Thursday, January 06, 2005
Diet, Exercise, Willpower
Yetch! I don't feel so bad about gaining 10 lb over the holidays now.
Deuel weighed 1,072 pounds when he checked into Avera McKennan Hospital in June. At the time, he was dying of heart failure. His doctor recommended gastric-bypass surgery but Deuel wasn't healthy enough to undergo the procedure. The hospital staff structured an exercise program and a 1,200-calorie-a-day diet. The 420 pounds Deuel lost by late October helped control his heart problems and other health issues, including diabetes, and the stomach surgery was performed Oct. 26.That's a LOT of Angus Burgers man.
Deuel, who relies on Medicare to pay his hospital bills, can't stay at the hospital indefinitely. He now weighs about 650 pounds and hopes eventually to slim down to 240 pounds.