Living Fully: Mary’s Story

Mary H. has always faced chal­lenges with her weight. Like many, she tried count­less diets and exer­cise rou­tines, find­ing that while she could lose weight tem­porar­i­ly, it always seemed to come back.

“I was on a keto diet with exer­cise and lost 40 pounds,” Mary said. ​“Then COVID hit, I couldn’t go to the gym, and I start­ed gain­ing it back. That’s when I real­ized some­thing more need­ed to be done. I had to find a dif­fer­ent path to reach my goals.” 

Grow­ing up, healthy food wasn’t always an option. ​“As a child and teen, I didn’t eat well — soda, junk food, all that stuff. I start­ed eat­ing bet­ter in my 20s, but unhealthy food was part of my upbring­ing,” Mary shared. Despite this, she remained deter­mined to take con­trol of her health. 

Find­ing Answers After Years of Trying

Reach­ing out for help wasn’t easy. Mary admits that frus­tra­tion and even depres­sion felt over­whelm­ing as she tried and failed to main­tain her weight. Her career in health­care gave her insight and con­fi­dence to seek sup­port. ​“Being in the field helped me real­ize there might be more going on than just fam­i­ly genet­ics or some­thing I was doing wrong,” she explained. 

Mary reached out to her pri­ma­ry care doc­tor, who referred her to the South Bend Clin­ic Weight Loss Cen­ter in 2021. She left her ini­tial appoint­ment feel­ing hope­ful. ​“I learned that I was doing the right things, but my body is insulin resis­tant, which explained why I could only be suc­cess­ful up to a cer­tain point before regain­ing weight.” 

If you’ve been doing every­thing right but still feel stuck, you’re not alone. Our providers at the South Bend Clin­ic Weight Loss Cen­ter can uncov­er what’s hold­ing you back and cre­ate a per­son­al­ized plan to sup­port your goals.

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A Plan Built for Long-Term Success

Her plan began with GLP‑1 med­ica­tion, which helps with weight loss and appetite reg­u­la­tion. Progress was steady, but slow­er than she had hoped, and Mary real­ized that med­ica­tion alone might not be enough to reach her goals. After review­ing her options and con­sid­er­ing the expe­ri­ences of friends who had under­gone var­i­ous pro­ce­dures, she decid­ed to move for­ward with the gas­tric sleeve. 

“I want­ed the best chance at long-term suc­cess,” she said. ​“I know peo­ple who’ve had the sleeve and main­tained their weight loss. Oth­ers who tried dif­fer­ent surg­eries regained weight. I want­ed to do it right the first time.” 

Life After Transformation

Mary had her surgery on Sep­tem­ber 23, 2024, and a year lat­er, the results are life-chang­ing. She’s shed excess weight, gained ener­gy, and regained the abil­i­ty to ful­ly par­tic­i­pate in life with her fam­i­ly, includ­ing her six grand­chil­dren. ​“Before surgery, I’d get worn out just going to fairs or rides with my grand­kids. Now, I can do every­thing, and my con­fi­dence has sky­rock­et­ed,” Mary said. 

Her health has improved in oth­er ways as well. Med­ica­tions she once relied on for acid reflux and IBS are no longer need­ed, leav­ing her only on thy­roid med­ica­tion and vit­a­mins. ​“Vit­a­mins are life­long now, but it’s such a relief to not need the oth­er med­ica­tions,” she shared. 

Mary’s jour­ney has also opened the door to new expe­ri­ences. She’s tak­en part in mul­ti­ple races, includ­ing Girls on the Run, the Sun­burst walk, and even the Mud­dy Princess — a chal­leng­ing obsta­cle course she com­plet­ed along­side her daugh­ter. ​“Before surgery, there’s no way I’d have done a mud run. I did every obsta­cle. I wasn’t giv­ing up,” Mary said proudly. 

Mary H., Fall 2018 & May 2025.

Mary isn’t slow­ing down — she’s already look­ing for­ward to her next big chal­lenge — the Ruff Ruck in Muskegon, Michi­gan, on Octo­ber 18. She’s signed up to car­ry 35 pounds for 12 miles, aim­ing to fin­ish in under three hours. 

A Team That Sup­port­ed Every Step

A sig­nif­i­cant part of Mary’s suc­cess comes from the sup­port of the weight loss cen­ter team, who guid­ed her through­out her jour­ney. ​“The whole team has been sup­port­ive from start to fin­ish,” she said. 

Her team includ­ed Luis Ben­evente, MD, FACS, sur­geon; Amy Karan­ja, FNP‑C; Lyn­d­say Gable, NPC; Lisa L., dietit­ian; and Joan­na G., med­ical assistant. 

Mary also empha­sizes the impor­tance of plan­ning and being mind­ful with food, espe­cial­ly when attend­ing events or out­ings. ​“I make sure I have my own foods if what’s avail­able isn’t suit­able. It’s become more inten­tion­al, but it’s man­age­able,” she explains. 

Reflect­ing on her jour­ney, Mary shared, ​“I’ve learned to embrace my loose skin and stretch marks. They’re part of my sto­ry, my life. I’ve learned to love my body and what it allows me to do.”

Ready to write your own suc­cess sto­ry? Learn how the South Bend Clin­ic Weight Loss Cen­ter can help you achieve last­ing results.

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