Weight loss success stories: Ellen Hetherington

Would you like to lose weight, but you hate exercise? If so, you will definitely find inspiration from the

weight loss success story of Ellen Hetherington. At age 51, Ellen found a weight loss program that helped her lose 60 lbs without the need to starve herself. Enjoy! (See article below)

Before	After

For several years, Ellen Hetherington, 51, allowed stress, poor eating habits and the normal female aging

process to add weight, and she gained nearly 40 pounds in a three-year period. Days were filled with volunteer commitments and driving her daughter across town, so dinner was never planned – her family ordered meals from restaurants at least five times a week.

Her typical meals consisted of a Starbucks frappuccino in the morning, fast food and another frappuccino for lunch at 2 or 3 p.m., and then she would snack until bedtime. As far as an exercise routine, there was none. In fact, she emphatically, “abhorred, not hated, but abhorred exercise.”

After many months of weight gain and some minor, but inconvenient health issues, she knew something had to change.

She first learned of Catherine Kruppa, registered dietitian at The Houstonian, through friends with young children identified by USA Diving as possible future Olympians. She again heard Catherine’s name when discussing weight loss with some friends, who had successfully lost weight through Resolution Shape Up (RSU), an exercise and nutrition program offered at The Houstonian. She immediately contacted Catherine and arranged to participate in RSU during the fall of 2008.

Once she joined the program, her eating habits drastically changed. She made three simple changes in her diet: drink plenty of water, eat a minimum of 35 grams of fiber, and eat five small meals a day with a protein and carbohydrate in each meal.

She thought that while this sounds simple and pretty much common knowledge, she needed the weekly meetings with Catherine and the RSU group to stay on track. In addition, Catherine recommended an Internet tool for monitoring food intake.

Keeping a diary of food consumed is invaluable; it takes away the guesswork, as the Internet program calculates daily food consumption in calories, grams of protein, grams of fat, etc. After weight loss, she added calories back slowly, continuing to focus on “healthy” foods.

Ellen didn’t find the nutritional changes difficult. She was ready for a change and didn’t want to continue at her current weight nor want even minor health issues. Second, she found Catherine’s recommendations easy to follow. She’d tried other diets, losing 35 pounds with one program, but basically starving as she ate foods she didn’t like. She’d lost weight while dieting and then gained even more weight back during the three years following her initial weight loss.

Using Catherine’s suggestions, she never experienced food withdrawal symptoms (i.e., sugar and carbohydrate withdrawal). She could eat foods that she liked when she wanted to. From the first day of RSU, she was developing a new lifestyle rather than dieting.

She once mentioned to Catherine that she wanted to be done with her diet, and immediately realized that she wasn’t on a diet and that her eating wouldn’t and couldn’t change just because she reached her weight loss goal. What she really wanted was to reach her new target weight so that she could finally buy new clothes!

These days, she feels terrific! In the past, her desire to lose weight was motivated by wanting to physically improve her appearance. But, a lifestyle of good nutrition and the resulting weight loss is worth so much more than a pretty physique. Her increase in energy and overall happiness is priceless.

With her abhorrence toward exercise, it was at first difficult to include it in her RSU routine, so she was determined to drop the program. Had she not signed a contract, she would have dropped from RSU on the first day, before stepping into the workout facility.

She gives much credit and thanks to her trainers for enabling her to incorporate exercise into her weekly schedule. She needed, at minimum, those first four weeks of RSU to make exercise a priority in her life. Basically, eating a nutritionally-sound diet is not enough.

Because of exercise, her blood pressure now is 102 over 62. She has calf muscles for the first time in her life. She’s approaching the pants size of her early twenties, at 51 years old! She has unlimited energy.
Today, after one year, she is at her weight loss goal, maintaining a 60-pound weight loss.

Several of her friends chose to repeat RSU multiple times even after completing their weight loss so that they would maintain their new eating and exercise habits. She agrees that maintenance is important, so she continues to meet with Catherine as part of her maintenance program. She knows she still occasionally has an eating binge, but Catherine helps her to understand the cause and to develop strategies for the future.

When she does slip or binge, she plans to eat “healthy” for the next several days. In the past she sometimes “gave up” after weight loss and slipped back into poor eating habits. And, although she still asks for restaurant foods to be cooked with no added fat, it’s fine to occasionally eat a “normal” meal or dessert; she has about a third of a normal serving.

Finally, she’s learned that her body doesn’t respond well to certain foods, which for her include highly processed or high-in-sugar foods. They don’t satisfy her hunger and cause her to eat more. She tries to avoid them or replace them with something else. For instance, when she craves a chocolate snack, she microwaves a Vita Top. And the exercise she once hated?

Today she develops her weekly schedule around both cardio and strength-building exercise. She really loves it and feels so much better when she begins the day with an intense workout. She also uses exercise, even just for 10 minutes, to relieve the urge for late night snacking.

What is Resolution Shape Up?

Resolution Shape Up (RSU) is the perfect program to get you to the ideal fitness level, and entails a comprehensive weight management program incorporating nutrition, cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, and works with all fitness levels.

The program began in 2002 with Registered Dietician Catherine Kruppa, and Ronnie and Leslie Klaus, NSCA certified personal trainers. It has seen tremendous growth: from 10 people in one class the first year to more than 120 people in five classes today. Classes are offered four times each year: a 12-week class starting Jan. 8, an eight-week class in the spring, a six-week class in the summer, and an eight-week class in the fall.

The class consists of mandatory cardio for half the class time, and non-stop, light free weights for the other half, with personal supervision provided by a trainer at all times. Participants attend a personal 30-minute nutrition lecture each week, and record their daily food intake into a food journal so that the dietitians can offer helpful suggestions for a healthy, balanced diet.

The program is offered by Registered Dietician Catherine Kruppa, and Ronnie and Leslie Klaus, NSCA certified personal trainers.

RSU has had phenomenal success in changing hundreds of lives over the years. For more information and to enroll, contact Catherine Kruppa at ckruppa@houstonian.com.

Read More Weight Loss Success Stories

Disclaimer: The article above is for information purposes only. Always consult your physician before engaging in any exercise program.