Woman drops 127 pounds in 25 weeks

editor's note: Charleston freelance writer Sally Watts has been chronicling her weight-loss journey in The Post and Courier since February. She is expecting a child, and will be exploring and relating local stories about weight and health-related issues until she resumes her own weight-loss program in the spring.

Delores Burbage calls it her great adventure.

It started this past February, when she decided she'd had enough.

"I was pretty miserable," says Burbage. "I'd always been broad-shouldered like my dad's side of the family, a big girl. But as I got older and heavier, I just started feeling bad all the time. My joints hurt. I walked with a cane."

At 55 and more than 100 pounds overweight, Burbage started researching weight-loss programs. She decided that surgery wasn't for her and was looking into other options when she heard about Dr. Robert Johnson and the Bariatric Medicine Center in West Ashley.

Johnson has more than 50 years of experience treating obesity and came highly recommended, says Burbage. He gave her a thorough physical and battery of tests. The results weren't great. She had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, borderline blood sugar levels and an abnormal EKG.

"Dr. Johnson said the good news was that I could change all that by losing weight," says Burbage. "I was skeptical. I'd been on the yo-yo dieting cycle for years. But I knew I had to try anyway."

Burbage started a liquid diet at the center.

She began consuming three protein shakes, one serving of soup and one serving of flavored gelatin per day. She received shots of B6 and B12 every week. She drank lots of water and relied on an allotment of five sugarless sticks of gum per day to alleviate cravings and satisfy the urge to chew.

"In a matter of weeks, I looked like a totally different person," says Burbage.

In 25 weeks, Burbage has lost a whopping 127 pounds — and counting.

Her level of success is not necessarily typical. So how does she do it?

She says there are three key components.

First, Burbage follows the program to the letter. Hard to believe, but that means she has not had a single bite of solid food in about 6 months.

Ask her how she's never cheated or indulged, even once (not even an extra piece of sugarless gum, ever?), and she says that sure, she craves a piece of buttered toast once in a while, and admits that the first two weeks without "real" food were the hardest of her life. But she doesn't give in. She wards off the temptation with prayer, distraction and a big glass of cold water.

Second, she stays moving. Burbage has an air glider exercise machine in her home that she uses regularly, and she uses hand weights for muscle strengthening and tone.

Finally, Burbage relies on her support system of family, friends and church community.

"I don't know how anyone could ever do something like this without support," she says.

Burbage gets frequent phone calls, e-mails, cards and visits that help keep her motivated. Once a supporter anonymously left a $100 bill inside a card on her keyboard at the church where she works as a ministry assistant — money to pay for a week on the program.

When she hit her 100-pound goal, someone lined the sidewalk leading to her office at Old Fort Baptist Church in Summerville with balloons.

She is confident that she now has the tools she needs to keep her weight in check in the future. And the health benefits are clear and worth celebrating. Her cholesterol is down from 212 to 152, her blood pressure is down, and she's tossed that cane aside for good.

Plus, there's more joy in everyday life now. She feels better than she has in 15 years, she can get around more easily, and she can do things she couldn't do before.

"Clothes shopping is fun now," says Burbage. "When you're really overweight, you just look for whatever fits. Trying on fitted clothes now and evaluating whether or not they're flattering, which was an option I didn't really have before, is kind of cool and different."

She also fooled several longtime friends at a church dinner by pairing her new shape with a wig of long black hair, similar to her hairstyle when she was in her 20s.

"They didn't know who I was," says Burbage. "It was like going back in time."

Burbage plans to begin a maintenance plan in which patients transition back to "real" food within the next few weeks. She still expects to lose weight and hopes to hit her final weight loss goal by Christmas.

She can't think of a better way to kick off a new year.

E-mail Sally Watts at sidlesup@yahoo.com.