By Kelly Wise Legg

mediweight_logoI woke up one morning and I was 25 lbs. overweight. Or at least that’s how it felt. How did this happen? I’m 46 years old. I’ve always been of thin-build and only started mysteriously gaining weight since the age of 40. Many of you reading this right now may be saying, “Me too!”

My recent epiphany occurred when I posed for a picture with a group of people, then I viewed the picture a few days later and, for a moment, I didn’t even recognize myself. It immediately catapulted me out of denial.

Sure, I had to buy new jeans over the last year, but I had convinced myself its because I deserved to have new jeans. And, of course, my scale had broken, so I hadn’t replaced it. And conveniently I would be in a hurry and could never weigh myself in Publix. Looking back, this was all part of my cleverly disguised state of denial.

While doing some weightloss research, I finally determined the best match for me to partner with for my weight-loss journey was Medi Weightloss, located at 203 W. Bloomingdale Ave. in Brandon. I met with Dr. Rolando Sanchez who was kind, compassionate and understanding. Sanchez is a Tampa Bay native, graduated from Jesuit High School and NYU School of Medicine ultimately becoming a vascular surgeon. He saw first-hand the effect that extra weight can cause to the entire body.

“Extra weight affects every cell of the body,” said Sanchez. “It can be linked to diabetes, certain types of asthma, sleeping disorders and high blood pressure to name a few.”

My first visit included a physical exam, blood work and an EKG. The high-tech scale told me my weight and my body-fat percentage.

“One of the best parts of this program is that our clients lose the weight and gain a sense of empowerment,” said Sanchez. “You can see that look of empowerment increasing every week when they weight-in. They even carry themselves differently.”

He encouraged me to go home and pull out a pair of jeans that I can no longer fit into and hang them in a prominent place so that I would see them every day. Those are my “goal” jeans.

I am happy to announce that after my first week on the Medi Weightloss program, I lost an amazing 7.2 lbs and five percent of body fat. I left the office with that sense of empowerment that Dr. Sanchez told me about. I’m on a 12-week program and I will write an update on my progress at the end. To learn more about Medi Weightloss, visit mediweightlossclin ics.com/locations/brandon or call 654-1110.

 

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Kelly Wise Valdes
Kelly Wise Valdes has been writing for the Osprey Observer since 2008. She graduated in 1989 from Florida Southern College with a B.S. in Communications and enjoys writing and traveling. She currently resides in northern Hillsborough County with her husband, David. When not traveling and writing, Kelly and her husband enjoy spending time with their five grown children (as well as their grandchildren) that still keep them very busy.