Patience Pays Off for CentraCare Weight Management Patient

“In order to stay on the path, you have to change and NEVER, EVER give up! If you give up, you’re giving up on yourself!”

Commitment. Patience. Willingness to change. Those are the three main attributes Sue Moore feels have helped her succeed in her weight loss journey.

With a strong desire to change her lifestyle and eating habits, Sue signed up with CentraCare Weight Management in February 2017. She dropped 57 pounds in 14 months and has plans to take off another 20-30. She has worked hard to be patient — and is pleased with the more than 20 percent weight loss.

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Sue has been able to choose from a variety of “tools” tailored specifically to her. These options include: weight loss medications, health coaching, meal replacements, behavioral support and stress management options. Sue eats two regular meals a day and uses a meal replacement for her third meal. She also has taken advantage of health coaching and upped her exercise level significantly.

Non-scale victories count, too

Sue cautions that while weight reduction matters a lot, it’s also important celebrate “non-scale” victories. “I have a lot more energy so I can work out more often and for longer periods of time,” she says. “I’ve dropped 24 inches and three clothing sizes and my glycerides, glucose and blood pressure are now all within their normal ranges.”

For most of her life Sue was slender, at five-foot, five-inch frame, she weighed 118-120 pounds. Once she hit her 40s, the weight began to creep up and then menopause was an easy excuse to blame for the weight gain. “It took me a while to figure out that our bodies don’t need all those calories as we age,” she notes.

When she began her weight loss journey with CentraCare, she made a couple of big changes right away by cutting out diet soda and “white” foods like bread and rice. She now records everything she eats in her food journal which helps her be really mindful of what goes into her mouth.

Accountability matters

Sue advises people to ask themselves “What do you want to eat?’ and “Why do you want to eat that?” “Knowing that a dietitian will be reviewing that journal has been a big motivator to really keep myself in check and making sure I am eating foods for the right reasons,” Sue says with a chuckle.

A pharmacy technician at the Coborn Cancer Center, Sue reduced her full-time hours in 2016 to focus more on her well-being. The extra time has allowed her to increase her exercise level to five times a week. During the winter, she exercises on a recumbent bike, walks on the treadmill and uses a total body home gym.

This summer, Sue is looking forward to spending time in her 10 gardens — she lives on five acres of land outside of Rice — and continuing her healthy lifestyle.

Her advice to others looking to lose weight, “In order to stay on the path, you have to change and NEVER, EVER give up! If you give up, you’re giving up on yourself!”