David Durham of Schneider weighed around 300 pounds before a workplace fall in 2004 left him with a rotator cuff injury that left him on disability all summer, unable move around much.
“That is when I started to really pack on the pounds,” says the now 62 year old. “Around here there isn’t much to do so I sat in the house and watched TV and ate. I was up to 420 pounds at my heaviest.”
He was on oxygen, several blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes medications and needed an electric chair to get around.
His pulmonologist told him that if he could lose 100 pounds, he wouldn’t need oxygen anymore.
“That clicked in my mind and I agreed to go and get the surgery done,” Durham says. “I took the seminar at St. Mary Medical Center through Healthy 4 Life. Dr. Simpson and my dietitian put me on a strict 2,700 day diet. I began to lose a lot of weight-about 20 pounds a month. I knew then that I wouldn’t need weight loss surgery.”
Since keeping a food journal of what he has eaten, exercising at the gym at least three times per week and staying within his recommended calorie counts, Durham has lost more than 120 pounds in the first year of the program. No more oxygen, no more electric cart, half the blood pressure medications.
“With all the weight that I have lost, I can honestly say that the program has helped me,” Durham says. “My monthly meetings have reinforced what I have learned that I need to do to keep the weight off.”
“I am looking forward to going fishing this summer,” he says. “The Kankakee River is practically in my backyard.”
Take the first step toward reaching your weight loss goals. Attend a free Healthy 4 Life seminar, “Weight Loss Surgery: Is it Right for Me?” to learn more about individualized options for losing weight. Classes are held monthly at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Community Hospital in Munster and St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago. For more information visit COMHS.org/overit.
