Onalaska woman loses 160 pounds through exercise, portion control
By Terry Rindfleisch of the Tribune staff
Deb Pisarik was one of those 45 million obese adults in the United States.
In fact, the Onalaska, Wis., woman was severely obese.
At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, Pisarik weighed 310 pounds in 1987, when she decided she no longer wanted to be part of the obesity epidemic.
"I just had enough of not feeling good about myself and decided it was time to do something about it," she said.
Pisarik lost more than 160 pounds over seven years and has kept off the weight for almost 10 years. She is a registered dietitian's dream because she has lost and maintained the weight without dieting. Her strategy was to focus on food portions and physical activity.
"I am a new woman, and I feel great," said the 47-year-old Pisarik. "I want other people who are overweight to know how good I feel, and they can feel this way, too.
Obesity in the United States is truly epidemic. In the past 10 years, obesity rates among adults have increased by more than 60 percent. About one-fourth of the adult population in the United States is obese.
Research has shown that unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity play a role in many chronic diseases and conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, breast cancer, colon cancer, gallbladder disease and arthritis.
Obesity is costing not only American lives but dollars, too. A recent study shows $93 billion per year goes to treat health problems of people who are overweight. About half that tab is picked up by the government through Medicare, which provides care to the elderly, and Medicaid, which serves the poor.
Overall, spending attributed to excessive weight made up 9 percent of all medical spending in 1998. The average increase in spending for an obese person is $732 more a year (or 37.4 percent more) than a person of normal weight.
Pisarik said she used to eat all the time, especially candy bars, cookies and sweets. "I ate because I was bored. I had nothing to do, and I didn't care about myself," she said. "I didn't watch my portions, and I ate until my stomach hurt, and I didn't exercise."
She learned about nutrition and portion control by joining the WeightWatchers program, she said.
"I became educated about nutrition and discovered there was no easy diet that would help me," Pisarik said. "I stopped using all those diets that promised a quick fix, and I changed my entire diet for the rest of my life."
Pisarik, who had tried most diet plans, said she lost all her weight through food portion control and physical activity. She said she had never felt like exercising before because she was fat.
"I started with little baby steps and first walked around the block," she said. "I worked up to five miles a day, and I fit it into my lifestyle. I knew the weight would come off. It came off slowly, and I learned along the way."
Every day, Pisarik gets up at 5 a.m. and is out of the door by 5:30 a.m. for a five-mile walk.
"If the weather is nasty, I have plan B, which is the treadmill in my house," Pisarik said. "I don't look for excuses not to exercise.
"I treat it like a job," she said. "It takes dedication and discipline. I don't want to go back. I feel so good about myself and my health. When I was heavy, I didn't even want to go outside because of how I looked, and I didn't feel good about myself."
She said she enjoys walking because the activity gives her peace of mind, energy and a positive attitude to face the day.
Linda Lee, La Crosse County Health Department nutrition manager, said sedentary lifestyles, super-sizing meals and fast-paced lives have contributed to the obesity epidemic.
"We are eating far more food today," said Lee, co-chairwoman of the Coulee Region Childhood Obesity Coalition.
"Everything is fast-food, super-sized, and now those big portions are the norm. We don't take the time to cook or eat a meal. We're always on the go, but yet we don't move.
"For so many people, physical activity is not fun, so we don't want to find the time for it," she said. "At the same time, we live in a time-crunch society, and we have trouble fitting physical activity into the time we have each day."
Brenda Rooney, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center's medical director of community preventive services, said people are just starting to realize the severity of the obesity epidemic.
"The handwriting was on the wall, and we have seen the signs but not paid attention to them in the past," Rooney said. "We got to this point for many reasons, and we can't only blame fast-food restaurants and bigger serving sizes for it. It's not something we caught, and we're not all fat and lazy.
"But eating too much and exercising too little has a lot to do with it," she said.
Pisarik said eating too much and not exercising at all led to her weight gain.
She said she doesn't eat special foods but now limits sweets, eats more fruits and vegetables and drinks more water.
"I eat just about everything, but I eat healthier and more balanced meals," Pisarik said. "I eat meat, ice cream and peanut butter and jelly, but I really watch how much I eat. It's true that it's all about portions. I can have potato chips, but I eat 17 chips, and that's all."
Pisarik still attends WeightWatchers meetings for the group support. Her dress size has gone from 24 1/2 to 10.
"I am committed to keeping the weight off because I don't want to go back," Pisarik said. "What motivates me is when I look in the mirror, I like who I see. I look at my fat photo, and I don't want to go back."
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
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