Jaime M: Weight Loss Success*

Dr. Kerendian,

You have my most sincere thanks.  For forty years, since I was seven years old, I have been overweight.  I made a regrettable, but conscious, choice when I was that age to gain weight.  I did so to emulate the two most important people in my life, my father and my maternal grandfather.  And so began the years of being husky, of being overweight, of being fat and, finally, of being morbidly obese.

For the most part, though my mother would occasionally engage in efforts to get me to lose weight, being overweight was not a large problem.  During the bulk of those 40 years, I didn’t suffer from any serious weight-related health problems and the social ramifications were something I either dealt with or considered irrelevant.  However, in my late twenties the challenge of dating made it obvious that being overweight was a social hurdle.  So, with a particular goal (i.e. woman) in mind, I lost 100 pounds, from 300 to 200.  And I felt great.  And she got married.  And, within twelve months, I had gained all the lost weight back.

And so it was for another 10 years.  And then, at age 40, I slowly began to gain more weight.  And more weight.  And then even more.  Eventually I tipped (crushed?) the scales at over 400 pounds.  And those ramifications and complications which I had escaped or ignored previously made themselves quite obvious–difficulty standing, difficulty walking, difficulty sleeping, and not being able to fly with any degree of comfort–all of which contributed to a sharp curtailing of activity.  All of this, of course, only helped increase the weight gain.

With the slow realization of an early demise and the gentle, but insistent, pushing from friends and relatives, I finally began to search out a solution.  The most obvious one was some sort of surgery, but after attending an orientation via my health care provider, I decided on another approach–a weight loss program. Unfortunately, the one provided by my HMO would not be available for a significant amount of time and was very expensive. So I sought out private help.  And, luckily, I found you and Delight Medical.

From even before I set foot in your offices, I was treated with respect, encouraged and supported.  From there things only got better.  You were and remain attentive, informative and willing to engage in a dialogue about my situation and your approach to help me lose weight. Your staff is always welcoming and supportive. They all behave as though they have a vested interest in my success.  And the Optifast program, as modified by you for my particular situation, has been very successful for me, having currently lost over 160 pounds and fully expecting to lose another 50 or more.  If you recall, when I first spoke with you, you actually stated a weight loss goal of 110 pounds within the first six months–a goal I personally thought was unreachable.  I was glad to have been proven wrong by you.

But, more importantly, I believe my current success will last.  I have finally learned to control how much I eat, though it is a daily struggle.  But, having achieved my current level of weight loss, I know, without any doubt, that I don’t want to return to my previous situation.

With my most sincere thanks and gratitude,
Jaime M