Medically supervised weight-loss program helps Laura Badeaux lose 125 pounds

Laura Badeaux knew she was carrying more weight than she should. But with her large frame and 6’ 2” height, most people never realized how much.

“People were shocked if they found out I was 333 pounds,” she says. “I carried it well.”

An athlete in high school, Badeaux, 34, started gaining weight in her 20s. It seemed like who she was, she says.

“I’m just a bigger woman. I’m taller and I just have a larger frame and accepted that.”

But while her stature helped her avoid much of the social stigma of her weight, it didn’t change what mattered most — her health.

“When you’re in your 20s and early 30s you think you’re invincible,” she says. Her primary care provider had raised the issue and offered to refer her to the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness a handful of times. “I just declined the offers not understanding the serious burden I was carrying around.”

But last summer, during the pandemic, she found the motivation.

“I lost the first 20 pounds by myself,” she recalls. “Then I thought, ‘Now I’m ready to do this.’”

Badeaux’s most recent weigh-in was 208 pounds.

“I’ve officially lost 125 pounds,” she says.

And while she doesn’t have a specific goal weight in mind, seeing her weight start with a “1” will be a special moment.

Though Badeaux got started on her own, she credits the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness for keeping her going and giving her the tools to make lifestyle changes, not just go on a temporary diet.

At the Center for Weight Loss & Wellness, Jeffrey Hooper, MD, and Registered Dietician Alix Leestma, RD, tailored a weight-loss program to Badeaux’s preferences.

“Even growing up, I never was a fan of breakfast food,” she says.

So, they set her up with an intermittent fasting plan that met her nutritional needs and that she could live with long-term.

Through the program she’s learned to track her food, make healthy substitutions and focus on small changes that add up.

“Just working with the dietician and actually understanding what you’re eating helps with making smart choices,” she says. “Sometimes you eat food, and you have no idea how many calories are in there until somebody sits down and explains it to you.”

She’s incorporated meal prep into her schedule and found healthy recipes and ways to cut back on snacking and comfort foods, as well as adding walking and weight training to her routine.

“I have a very sedentary job,” she says.

So purposefully adding movement to her days has been critical. That means finding time in her busy day of working a full-time job and being a wife and mother to schedule an hourlong walk.

“It’s about prioritizing yourself.”

But it also means work, she says, laughing that she hasn’t magically come to love exercise but now challenges herself.

“If you would ask me now looking back if it was hard or easy, I would say it was fairly easy with strong motivation,” she says. “But if you would ask me while I was hiking and working out being over 300 pounds, I’d be like, ‘It’s the hardest thing ever!’”

Because her clothing sizes have changed so dramatically, Badeaux says shopping requires more thought today.

“I started out as a size 3X and 26 jeans,” she says. “I would just go select the largest size available and put it in the cart. Now I’m buying larges and I’m a 12 in jeans!”

It’s been an adjustment psychologically, too.

“When I walk by a mirror I think ‘Who is that?’” she says. “The challenge ahead of me is accepting my new body.”

For anyone struggling with weight and considering making an appointment at the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness, Badeaux offers some advice.

“You have to be ready. It’s not going to help unless you’re ready to commit, but when you’re ready, the Center can be an amazing partner,” she says. “Whether you need accountability, support or help with structure, they can provide that. They’re not going to lose the weight for you. Just go in there and talk to them and see what the missing pieces are that they can provide for you.”

Learn more about medical weight loss at the MultiCare Center for Weight Loss & Wellness.