Scaling Down with Lane Regional Medical Center

By Emily Holden

Jocelyn Guillot-Kilgore of Zachary said she began steadily gaining weight in 2003 when she started cooking more for her daughter during her senior year in high school. She had also recently retired and was spending more time at home.

So Kilgore began to look into gastric bypass surgery as she developed diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

During various medical background checks for the surgery, she discovered she had sleep apnea and the beginnings of kidney failure.

"Every time I went to another step, I was getting another road block," Kilgore said. She said she felt as if God was sending her a message not to go through with the surgery.

Diet and Exercise

Kilgore eventually decided to try diet and exercise without the surgery. She said she tried every program in the world before she started Lane Regional Medical Center's Scale Down program. Scale Down is a Health Management Resources company that uses shakes, entrees, bars and soups as meal replacements. Participants may join the clinic and attend weight loss classes or purchase food kits to practice the program at home.

Kilgore began with the decision-free eating program. She lost 112 pounds and isn't done yet.

"I felt like I needed a more structured start," she said. The decision-free eating program consists of pre-packaged HMR meal replacements. Participants may also begin with a diet of only low-calorie shakes or HMR meals along with fruits and vegetables. The meals do not need to be refrigerated or frozen, which Kilgore said is helpful for travel.

Never Feeling Hungry

Kilgore said the diet has never left her feeling hungry. She eats out with friends every Friday night and packs her own HMR meal. Kilgore said every restaurant with a microwave has been more than willing to heat the meals for her. The meals can also be warmed in boiling water.

"I've been to restaurants that will plate it and garnish it and bring it back to me," she said.

Kilgore has become more conscious of her diet choices, which was apparent as she ate her HMR meal with some friends at a pizza restaurant. She chose iced tea but switched to a diet soda when she discovered the tea was already sweetened. She said she usually just drinks water because Scale Down guidelines require participants to drink 64 ounces of water each day.

Sarah Ryland began Scale Down in July 2007 and has lost 60 pounds, though she is not yet at her goal weight. Ryland also liked the structure the program provided.

Difficult Situations
"I also liked the accountability of going to a class support group twice a week," Ryland said. At these meetings, participants discuss difficult situations such as birthday parties and anniversary dinners. They also share low-calorie recipes. Ryland said the encouragement was helpful because she needed someone to push her and remain positive. She also enjoyed the food, especially her chocolate shakes.

Ryland tried the Adkins diet and lost 40 pounds, but quickly gained the weight back.

"There's only so long you can eat meat without fruit and other things," she said.

Ryland said the program helped her change her lifestyle to learn how to take better care of herself and get exercise into her routine.

"Once you leave your program, you know what you should be doing to maintain or continue losing," she said.

Michelle McCauley is the Scale Down nurse and health educator.

Keeping Weight Off
"It's one thing to teach you the skills to lose weight," said McCauley. "But it's another thing to teach you the skills to keep the weight off and ultimately that's the goal."

Ryland is a house parent for Sellers Maternity Ministries, a home designed to care for single, pregnant women 21 years and younger. She said Scale Down has helped with her job because it is easier to stay on her feet for long hours, and she has learned to incorporate fruits and vegetables into the meals she prepares for the house.

Ryland said she feels better about herself because she is lighter and drastically reduced her cholesterol medication and back problems.

Kilgore stopped taking two of her blood pressure medications and reduced the third. She also reduced her cholesterol medication and diabetes medication.

Medical Background
Both participants were interested in the program's medical background.

"Because of my health issues, I didn't want to just start off on something that didn't give me that medical support," Kilgore said.

McCauley said the program is open to those wishing to lose any amount of weight. She said she has seen participants with weight loss goals between five pounds and 300 pounds.

"We definitely have a diet option for everyone," McCauley said.

McCauley said program success depends on the individual's commitment to the guidelines. She said Scale Down focuses on the participants’ whole health, even after program completion. Participants must learn to reincorporate outside foods back into the diet, she said.

Scale Down offers free orientation at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. For more information call (225) 658-4463.