Lakeport man credits LRGH Wellness Center for big weight loss

In a calm, understated way, Barry Salway of Lakeport presented the Community Wellness Center with $622 on Friday. That was the amount he raised during the center’s Weight-A-Thon conducted by Salway and others from November 1 through December 12. “The money is a small token of my appreciation for all the help I have received from the Community Wellness Center’s staff as I lost 146 pounds and got my life back,” Salway said as he made the presentation.

The occasion was the telling of “Barry’s Story” by the man himself, which according to the center’s staff should be an inspiration for anyone who suffers from life-threatening obesity and is willing to take on the hard work required to overcome it.

In May, 2007, Salway finally took the advice of his doctor and the suggestions of many around him — most notably his wife of 37 years, Fifi — and decided to do something about losing some of the 335 pounds he was attempting to carry around on his 5-foot, 4-inch frame. At that point in his life he suffered from sleep apnea, acid reflux disease, asthma, and Type II diabetes. He was on 16 different prescription medications. “The co-pays on the drugs totaled more than $500 per month, creating an overwhelming financial hardship,” Salway said.

”It was as bad as it could get.”

Salway went to the Obesity Center at the Catholic Medical Center (CMC) in Manchester. His doctor there said she thought he was a good candidate for gastric by-pass surgery, but only if he lost eight-percent of his of his body weight first. For him, that meant losing at least 27 pounds.

Starting with the Obesity Center’s support group meetings, he began making the necessary life-style changes, including cutting down on his 8,000 calories-a-day intake by changing the amount and types of food he was eating. He is now down to about 1,500 calories a day.

By the time he underwent the surgery on November 13, 2007, Salway had lost 50 pounds. The Wellness Center played a pivotal role in the endeavor which produced the required result.

He left the hospital three days later carrying the very strong message that an exercise regime would be critical to building on the successful surgical outcome.

“The first days following surgery were certainly unusual, particularly for me,” Salway said. “On day one, I couldn’t put anything in my new, dramatically smaller stomach, not even water. Water was allowed on the second day. Only clear liquids the third day! I very gradually worked my way up to my Thanksgiving 2007 feast of two tablespoons each of bouillon and chicken soup. The important thing about life after gastric by-pass surgery is the size of meals. You don’t want to stretch out the new, smaller ‘stomach’ by eating large quantities. As a result, I still eat smaller quantities at each meal.”

Heeding the instruction about exercise, Salway said “I dusted off the treadmill I had been using as a place to hang clothes and did 15-minutes at a very slow pace. I followed that with another 15-minutes later in the day.”

Several days later, Salway ran into Maggie Rushbrook of the Wellness Center staff while shopping. He made an appointment to return to the center to restart his exercise program.

Working with Rushbrook and the center staff, he is now up to 1-hour and 40 minutes of exercise five times a week on all of the machines, including those with weights. “That’s a far cry from barely being able to do five-minutes on the treadmill when I first started over a year ago,” Salway commented.

“Perhaps the most important thing,” Salway continued, “is the social part of the Wellness Center. It is very enjoyable, and it provides the background for the positive reinforcement you get from everyone on the staff and all of those who use the facility.”

In addition to the dramatic weight loss, the change in his prescription drug regimen borders on phenomenal. He is down to, and soon will be off of, his two blood pressure medications. Gone are the meds for diabetes, high cholesterol, and asthma. His A-1C (Average Blood Sugar) is now down from 12 to 5.2. “I can now walk anywhere I want to go. That was just impossible before the weight loss,” he observed.

Fifi added that her husband’s weight loss has returned normalcy to their 37 years of married life. “Barry and I have known each other since we were eight years old. You expect to gain weight as you grow older, but what happened to Barry after age 40 changed everything. He was forced into early retirement. Our medical bills were out of hand, and his disposition got more difficult with each passing year. He was very critical of everything and everyone. He did not have a good outlook on life. I was so upset because we could not do anything. He was killing himself, and there was nothing I could do about it.”

“I really thought I would come home some day and find him dead,” she continued. “I was getting to the point where I just had to start thinking for myself.”

“Fortunately, he made the right decision to change his lifestyle. He is now back to the man I married, and I know his son, Scott, is really happy to have the father he missed so much back as a part of his life,” she concluded.

The Salway’s made a number of suggestions for those who are concerned about their weight. “First and foremost, put yourself in charge of you diet. Increase fiber intake because it makes you feel fuller and it lasts longer. Drinking a lot of water — staying hydrated — is very important. Weigh and measure food. Eat at the table; not in front of the television. Just don’t let certain foods into the house.”

Admitting a weakness for chocolate, Salway passed around a bag of peppermint patties, urging everyone to try to eat one slowly. “They certainly taste better of you do!”

“If you are hungry,” he continued, “wait 15-minutes before giving into the urge. Don’t skip meals, particularly breakfast. Serve food on smaller plates. Have your spouse serve the food. Keep a food journal; it will help keep you on track. Regular exercise is extremely important. It’s okay to watch the scale a lot. Just remember that it’s the long term that counts in weight loss. Most of all, remember that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. As they say, doing these things one day at a time really works,” he concluded.

Both Salway’s continue to attend support group meetings at the Obesity Center of CMC. “The meetings help keep us on track,” they said.

What’s the future for Barry Salway? “My goal is to get down to about 150 pounds,” he said.

That would be a loss of another 30 to 35 notches on the scale.

The Community Wellness Center, affiliated with LRGHealthcare, is located at 22 Strafford Street, across from the Rite Aid store on Union Ave.