If you don’t believe that weight loss can considerably impact your health, read on to learn how one of my patients experienced an incredible drop in cholesterol with weight loss alone, despite her doctor’s desire to put her on medication.
SP is an attorney in her mid-fifties. Under five feet tall, she was carrying an extra forty pounds on her petite frame and had very high cholesterol. Despite the extra weight, she was very active and took spinning classes at the gym regularly, but her busy schedule made eating a challenge. She ate most lunches and dinners out or had takeout at her desk. She told me her weight had always fluctuated but had increased even more after menopause. Since carbohydrates were her favorite food, she had not tried to reduce them in the past to lose weight. Her typical eating day consisted of a bagel and latte for breakfast, a restaurant salad and main course for lunch, and a frozen dinner or takeout at night, often followed by a midnight snack of milk and cookies.
Because of her demanding schedule, SP would only be able to see me monthly instead of every week or two, as most of my patients do. Most patients with infrequent visits are not as successful, but I agreed to meet with her once a month and see how things progressed. I started out by making sure that she had lean protein beginning with breakfast and appreciably reducing her starchy carbohydrates. After a month, she came back in, and—despite reporting that she had a hard time counting food group servings—to my surprise she had lost four and a half pounds. She, too, was surprised at how easily the weight was coming off and that she was not having cravings for carbs as she feared. She began bringing her snacks and an easy lunch, like a Trader Joe’s salad, to work instead of eating takeout at her desk.
After three months, she was down fourteen and a half pounds. Prior to getting on the scale each month, she told me she was sure she had not lost weight, because she did not feel as if she was on a diet. “That is my goal,” I explained on a regular basis, with a chuckle. It always amazes me that people think they have to suffer and feel as though they are “on a diet” when attempting to lose weight. After about six months, down twenty-one pounds, she began coming in every two months, and though the weight loss slowed considerably, it never stopped, much to her wonder and mine.
