Medical weight-loss program helps Guy Berryman lose 120 pounds and reclaim his health

For Gig Harbor resident Guy Berryman, losing weight was never a problem. “I could always do that. I could lose 40 pounds, go on a trip and then as soon as it was done, the weight would go back on.”

Berryman, 57 had been very fit and athletic in college, he says. But over the years, his weight started creeping up until he was more than 100 pounds overweight.

Fortunately, his blood pressure and cholesterol levels remained good, despite his weight fluctuating between 250 and 300 pounds. Still, his doctor recommended the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness. “I thought, ‘Oh, no. I can do this on my own.’” And he did. But by his next physical he had regained most of the weight. “I probably lost 50 and gained 45,” he says. I always had three sizes of clothes in my closet.”

His primary care doctor suggested the Center for Weight Loss again. “The way he phrased it really hit me,” Berryman said. “He said, ‘You’re in your 50s now and there are only so many years you’re going to have the opportunity to look good and do the things you want to do.’”

Berryman decided to give medically supervised weight loss a shot, and now, down more than 120 pounds, he’s thrilled that he did.

“It’s amazing,” he says of how weight loss has changed his life. “It’s gradual. You don’t think it’s that big of a deal and then you do something and you realize, ‘Oh, I didn’t have to put my foot on something to tie my shoe.” Working on projects around the house is much easier. “You don’t realize how much that weight is slowing you down,” he says.

But before meeting with a doctor and nutritionist, he was dubious at first that they could help. “You know what you should do,” he says. “Everybody knows what they should do, move more and eat less. It’s not rocket science.”

He was pleasantly surprised how beneficial it was to meet regularly with a nutritionist. “Having that accountability where I’m going into the appointment once a month really helped,” he says. “I’m a competitive person. I like to set goals.”

Berryman had tried dieting and didn’t want to do it again. So, he was happy when instead of a strict diet, the nutritionists he worked with encouraged him to think about what he was eating and make adjustments, not just cut things out. Instead of opening a bag of chips or pretzels, he counts out a reasonable serving and puts the rest away. “You can’t deprive yourself of everything.”

He tries to focus on foods that give him the most bang for the calories. “I eat a lot of protein because that makes you full,” he says. The nutritionists also helped him think about the kind of protein he eats and ways beyond salt and butter to add flavor to food. “You can eat a lot more of the proteins that have fewer calories.” So, these days it’s more chicken, fish and even lean pork, and less steak.

He is also avid about tracking his food. If he wants to splurge in the evening, he cuts back during the day. Nothing is off limits, as long as he accounts for it by adjusting what else he eats. And it doesn’t have to be a perfect offset. “It may still go over (his calorie limit) but it isn’t double.”

Berryman stresses that it wasn’t an overnight change. “I didn’t go from eating terrible to tracking everything in one step. That was over the course of six months. It’s a slow progression. If you start trying to do everything at once you’re going to fail. It’s too overwhelming.”

As for the movement part of the weight-loss equation, Berryman was already a serious weightlifter.  But he increased his cardio exercise, first by taking walks with his wife, then gradually adding some running into the mix, he says. “I told myself, ‘I’m going to run this last little bit,” he recalls. “I ran 300 yards and had to stop and rest.”

But every week, he tried to add a little more running to his walks on a five-mile loop. “Eventually the whole thing was a run. That was a nice accomplishment.”

The first few times running distance, “I felt like I was going to die,” he admits. Now, he finishes a run tired but feeling good. “Now I’m trying to do it faster.”

When he started his weight-loss journey, Berryman says his ultimate goal weight seemed impossible. So, he set 10 pound mini-goals. The end result is dramatic. “I got XXL shirts and now I’m wearing mediums,” he says. “I don’t ever remember wearing mediums before. That’s a big difference.”

In fact, as an insurance agent, Berryman has customers who haven’t been in for a while come up to his desk and ask him if he still works there. “They don’t recognize me,” he says.