Kaiser Permanente Medical Weight Management Program
Phone: (866) 454-3480

Christina

Location:	Santa Clara
Starting Weight:	389lbs
Current Weight:	253lbs

Kaiser Medical Weight Management was my first and only attempt at losing weight. I had always been heavy, and at a certain point in my life I started telling myself, “This is it. You’re just going to be overweight for the rest of your life.”

I have been working at a senior housing facility for some time and in my interactions with residents there, I began to notice the direct long-term consequences of aging without having taken care of yourself or your health. Everyday I would engage with seniors who were suffering from a variety of distressing health problems that could have been avoided had they made healthier choices earlier on. I did not want to follow in their footsteps, so I resolved myself to try to lose some weight before I turned 40.

I had full support in the process of seeking a healthier lifestyle from my husband, Steve, who for his own reasons joined the program with me. I always feel like we cheated—the unique benefit of having a partner who was as committed to the program as me was a huge source of support and motivation for us both. We really took to heart the SMART Skills that we learned in class; many of which still play a vital role in our daily lives. During the active weight loss phase of the program, we were able to remove all real food from our house, which furthered our success in the program by removing the temptation to stray from our meal replacements.

The SMART Skills were not the only aspect of the program that were incredibly effective for me. The facilitators are another important piece of the program. They are always willing to listen and problem-solve with us, knowing know how to draw a line in the sand when we need some tough love. That support was especially helpful during the transition phase as we weaned ourselves off meal replacements and back on to real food. My husband and I were both nervous about having more control over our food intake, and worried that we might slip back into old habits. However, in class we discussed multiple ways to address our problems, and our fears began to subside. To this day, we plan and prep all of our food. During preparation we still weigh out everything to make sure we aren’t overserving or overeating.

The biggest lesson I took away from my experience with this program is that nobody is perfect. I still have good days and bad days, and days that are a lot harder than others. Losing or maintaining a healthy weight is a life-long commitment that may never feel completely easy, but in the end, I know I am laying the groundwork for a longer and healthier life that I can share with my husband. We are immensely more active than we used to be, which gives us more opportunities to enjoy our life more. Steve and I regularly go for bike rides now, and we recently completed the San Francisco Giants 5K Run Trifecta for the third year in a row. Before the Kaiser Weight Program these kinds of things were always out of the question, but not anymore.

*Keep in mind that each patient is unique; your results may vary.