month. I still felt as if I was doing it all alone. After becoming a Medical Assistant, I started working for Sunrise Health Medical Group. Working here, I learned about the many different programs we offered. I learned about making better nutritional choices. I am now part of a staff with a real personal concern for each patient. We're not only experts in health and weight but we also have a personal relationship with our patients. Sometimes it helps a patient to succeed just to have a friend who knows firsthand what he or she is going through.

So far, I have taken and kept off a total of 70 lb. while on the appetite suppressant program, and every day I am still losing more. I am able to wear nice clothes and can be more active with my daughter. She and I like riding dirt bikes and taking walks. Now I can do those things without feeling tired or dealing with sore feet or pain in my lower back. Carrying all that weight can hurt you mentally and physically. There is no magic to losing weight, it just takes setting a positive goal for yourself and going for it.

Silvia

Kathy(L), Nikki(top), and Sylvia(R) have lost 180 lbs.

Hi! My name is Silvia, and like many women, I blame my weight gain on my two pregnancies. I have a five-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl. I gained 50+ lbs. during my first pregnancy, but after I gave birth the weight stayed on. I could not believe myself as I looked at our first family pictures. I was so heavy it was like I was another person. I tried to lose the weight on my own, but I was just too busy!

Luckily, I started working at Sunrise and learned how to eat better and healthier. I also learned that exercise is a very important factor in the weight loss process, even though sometimes some of us don’t want to or feel we don’t have the time to do it. I started a Sunrise program myself and began to lose the weight, but then I got pregnant again! This time I gained less weight. I was eating better and not eating everything in sight!

After my daughter was six months old and I had stopped breast-feeding, I decided to start the program again. I was determined to get the weight off and I did! My daughter is now two years old and I have lost 40+lbs. and am on the appetite suppressant program, determined to lose more. I know it is a lifelong battle. I also know that if you set a goal and take it a few pounds at a time, you can do it. I did it and feel so good about it. A few days ago on my son’s birthday, I invited friends over who I had not seen for months. They said to me, “Silvia, Oh my God, I can’t believe it, you look so good! You’ve lost so much weight!” When you hear that it makes you feel proud.

Kathy

Kathy after losing over 60 pounds

Hello, my name is Kathy. I am a 39-year-old mother of four and a new granddaughter. My story began in the middle of the 1990s. I was working at a job where we could sit at our desks and snack all day. I put on a few extra pounds but nothing significant. The major weight piled on after I was attacked by a man I knew.

After the attack, I didn’t leave my home for nearly four months. I would sit in front of the TV, eat all day, and never exercise. Basically, I didn’t care about my health and appearance. I wanted to gain the weight because I believed if I looked unattractive no men would look at me.

As my weight continued to escalate, the more my doctor would warn me of the risks to my overall health. But, needless to say, that warning fell on deaf ears and my weight skyrocketed to a whopping 208 pounds.

After nearly a year of unsuccessful therapy and medication, I was lying in my bed, eating and watching a movie on cable called “My Life.” It was about a man with everything in the world a person could want, but the sad fact was that he was terminally ill. The movie really touched me and actually made me start evaluating what I was doing to myself because of the attack I had suffered. It wasn’t long after seeing this movie that I said, “enough is enough.”

The change didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow and gradual process, and one of the greatest struggles I ever faced in my life. I didn’t know where to begin at first, but my first step was dumping my tranquilizers down the toilet. Then I forced myself to leave my apartment again. My next step was to watch the portion sizes and the times I ate my last meal, and I tried to do at least a half-hour of exercise daily.

Trying to eat properly and start an exercise program is very difficult without constant guidance and support.

In March, 2002, I started working at Sunrise Health Medical Group, and by this time, my weight had dropped from 208 to 179 pounds. Soon after I was hired, I started on a modified program eating one regular meal a day plus OPTIFAST® for my other meals. From March to July, 2002, my weight dropped from 179 to 155, and at this time, I added another meal. Between August and November, 2002, I didn’t lose any more weight, so I asked Dr. Mazzie to prescribe appetite suppressants for me. That first week I lost 6½ pounds which dropped me into the 140s.

Now, at the end of 2003, I am weighing in at 125 pounds and am happy to say that my life has changed for the better. I have turned to a new chapter in my life. I have resolved to start a strict program of weight training, and I hope to be ready to enter bodybuilding competitions by the end of 2004.

Now when I look into the mirror, I see a new, improved, stronger me. I have learned a great lesson through this triumph over tragedy: to never allow another person to have power or control over me because this is “My Life.”