“I can’t believe she’s really gone,” Tina Zobel whispered to her husband, Dave, as he helped her with her coat. Theywere leaving a memorial service for Tina’s sister, Suzi, who’d lost a brutal battle against type 2 diabetes. Heading to the car, Tina took a slow breath. It had hit her often that day: If things didn’t change, she’d be next. I won’t put my family through losing another daughter, she vowed silently. I won’t do it. Of course, that meant Tina would need to fight her way down from 373 pounds…
On the drive home, Tina's thoughts drifted over her lifetime of diets, each success swallowed up by her intense urge to eat. Drawn to fast food and packaged junk, she'd gotten so heavy, she'd asked about gastric bypass. "Even if you have surgery, you still have to learn how to eat in a healthy way," the doctor had said. "Start small and see if you get the hang of it. Then you may not need surgery."
Tina often replayed the advice in her mind. Eventually, she saw an infomercial for a program with little measuring cups for different foods: a green one held a perfect portion of veggies, red for protein, yellow for carbs, and blue for fat. She ordered it and started a bit halfheartedly. But now it's time to dive in, she told herself. The truth was, for someone who could eat two Whoppers like it was nothing, small scoops of protein and carbs felt hard. But I'm going to stick with it and see if it gets easier. I can't give up.
Building momentum
This story is from the October 31, 2022 edition of Woman's World.
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This story is from the October 31, 2022 edition of Woman's World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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