Karen

Karen is a woman with a great sense of humor, but talk to her for a while and it hits you: This is a no-nonsense lady who really understands what matters. Sure, you know it from the 175 lbs Karen managed to shed (in less than 16 months!) after her gastric bypass surgery in Connecticut. But once you hear about the other losses she endured through those months, you get the true measure of her strong character.

“When I first decided to have the bypass,” she says, “my husband was a little worried. I had started the process twice before, but stopped. It was only when I met Dr. Ehrlich and went through his seminar that I felt enough confidence to go through with it.”

After gastric bypass surgery in Connecticut, she started dropping pounds quickly, signed up at the gym and began to go regularly. Her husband, Joe, who was overweight himself, saw how her enthusiasm and energy were growing fast, and he and the couple’s two children (Rebecca, now 13, and Michael, 10) became fully supportive of this most important goal of Karen’s life.

Then things having nothing to do with Karen’s bypass surgery or weight loss started to go very wrong. Within six months, Karen says, “my mom had an extended illness and passed away, as did my brother-in-law, boss, and a longtime friend who had been like a mother to me. It had become extremely difficult to find the time and motivation for the gym while spending time with my mom. But even during her illness, it brought her so much happiness to know that my weight-loss surgery was a success.

It was the program and knowing what she needed to do that kept Karen focused during this terrible time. “It kept me sane,” she says, adding with a touch of grim humor, “I never thought the day would come when I would miss the gym. But there it was.”

For 15 years, she’d been a mail carrier walking five hours a day. “But I never got below 220 lbs,” she says. “And after quitting to be a stay-at-home mom for seven years, I gained another 100 lbs. Nothing worked to get it off until the gastric bypass surgery Dr. Ehrlich performed.”

Since the weight loss, Karen, now a driver for Quest Diagnostics, has reached her goal of getting back to riding her bike. She also went on her son’s first roller coaster ride with him and, according to a friend, “has gotten her groove back” by getting out there and dancing whenever she can!

Husband Joe and daughter Rebecca are also losing weight now, inspired by guess who? But the best compliment ever, says Karen, came from Rebecca, who recently told her, “You know, you used to be the biggest mom in my class. Now you’re the hot mom!”

Photos by Laurie Wright of Wright Photography