Woman struggles with ups and downs of dieting

By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

It’s one thing to lose weight and another thing to keep it off.

That’s what 63-year-old Ginny Grimmett of Florence is finding out after losing 83 pounds in 16 months.

After joining Take Off Pounds Sensibly at 275.6 pounds Oct. 28, 2015, she was down to 197.8 pounds by the end of 2016 to earn a state award for the most pounds lost in her weight division.

She lost another 5.6 pounds by March 2, but then something happened. She began eating more. Whereas before she could concentrate on eating small meals and snacking on raw vegetables, she began eating things like cinnamon rolls, cookies, and potato chips she kept on hand for her husband.

Now, after regaining 30 pounds, she is discouraged.

“I think everybody thinks I can’t do it anymore,” Grimmett said. “It’s like, I did my big thing, and that’s it. Now, I’m like everyone else who repeatedly gains and loses, and I don’t want to be like that.”

Grimmett’s blood pressure medicine was reduced after she lost weight, but with the weight gain, her doctor has increased the dosage.

A month or two ago, she started taking a detoxification supplement. She started having mood swings, sometimes feeling irritable and angry. She’s not sure the supplement caused it, but since she stopped taking it a week or two ago, she is starting to feel better.

Grimmett has a history of weight-loss attempts, even going so far as to have her stomach stapled in 1980. She got very sick and almost died but lost 60 pounds in 30 days.

After her surgery, she started eating more, stretched her stomach, and gained the weight back.

She later tried several liquid diets and an egg diet, but nothing worked.

She struggled with depression and visited a counselor regularly for several years until he quit his job. She said she was devastated for a while. He was her confidant and close friend.

She finally decided, “I don’t need people like that to tell me how I feel.”

She weighed almost 300 pounds last fall when her doctor put her on a diet, and she began gradually to lose weight. She joined TOPS for support, lost a bunch more pounds, and now is struggling to get back on track.

“I’m letting the group down,” she said, “but I have to do it for myself. I have to respect myself. I’m not respecting God, either, because I’m not taking care of the body He gave me. The funny thing is, I still want to be a Kansas TOPS queen.”

And so the struggle continues.