The Voice - Student Newspaper

Inspirational GCC weight loss stories

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over the last 20 years more and more people in the United States have been affected by obesity. As of 2007, the state of Arizona had an obesity prevalence of 25.4 percent.

How does this information affect you? An alarming amount of adults have unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.

For Flora Dean, an elementary school teacher and a Glendale Community College student, controlling her weight has been a challenge well taken. Flora has lost 165 lbs. over the last few years and went from a size 5XL to a size 10. Flora considers that her Hispanic heritage influenced her to be more vulnerable to diabetes as she has seen her siblings affected by it.

She had tried every diet possible, "I have done in the past, the Nutrisystem, the Slim Fast, the Jenny Craig, all the diets. All these gimmicky things that you can do, yeah I lost the weight. But guess what? It comes back and even worse with a vengeance."

The fact that she couldn't walk from her car to the office and to get lunch from the cafeteria; she would have to ask her coworkers to bring her food, made her decide to entirely change the path of her life.

"That was my big wake up call for me, "Flora commented.

August 1, 2006, was when she decided to drastically change her life. Flora started doing some research and reading nutrition books and that's how the adventure started.

Flora knew that she had gained all her weight periodically and she understood that losing it would have to be done gradually, "I wasn't going to lose it in one year or five months," she said.

Flora Dean is a brave woman. She lost 75 lbs. in a year and a half just by "Life changes, not diet."

Dean started eating a main meal and different snacks throughout the day like sliced apples, raisins and trail mix. Dean only eats red meat three times a month and breads are eaten sporadically.

A year ago, she started coming to the Glendale Community College Fitness Center doing a very tough routine. Two hours of treadmill, one hour on the Olympic machine and half an hour in the bicycle make up for her 4 hour daily routine and that same routine made her lose 90 lbs in the past year. Flora Dean is not alone. April Hammonds, a Glendale Community College student, has also an amazing story to tell, "I have lost 207 lbs.

I was wearing a size 32 and now I am wearing a size 8, lost about 12 sizes." That is a great achievement for April because she had been overweight since she was 10 years old.

"I was tired of people making fun of me; I was tired of people looking at me like I was some disgusting human being. I was tired of feeling miserable and tired every day. I was tired of not being able to keep up with my daughter when she would run around and play and stuff when she was a toddler. I was tired of not being able to run around and play out with her or go on outings with my family like fishing or camping and be able to keep up," said Hammonds. "When I was 28 years old, I went and saw the doctor and I was at my heaviest. He says, 'April, you're going to have a heart attack if you don't slow down, if you don't do something now about this weight and get it under control.' That scared me really bad because I have a daughter. I broke down to him and I said, what can I do since I have been heavy my whole life? He said, 'Why don't I put you on a diet plan for right now?"

April first started with a liquid diet but she felt that she was starving herself, "In one sitting, I would eat three Jumbo Jacks, a chicken sandwich and four tacos. Now I can eat half of the burger, half of my fries. I work out four times a week; I have my cardio, my fruits and my vegetables. On a day to day basis, I try to stick to about 1,500 calories. I have managed to keep my weight off."

Without any doubt, April and Flora are two weight loss experts. They both feel great now and are much healthier thanks to their weight loss. Neither less to say that keeping the weight off is a skill they both have mastered. If they can do it, anybody can do it!

Flora advices people that want to lose weight, "Really look at what your eating habits are: your dietary routine. Make your program fit those areas in your dietary routine that need to be adjusted. Make up your mind that it's not going to come off in five weeks and make it a long range goal. Don't give up. You will reach plateaus especially when you're exercising. Keep going." Dean concluded.

April and Flora agree when they say that family and friends were a great support system for them. They also credit their success to their personal trainers here at GCC.

Please send comments to lmontes@gccvoice.com