JAN'S SUCCESS STORY

My name is Jannette and I am 38 years old.  I have been struggling with my weight since I was a child.  I grew up watching my mother and my sisters also struggling with weight issues.  I attended the Medical Weight Management Center in the early 1990s and lost 30 pounds.  I was able to manage my weight well by what I had learned for a few years.  It was when I was pregnant with twins that I started to struggle.  I was unable to exercise or even get out to the house for 5 months of my pregnancy, due to complications.  After the girls were born, I struggled to stay at the weight I was at, which was 235 pounds.  I continued to gain up to a high of 291.   I watched my mother struggle with her weight, diabetes, and heart problems, and my husband with high cholesterol and triglycerides.

We decided that we needed to make a change for ourselves and for our children.  I started the program at the Medical Weight Management Center and instantly started to make changes at home that I had learned in class.  We removed the family-style dining from our table.  This was hard for us, as it was one of our traditions.  I started portioning the food on the plates and included fruits and vegetables for everyone.  We started using more spices instead of adding fat.

We started exercising as a family, including using the weight machine that had been sitting in the corner for 2 years.  I was able to stick to this program because of dedication and family support, and I was not hungry.  I knew in advance that this had to be a life-changing event or it would never work.

I lost 120 pounds; my cholesterol went from 230 to 190 and my blood pressure decreased to 100/65.  My husband lost 50 pounds just by eating right and regular exercise (walking), and his cholesterol and triglycerides came down to normal.  My children have become more conscious of what they are eating-they know that the cookies and sugar will only make them tired.  Everything I learned in class was shared with my family over our dinner meals.  My daughters have started lifting weights to improve their hockey games.

Over the past year, I have endured many life experiences while on this program.  I started a new job, my mother fell and was incapacitated for many months, my father passed away, we went camping almost every weekend, and took a trip to New York City.  I attended many family get-togethers.  Through all this, I was able to stay on the program.  I feel confident in myself and my food choices.

I was able to step back during those times when I was still on the liquid meal replacement and analyze what would be the best food choices. All the things I learned in class helped me to prepare for these situations.  Without the nutritional background, I know I would be lost now that I am in maintenance.  I still review my nutritional sheets almost every night.  I study my log books and I use fitday.com to log my entire food intake.  I started using this internet program about 6 months into my weight loss program so I could get used to it for maintenance.