We've hit the airwaves!

I was interviewed recently about How We Did It by Andy Farmer of KNEO radio. KNEO is a Missouri radio station that also reaches parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas.

Andy asked some great questions about the book: How DID people do it? Is weight loss a one-size-fits-all proposition? What are some of your favorite success stories in the book? (To which I replied: All of them!) What can we do about the childhood obesity rate in this country?

To listen to the interview, click on this link to go to KNEO's website. Enjoy!

But isn't bariatric surgery cheating?

How We Did It got a nice mention in my local newspaper yesterday, The Times of Trenton. It's an article about a local woman who underwent bariatric surgery and lost over 100 pounds.

"But isn't that cheating?" you ask.

That's what I thought before I started to talk to people about weight loss surgery.

One well-known bariatric surgeon, Dr. Scott Shikora, chief of general surgery and bariatric surgery at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, says that realistically speaking, fewer than 10 percent of morbidly obese people will ever achieve weight loss without surgery. Those are some pretty bad odds.

The problem is that when obese people modify their diet, their bodies fight the perceived starvation. They try to exercise, but their weight and overstressed joints prevent them from accomplishing meaningful movement. It's a classic catch-22.

When excess weight reaches the point of endangering a person's health, sometimes surgery is the only possible way to bring them back from the brink of death. So, a person who carries 100 pounds over their ideal weight and has diabetes or high blood pressure may become a good candidate for the surgery.

In many ways, undergoing weight loss surgery requires the same commitment to diet and exercise as the person who chooses a weight loss plan. Eating is strictly controlled and a specific eating plan must be followed in order to prevent complications and weight regain. Exercise is encouraged as part of the patient's new, healthy lifestyle.

But of course weight loss surgery carries significant risks. One of the people in How We Did It who lost 120 pounds after gastric bypass surgery suffered several complications that put her back in the hospital. Yet, today, she is able to maintain her loss and rarely has side effects. But anyone considering weight loss surgery will, of course, have indepth discussions with his or her doctor. Most will also attend mandatory group sessions to determine whether they have the level of commitment necessary to make the surgery and its risks worthwhile.

Although she considered it her last resort, the woman profiled in my local newspaper, Georgette Brown, believed her surgery to be absolutely necessary. She has lost more than 100 pounds and is wearing a size 8, where once she weighed 283 pounds. Congratulations, Georgette!

Goodreads giveaway

I've been on goodreads.com for a year and a half, but I only recently became clued in to their book giveaways. What's better than winning a free book?!? (Well, maybe some other things, like winning the lottery or a free vacation or a car or...)

Anyway, my publisher has donated 10 copies of How We Did It in a giveaway that starts today and runs through February 15. Click here to go to the giveaway page. If you haven't read it yet, here's your chance. Good luck! Hope you win.

Even if you don't win a copy of the book, you're a winner anyway. The first step to losing weight is to start thinking about losing weight. Todd Peterson, one of the guys in my book who lost 105 pounds after hiring a personal trainer, said he began to think about losing weight when he was on business trips and saw his boss and co-workers in the hotel fitness room running on the treadmill before breakfast. It made him think about his habits -- habits like sleeping late, skipping breakfast and pounding the all-you-can-eat buffet at lunch.

Todd knew those habits weren't working for him, but he didn't know what to do about it before personal trainer Derek Curtice of SimpleFit in Memphis, Tennessee, showed him the way to health and fitness. "Derek more than gave me my life back," Todd says. "He gave me a whole new life!"

Start thinking about your own habits. My biggest one was the need to start moving intentionally... in other words, exercise. Dreaded that word all my life! I still wish it weren't in my vocabulary, but I know without a doubt that my 30-pound loss comes down to the laps I swim three times a week. That's what worked for me!

What habits do you think you might have to change?

The fat kid no more

When I began How We Did It , I interviewed a New Jersey state senator, Bill Baroni, who lost 132 pounds at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina. Bill was 22 years old and weighed 320 pounds. He was working as a political aide for a candidate who was running for Congress. If the candidate won, they'd head for DC. But if he lost, Bill vowed he would go to Duke.

Well, the candidate lost, but it was Bill who won in the end. In less than a year, he trimmed down to 185 pounds and he's kept the weight off for 15 years now.

Before my book had a chance to go to press, I had to replace Bill because it turns out he started writing his own book. And here it is! Fat Kid Got Fit: And So Can You. Our books were reviewed in the same issue of Library Journal. It's great to be in such good company!

Something Bill said to me about the perception people have of those who are overweight has always stuck with me. When he was almost 320 pounds, Bill said people would clap him on the back and say what a good "back office" kind of guy he was, a great campaign worker. But after he lost his weight, people changed their tune. "You should run for office," everyone told Bill. They perceived him as a different person when he weighed 185 pounds. Bill did run for office and succeeded. It's ironic that the "fat kid" chose the highly visible profession of politics. Today, Bill is the deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

People in How We Did It told me the same thing. One woman recalled how when she weighed over 350 pounds, she was loading groceries into the back of her car in a parking lot one day. A carload of kids drove past and jeered at "the fat lady." After she lost 165 pounds and was doing the same thing in the parking lot of Costco, a young man stopped his car, got out and asked if he could help her. Same person, different perception. I'm sure if you're trying to lose weight, you have a similar story to tell.

Check out Bill's book if you have the chance. The way he lost weight is a simple, straightforward way that anyone can achieve -- he knocked off the fast food, stopped drinking soda and started going to the gym. Congratulations on your weight loss, your career and on your book, Bill!

Songs in the night

The book talk at the Train Station last night was outstanding, if I do say so! I talked a bit about the inspiring people in How We Did It and then I turned the floor over to one of them.

John Bellemer, an operatic tenor, shared his story of losing 70 pounds on Body for Life. By losing weight and building abdominal muscle through exercise, he says his singing became stronger and his career thrived. He ended his part of the talk by singing for us! Here he is singing "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" from the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. Thank you so much, John! We loved it!

How We Did It releases

My book of weight loss success stories, How We Did It: Weight Loss Choices that Will Work for You released last week. Just in time for the holiday food fest!

How We Did It started as this blog, Thirty Ways. In the book, I interview about 30 people on how they lost weight. Each person succeeded on a different plan -- whether a blockbuster plan like Atkins, Weight Watchers or South Beach -- or a plan of their own. Some people had 20 pounds to lose, some 220 pounds. And everyone succeeded!

Along with these inspirational stories, I provide information about the plan used and a handy checklist to help readers determine what plan might work for them. I also include interviews with noted weight loss experts like Dr. James O. Hill, co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry and Dr. Howard Eisenson, executive director of the Duke Diet & Fitness Center. You'll also find helpful tips on a wide range of weight loss topics, including how to choose a personal trainer and how to gauge the effectiveness of various forms of exercise.

Many of the people in the book have appeared in this blog. Feel free to browse through earlier posts to meet some of these inspiring people. And, if you write a weight loss blog and might like to review the book, please feel free to contact me to request a review copy. You can leave a comment here, or e-mail me at kennedy5961 (at) aol (dot) com. I will put you in touch with the publicist for Leafwood, my publisher.

While I was more actively posting to this blog, I was so inspired by your stories of striving and succeeding! When I talked with people personally about their stories, the determination to succeed was evident in their tone of voice, their choice of words, their sense of excitement. Even more satisfying than their new sizes, people were proud to have finally won this battle, one that in most cases had lasted for years. I wish every success for you, too!