INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis woman began to take control of her health once she noticed the number on the scale increasing.
“I was 385.9 pounds and I really needed to do something about it,” said Mindy Mayes.
She said there were several things in life she wanted to accomplish, but looking at her family’s genetic history, she knew she wouldn’t be able to achieve them without losing weight.
“I had two sisters that died from cancer, I've had an uncle who had a massive heart attack, and my brother is now having some renal issues. I don't want to live a life like that if I don't have to. And if I get the weight off it is one of the risk factors that help decrease those things,” said Mayes.
Hard work paid off and Mayes lost 100 pounds, but she said keeping the weight off was difficult, so she turned to IU Health’s bariatric program.
“With a lot of my patients, they have really struggled to lose weight, which is what brought them to bariatric surgery so it seems to be their last effort,” said IU Health dietitian Katie Hake.
Mayes and Hake often met one-on-one as part of the program’s requirements. Mayes also met with her nurse practitioner and surgeon.
“It is not about just what they are eating and what they are doing, but there are a lot more factors that come along with obesity. Both mentally, physically, genetically, there are a lot more components,” said Hake.
Mayes underwent surgery in December 2016 and said she was back active within two hours.
Since her procedure, she has become a certified Zumba instructor, which has fed her love for dance.
“I'm up to almost 132 pounds, and that's total. Of that, I would say 110 of that has been since surgery,” she said.
Mayes and hundreds of other people will gather at the downtown Indianapolis canal Saturday for the Walk from Obesity event.
More information can be found here.
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