When you live on a farm and have access to the freshest produce and meats possible, there’s a temptation to go big on meals. Anita admits that she often overdid it, even before she and her husband, Kevin, had three children.
“I would put a meal on the table that was enough for five people. I made a big farm dinner!” she said. “And then you wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”
The rash of leftovers left their mark on her scale. An agricultural teacher at Milan High School, Anita saw her weight spike as high as 265 pounds.
The North Vernon resident had struggled with her weight throughout high school and college, at one point losing 30 pounds in a single summer but eventually putting it back on. Having three babies only made it more of a challenge. A long commute to work, plus helping run a farm and take care of a family made exercise and proper nutrition challenging.
Anita tried various diets and systems, finding them either ineffective or producing only short-term results. She joined and dropped gym memberships. It was difficult to keep up with her young children. Then, just past her 30th birthday, she developed high blood pressure and knee problems. She knew something had to give.
“I decided it was not good to be this young with small children and have all these health problems.”
She knew about bariatric surgery from a relative who had undergone the procedure. After hearing about lap band surgery, she decided to attend an information session at the Weight Loss Institute of Columbus Regional Health. Following the normal screening process and determining that her employer-provided health insurance would cover the procedure, she took the next big step in September 2008.
Anita experienced some discomfort from the fact that surgeons also removed her gall bladder at the same time. But she had little trouble adjusting to the new eating habits, with plenty of guidance from the center’s staff. The weight flew off — she lost 70 pounds in the first six months. Today she weighs in at 165 pounds, or 100 pounds less than her peak weight.
She credits the guidance she received both before and after the surgery from the bariatric team. “The plan they put together is very much oriented to the patient being successful. If you go in thinking, ‘This is what I want to do because I want to lose weight for me,’ you’ll be successful.”
Today Anita plays softball frequently, and her kids have to hurry to keep up with her. She still cooks a lot of food, though now there actually are five people at the table. She strives for healthier options, like baking rather than frying. Mostly it’s about moderation – she uses a special purple plate for herself so she won’t exceed her allotted portion.
As for those big farm meal leftovers? Now she brings extra food into work and leaves it in the teachers’ lounge.
“Teachers are scavengers,” she laughs. “It’s gone within an hour of taking it to school!”