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BY ERIKA ROSE
Times Correspondent | Thursday, May 25, 2006 | (No comments posted.)
Weighing 348 pounds and wearing a size 30 to 32 in August of 2003, 30-year-old Shakitha Taylor of Gary says her obesity was like "the worst illness you could imagine."
She had been on "every diet known to man," but still, her weight had continued to rise until she faced the prospect of outgrowing even the biggest sizes at the "big girl store."
She began looking into having gastric bypass surgery at The Methodist Hospitals, in which her stomach would be surgically reduced to a small pouch and part of her intestine bypassed. Overeating and eating the wrong things would cause her to feel ill.
"I want the food but my stomach won't allow it," she says, explaining how she dropped 149 pounds and more than 80 inches in less than three years.
But while she learned the operation would certainly change her physically, it was facing the psychological aspect of her obesity -- the "why" she was overweight -- that continues to pose the greatest challenge. As her body continues to adapt, allowing her to gradually eat more without the ill and full feeling that caused her success, the possibility of gaining the weight back is a serious threat, one in which she is constantly fearful.
That's where the nutrition classes and counseling that were required before surgery are critical to her ongoing success. The classes taught her, for example, the reasons she packed on weight in the first place. As cryptic as it sounds, Taylor says, "I found out I was overeating and not eating enough."
What she means is that in an effort to eat less, she would skip breakfast and lunch altogether and delay dinner until as late as 10 p.m. By then she was so hungry, she consumed way too much, typically four or five servings of chicken and more. And depriving her body of food interfered with her body's ability to metabolize it.
Her ongoing therapy has taught her to face her emotional eating, identify what triggers her desire to eat and address them in other ways. In short, she's learned that changing her behavior to keep the weight off is a lifelong commitment, just as anyone who's struggled with their weight and won, no matter what method.
The education Taylor has received on her journey has had a positive effect on her children, ages 7, 9 and 13. The nutritional boundaries she enforces are sure to instilling lifelong healthy habits. For example, in addition to her "no sugar" rule, she enforces a "don't walk and eat" rule. She makes everyone's plates, which contain a balanced array of foods, doling out proper portions for their age.
As for living in her new body, Taylor is loving it. "I just had my first sports injury," Taylor proudly announces, laughing at the backwards logic. Playing basketball with her cousins is something she never would have been able to do three years ago.
Shakitha Taylor
Age: 30
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 199
Pounds lost: 149
Wears a size: 14
Had gastric bypass surgery on: Aug. 16, 2003
THE WORKOUT: Once unable to move freely let alone exercise, Taylor now walks about three miles three to four days a week. She is looking forward to the day she can run around the track rather than walk.
THE DIET: A typical day's diet for Taylor might include an egg fried in non-fat cooking spray with a slice of turkey ham for breakfast; a spinach salad with chicken for lunch; and grilled chicken with cauliflower and broccoli for dinner. As for a snack, Taylor munches on graham crackers, which she says are "as close to a cookie as I am going to get."
RULES ON FOOD: After her gastric bypass surgery, Taylor has to live by some strict rules, including avoiding sugar completely; not drinking with her meals and eating several small meals daily. She learned the hard way how critical it is to get enough protein in her diet. Early in her post-surgical phase, she reports losing almost all of her hair, something she attributes to the lack of protein in her diet. She says that because she could eat so little food, it was difficult to get her daily requirement in.
ADVICE FOR WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY: Taylor stresses the importance of the nutrition classes and ongoing counseling that comes along with the procedure at The Methodist Hospitals. "If you don't change the way you eat," she warns, "It doesn't work."
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