Prior to his recent lifestyle change, 20-year-old Louie Ortega said he was “super-overweight.” The extra pounds were from a combination of overeating and being “real lazy,” he said.
Yet in the six months that have elapsed since he took charge of his health, the 6-foot, 2-inch El Centro resident went from weighing nearly 300 pounds to weighing 195 pounds.
Among the added benefits that have accompanied his weight loss are increased energy levels, the ability to play sports with friends, as well as astonishment and encouragement from friends and family.
“My grandma can actually wrap her arms around me now,” he said.
Since the start of the year Ortega has been exercising regularly and making healthier food choices, he said. Gone are the sugary drinks, the flour tortillas and the size 40 waistline.
Although he intends to have a slice of carrot cake when he turns 21 next month, Ortega contends that he’s “not going back to the way I was before.”
“I feel great knowing that I did this all by myself,” Ortega said. “I want people to actually know that you can do it if you try.”
As just about anyone who has successfully or unsuccessfully lost weight can attest, the path to a healthier lifestyle is often a lifetime endeavor. And for those that have succeeded in losing weight, many have found that keeping the weight off presents another set of challenges.
Weight loss vs. weight maintenance
At Valley Weight Loss in El Centro, potential weight-loss clients typically come in either overweight or after having hit a weight-loss plateau, owner Tina Mamer said.
The typical medically supervised weight-loss program is a 12-week regimen of recommended diet and physical activity, she said. Noting that everyone’s metabolism is different, the program determines optimum levels of food intake and energy expenditure for the desired weight loss.
In addition to the weight-loss program, a free long-term weight maintenance strategy is also utilized, Mamer said.
When a client is placed on the long-term weight maintenance program their diet is modified slightly at first to transition slowly to previously off-limits food categories. The vast majority of clients who complete the weight-loss program take advantage of the weight maintenance strategies, she said.
“They have worked hard to take the weight off,” Mamer said. “We want to make sure they succeed in keeping it off.”
The ultimate goal is to have clients “reset (their) appetite center” and eat regularly without the risk of weight gain, the Valley Weight Loss Web site states.
The science of “energy balance”
In a recent report titled “Energy Balance and Obesity,” researchers argue that adopting healthy food choices and increased physical activity holds the most promise to combating rising obesity rates.
During the past 20 years obesity rates in the U.S. have been increasing, with 35 percent of the adult population now classified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here in the Valley, about one-third of the population over the age of 18 is considered obese, county Public Health Department officials have previously stated.
“What’s happening out there is we’re focusing on single issues,” said Jim Hill, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and one of the report’s authors.
Attaining “energy balance” is the best strategy to keep people from gaining undue weight, he said. Energy balance consists of energy intake, expenditure and storage and can be manipulated to counter the body’s natural tendency to preserve existing body weight, Hill said.
A reduction of 100 calories a day in food intake would prevent weight gain in 90 percent of the adult population if coupled with increased physical activity, the report stated.
The science available to back up their contention has been “gradually accumulating” to the point where a “cohesive argument” can be made, Hill said.
Prevention, rather than treatment, also holds promise. Yet there remains “tremendous challenges” to changing the behavior patterns of those most at risk for weight gain, Hill said.
“At the end of the day it’s not going to be easy,” Hill said. “It’s going to be hard.”
Tired of feeling sick
Constantly being told by his doctor that he should refrain from a lot of physical activities motivated Mario Lopez to change his lifestyle.
“I got tired of being sick,” the 22-year-old asthmatic said.
After settling on a combination of healthy eating and increased physical activity when he was 18 years old, Lopez said he was able to shed more than 100 pounds in two years. He was also able to wean himself off various asthma medications, and takes just one rather than six daily.
The past two years he has spent working hard to maintain his current weight of 177 pounds, the 5-foot 9-inch El Centro resident said, adding that he intends to drop 20 more pounds.
His current diet has been adapted to reflect his evolving exercise routine, he said. While some of the more extreme activities, such as jogging in midday summer weather, have been replaced by trips to CrossFit Amundson in Imperial, Lopez said he has “never felt better.”
“There was always times when I asked myself why I was doing this to myself,” Lopez said. “Now it’s fun, it’s like second nature.”
Staff Writer, Copy Editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com
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