Rhonda Lokken recalls being teased about her weight when she was a child.
"I've been overweight since I was five years old, and I was the ridiculed and teased kid on the playground." Lokken, 60, of Bemidji, Minnesota, told TODAY that the youngsters nicknamed him fatso.
"Because I lived in a small village in southeast Alaska, my mother had to order fat sizes from catalogs because that was the only way I could acquire clothes." "It was always humiliating."
Lokken admitted that she has always had a sweet tooth and has spent the majority of her adult life weighing more than 300 pounds. When she found out she was expecting twins, the number on the scale increased even further - to the point that she informed her doctor she didn't want to know.
She tried a liquid diet, very stringent calorie tracking, the keto diet, Atkins, and Weight Watchers to lose weight. Nothing was successful in the long run.
Lokken, who stood 5 feet 8 inches tall, had a BMI that put her in the extreme obesity category, affecting her health. She was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the year 2000. Doctors warned her she'd never be able to go without insulin.
Lokken had to start using a CPAP machine due to severe sleep apnea. She suffered from high blood pressure, found it difficult to move around, and became easily winded. Her self-esteem fell as well.
"When you're obese, you're just treated differently," she explained. "People look at you and criticize you... they see your weight as a defect in your character." People didn't seem to take me as seriously as they did others who were of typical weight."
When she moved from Seattle to Bemidji in 2017, things started to change. She began seeing a doctor, who began her health improvement quest, according to Lokken.
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Sue Diaz, a nutrition consultant at Sanford Health who also has Type 2 diabetes, began meeting with her in 2020. Lokken was on a lot of insulin at the time, which may make losing weight difficult, but Diaz suggested an alternative drug that her doctor authorized.
Lokken's lifestyle was altered as a result of their collaboration, which included:
"It's about listening to my body and being extremely attentive to what it's telling me," she says of just eating when she's hungry. Is it true that I'm hungry, or am I simply anxious, irritated, or happy?" Lokken took notice. "Any emotion and I'd head for the food," she stated before she started paying attention to it.
Diaz inquires about sugary meals or beverages in patients' diets when they first begin working with her. She said, "Just start pecking away at that." "If someone drinks five cans of soda each day, set a target of reducing to three and see how it works."
Is it possible to lose weight without exercising, as well as other diet and exercise questions?
Making some adjustments: Lokken became vegetarian for a year, but she's now back to eating meat. She avoids fast food and does not consume alcoholic beverages.
Consuming fewer portions: Diaz once had a patient whose favorite bowl of cereal was three times larger than usual. She claimed he was eating the equivalent of three meals in one sitting and was completely unaware of it.
Keeping track of serving sizes: Use measuring cups to determine the appropriate serving size. If they're not available, Diaz says a closed fist is roughly a cup of food, a thumb is roughly a tablespoon, a tennis ball is roughly the size of a serving of fruit, and a computer mouse is roughly the size of a meal of starchy vegetable.
Lokken began working out with a personal trainer after joining a gym in 2019. That routine is still in place today.
"If I get a yearning for chocolate, I will eat some chocolate," she says. "I'll attempt to have it in a smaller piece and then hide the rest of it," Lokken stated. "I never want to feel deprived." If I start acting deprived and say things like, "Oh, I can't have this ice cream," when I actually want it, I'll have a hard time not thinking about it. She still enjoys sweets, so when the holidays arrive or someone brings a box of donuts to share, she mentally prepares herself and limits herself to a small amount of indulgence.
"I entirely altered my thinking," says the person who has made it a way of life. "I never referred to what I was doing as a diet," Lokken explained. Instead, she sees it as a way of life that she can maintain even if she eats a piece of cake. Most people want a quick fix, she claims, but she has gone about changing her lifestyle gradually.
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Lokken has shed more than 100 pounds and now weighs 196 pounds after three and a half years of this regimen. Her diabetes is under control and she is no longer on insulin. She is no longer needs to sleep with a CPAP machine. She dropped from a size 24 to a size 12 and just purchased her first swimsuit in years.
"This isn't only about weight loss for me," Lokken explained. "It's all about becoming the best version of myself and putting my health first."