More About Us

Ginger & Gerald

Ginger, Before & After

My husband and I both grew up being overweight, both dropped an unhealthy amount of weight in college, and both gained a lot of it back when we got married! We decided we needed a lifestyle change. First came the fitness. We have been dedicated gym rats since 2008. Then we started calorie counting. That’s great for an initial weight drop but we needed to feel good. We didn’t realize how much CRAP we were eating. I was a Diet Coke-aholic and he was eating preservative filled meat and big carby bagels every day.

Gerald, Before & After

Eating healthy has really been a challenge since we moved to southern Louisiana, a place where even the gas station fried chicken is delicious. The key is to remind ourselves how the food makes us feel—bloated and tired. Ugh. Instead we focus on the GOOD food we can get here: fresh local seafood, citrus fruits, and seasonal veggies (lots of sweet potatoes) and get creative in the kitchen!

How We Met Jen

We moved to Connecticut in 2007, where we met Jennifer and bonded over similar outlooks on life, a love of Thai food, and of course our dogs. Our dogs Nigel and Magnus became fast friends and they had weekly play dates while we lived in the same apartment complex. As much as I hate apartment living I am so glad we lived there and made such a fantastic friend!

Jen

Jen, Before & After

Just like Ginger and Gerald, I grew up being overweight and eating all the wrong stuff. I started off being a Tab-aholic (remember Tab? Ugh!), then moved on to Diet Coke-aholism. I ate whatever I wanted, and this included tons of simple carbs: breads, crackers, chips, rice, bagels, and on and on. I’ve tried Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, diet pills like Meridia, and, again, on and on...most of these things more than once. It was a lifelong struggle. I would lose 40 pounds, then gain 60; lose 50, and gain 80. I was stuck in a lifetime of quick fixes that obviously didn’t make me any healthier.

In 2006, I suffered a spinal cord injury and was confined to a wheelchair for over a year. My doctors all told me, in no uncertain terms, that I would never walk again. Being so sedentary didn’t help my weight situation, and I ultimately let myself balloon up to at least 405 pounds before I committed to gastric bypass surgery, which I had in January of 2011. It was, bar none, the best thing I ever did. My situation was extreme, and I chose this as the tool to set me on a path of dedication, not just to simple “dieting” and quick fixes, but to lifelong good health.

At this point, I can eat pretty much whatever I want and as much of it as I want, so I have to be as careful as anyone else out there who hasn’t had the surgery. I live committed to feeding good things to my body because these things keep me running clean and feeling healthy and positive as opposed to, as Ginger said about the fried chicken, bloated and tired. I’m largely unable to exercise because, though I am thankfully able to walk most of the time, I still have to deal with a lot of pain and nerve damage fallout from my injury. Ginger and Gerald are amazingly avid exercisers and I cannot stress the profound and wonderful changes I’ve seen in both of them because of this tireless and healthy commitment. I regret that I can’t do much exercise, so I make up for it by being exceedingly particular about my diet and absolutely moving my body whenever and however I can.

I hope that my perspective will give those of you with physical limitations hope in terms of truly having the ability to take the weight off with limited physical activity. Having said that, if you don’t have physical limitations, I cannot recommend strongly enough following Ginger and Gerald’s remarkable lead in terms of their fitness routine. I made so many small changes—week after week, month after month, not all at once—and those added up to habits that I maintain to this day. I live a healthy lifestyle. I’m not on a diet. If I can go from 405 pounds (I’ve likely weighed more than that at some point) to about 130, I can’t stress enough that anyone can do it. My surgery gave me a tool; the rest is up to me 100%. There is no magic bullet, no easy way out. No way. People out-eat weight loss surgery and gain back what they’ve lost all the time. I’ve seen it. I’ve learned that you have to WORK, consistently and constantly, and be completely responsible and accountable in terms of what you put in your mouth and how you move your body. When you’re ready to accept that, you are truly ready to be your healthiest self. I’m proof!

Ginger & Gerald, 2012

Jen, 2012

Ginger and Jen, circa 2010


Our Fur Babies

Ginger & Gerald's Magnus

Jen's Nigel

Magnus and Nigel, all tuckered out!