Carolyn begins her retirement by losing 60 pounds

By Angela Foytack

Gig Harbor resident Carolyn Jenkins had a busy lifestyle and hadn’t been able to meet her weight loss goals.

“I was eating a lot of processed foods and foods containing high fructose sugars,” she says. “I didn’t have time to do much cooking.”

After Jenkins retired in 2016, she started working with a personal trainer, Jack Skoczek, at the YMCA. Her trainer also referred her to Jeffrey Hooper, MD, at the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness.

Once she began exercising and working with Dr. Hooper and MultiCare nutritionists to learn to eat nutritious foods, Jenkins began to experience gradual weight loss.

“I had time to focus on me,” she says.

By meeting with her dietitian on a regular basis and changing her eating habits, along with exercise, Jenkins has lost 60 pounds, is off her diabetes medication and has substantially lowered her cholesterol. Her healthier lifestyle has helped motivate her husband to be healthier too.

She hasn’t reached her ultimate goal yet, but she’s increasing her activity to break through the plateau she’s in right now.

Part of her success is understanding that this is a lifestyle change, not just a diet.

“I would recommend this to anyone,” Jenkins says. “This is how everyone should eat, not only for weight loss.”

Jenkins says one bonus of the weight loss is buying new clothes in a size she has not been in for 36 years. It’s now fun to go clothes shopping rather than dreading it. Also, participating in fitness activities is much easier now.

Jenkins recommends that we should all focus on ourselves now, not put it off for the future.

Learn more about MultiCare’s Medical Weight Loss program