A Grateful Journey
I felt humbled when I was asked to write about my journey with The Weigh Station, for it has not been a journey that I have made alone. I hope that this may be a way for me to “pay it forward”, and maybe help someone else – maybe you.
To give a little background, I am 65 and not too “old” to learn something new. For most of my life I have been a pretty active guy… an athlete in my younger years, and active artist, potter, woodworker and educator for many years; raised a wonderful family; and became an avid kayaker in later life.
Much of that changed however when I became disabled about six years ago, had to retire early, and eventually even had to give up driving. I have also had Type 2 diabetes for about 25 years and have experienced several major diabetic complications over the past 10 years. Needless to say, my active life really changed 6 years ago, and I soon began a long-term weight gain.
The summer of 2010 I found myself in the hospital for several days with a severe respiratory problem. I was placed on oxygen and was later diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (my breathing had stopped 120 times per hour during a sleep study). My attending physician in the hospital convinced me that I had to lose weight, and he recommended the Weigh Station in Christiansburg.
Shortly after my release from the hospital, my daughter Alex encouraged me to check it out, and took me for a consultation with Dr. Dums, who explained the program to me. It sounded good and I was enthused but somewhat concerned about the cost. I was now retired on disability and living on a fixed income (as you will later see the cost turned out to be well-offset by savings in food costs and reduced medical costs).
After some prayerful consideration, I took a leap of faith and committed myself 100% to the program, asking God to help me on what I thought would be a difficult journey. I met with Dr. Shaffer, who was most encouraging and hopeful. He set up my specific plan and the first step of the journey had begun.
It has been almost a year now, during which all of the staff of The Weigh Station has shared their hope and encouragement with me – wonderful people. My daughter Alex had set up a “food system” for me at the start, carefully measuring out all my food portions, portioning them in baggies and organizing them in the refrigerator. She also printed out shopping guide lists for me and placed a chart on the refrigerator that numbers all of my daily servings of protein, fruits, vegetables and water. I just keep track by moving magnets as I go through the day. It’s a great visual aid that I highly recommend. My daughter Lauren, to whom I am very grateful, has driven me to almost all of my appointments and helped me keep up with my food system. Many thanks also to Irene, who helps me with most of my food shopping, keeping me fed and full of hope.
So, my journey has not been alone. I had promised to be faithful to my effort, and asked God for His help. I have not strayed even a bite from my program, and He has graced me with vigilance, kept me from temptations, guarded me from hunger, changed my appetites and tastes, given me patience whenever I hit plateaus, and to this day has brought me within 9 pounds of my goal, with a loss of 118 pounds.
In the past six months I have come off my insulins, with great blood sugar control; have been taken off of a blood pressure medication and a cholesterol medication; have had my oxygen discontinued and have had my kidney function go from 45% to normal.My energy level is great, my mobility is greatly improved, and I feel much more full of life. All of my doctors are thrilled, as is my family, who have all been a great support for me. I also thank all my “brothers” and “sisters” at The Weigh Station, and look forward to good things in my life – and hopefully yours.
The best advice I can give concerning the food is to find variety and get creative within the guidelines. I discovered a lot of ways to prepare fruits and vegetables that I never would have dreamed of a year ago, and I also discovered that the more things I’ve tried, the less I feel like I’m missing out by not eating the things I cut out. The other thing that helped me was exercising. I started out walking as much as I could on the treadmill, which wasn’t much at the time, and gradually and continually increasing the workload by adding things like weight lifting again. I love that I can go hiking up hills now and not even start breathing heavy! As of right now, I’ve lost approximately 125 pounds and my blood pressure has been at a healthy level for months now.
If you’ve struggled with weight loss or learning healthy eating habits, I highly recommend the Weigh Station. They teach you healthy eating guidelines, encourage you to get physically active, and they keep you accountable every step of the way. I’m living proof that the program works if you’ll just determine to stick through it no matter what!