January 8, 2016 at 3:20 p.m.
Marshfield Clinic HMR Program provides hope for the New Year
Marshfield Clinic HMR Program provides hope for the New Year
"I had heard about it first when two ladies from St. Germain were in testimonial advertisements after doing the Marshfield Clinic HMR program," said Mary Weber. "Both ladies are customers of ours at the grocery store, so I know them and thought I should give it a try. It also talked to my son, Dave, about it."
Dave Weber was very overweight at the time and needed hip replacement surgery, but doctors advised that he needed to lose weight before he could get the hip surgery. He began researching the HMR program and saw that it was highly ranked by US News and World Report, so he felt confident in that type of recommendation and solid reputation.
"I needed to lose a lot of weight to be able to move around," he said. "When we were on a family vacation, I really couldn't move or enjoy myself, so that was the last straw. When I got home, I called right away to get in the program."
Weber called on a Monday, saw Dr. Matt Drewry, the Marshfield Clinic medical director for the program, on a Tuesday, and got started on that Wednesday. "It was that fast and that easy. If it had not been so easy and fast to join, I may have had time for second thoughts," he said.
Mary Weber wanted to lose weight too, but didn't need to lose as much, so she joined also for moral support for Dave.
"It has been good to do together," she said. "It's a motivational thing for both. Food is our business and is always readily available. The leftover bakery is especially a challenge," she said.
Dave wanted to lose more than 50 pounds, so he completed the Decision Free option in the HMR program, which eliminates all the food choices and temptations. Mary wanted to lose 20 pounds, so she did the Healthy Solutions option in the program, which has more flexibility in food choices. Both went into it with a great determination to follow the program and both have surpassed their weight loss goals. To date, David has lost 80 pounds and Mary has lost 33 pounds.
"This was a health issue for my hips carrying that weight," said Dave. "Also, some of my health metrics were borderline, but now all have improved and are on the low risk side. My cholesterol dropped 67 points and my blood pressure is in healthy range now. I lost 6 inches off my waist and 8 inches off chest size, and have completed both hip replacement surgeries."
Mary says she is happy because her clothes fit better and her blood pressure is now back to normal so she was able to discontinue her blood pressure medication. Both say the key to keeping it off is continuing to use the HMR products and maintaining contact with the programs health educators, Renee Trapp and Jan Drossart, to stay motivated.
"Jan and Renee gave us all the tools and support - they made us feel we could call at any time and use them as resources. And we saw great progress with consistent weight loss every week, which gave us the incentive to stay in the program," they said.
"I was considering extreme measures, like gastric bypass surgery because I was so overweight. This program showed me weight loss was attainable and anybody is capable of doing it," said Dave. "The Clinic's HMR program is great for those who have given up hope of losing weight. This program provides hope."
Since they have lost the weight, other people they know have started the program because they have seen the physical changes in this mother and son.
"We spread the word to others. This is not some crazy fad diet thing - it's a medically supervised and nationally recognized diet program. From the doctor to the program educators, no one is judgmental. Everyone in the program is so encouraging. It all starts with making the phone call," said Dave.
For more information, call the Marshfield Clinic HMR Weight Management program, (715) 358-1036 or (800) 347-0673.
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