News from Parkwest Health & Lifestyles
There’s a reason it’s called “comfort food.” Like many people, Lori Naczynski found comfort in eating foods that weren’t good for her. Extra sugar, carbs and fat felt like a treat at a time when she needed to be consoled.
Problems with her spine had left the Crossville woman in constant pain that forced her into a wheelchair. Hurting and miserable, the pounds began to ile on as she sat and fed herself.
Lori went from a size 18 to 8 after bariatric surgery.
Today, Naczynski looks back and marvels at how far she’s come since she underwent a life-changing procedure at the Parkwest Center for Bariatric Surgery in Knoxville.
Nothing Worked
Naczynski was constantly hungry and she just couldn’t seem to lose a significant amount of weight, so the comfort food kept coming. “I continued to do that for, my gosh, five or six years,” Naczynski says.
“I would just buy bigger clothes and bigger clothes and I never stood on a scale because I didn’t want to know what I weighed.”
Because she had been slender for most of her life, carrying the extra weight as an adult severely damaged Naczynski’s self-esteem. She dressed in baggy clothes to cover her “back fat,” but her wardrobe choices only made her look bigger.
At a regular check-up in 2018 Naczynski weighed in at 236 pounds. Her doctor
told her it was far too much for her 5-foot-two inch frame to carry for much
longer and that there was a risk of serious consequences. About a month later, she heard the same thing from a chiropractor.
“And that’s when it made me realize, not only am I leading myself into a life of prescription drugs, now I don’t feel good because I’m too heavy,” Naczynski says. “That’s what made me think, ‘I really need to take this seriously. I really need to do something to get my health back to some kind of normalcy.’”
A Last Chance
Dr. K. Robert Williams, Bariatric Surgeon
One of Naczynski’s coworkers had undergone bariatric surgery. Naczynski
was impressed and began to wonder if it might work for her. She went online and searched for a bariatric surgeon who might help her.
Parkwest bariatric surgeon K. Robert Williams, MD, of New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery performed laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery in October 2019 at Parkwest Medical Center. After years of diets and exercise that just weren’t working, Naczynski finally began to see results.
She closely followed instructions for proper nutrition and stepped on the scale regularly. In seven months Naczynski lost 83 pounds, her pants size went from 18 to eight and her life was radically changed.
“My attitude is great,” Naczynski says today. “I’m not pretending that I’m happy anymore – I really am happy with who I am and where I’m at!”
Coworkers and friends have noticed. Someone even referred to her as “Slenderella.” But Naczynski didn’t need a fairy godmother for a new life. She had a skilled bariatric surgeon and the support of his staff.
Naczynki now recommends Dr. Williams and Parkwest Center for Bariatric Surgery and New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery to anyone who is facing health issues because of stubborn weight. She wants everyone to feel as great as she does.
“I’m comfortable in my own skin,” Naczynski says. “I feel healthy, I feel good and I’m absolutely loving life!”
If you haven’t been able to lose weight and keep it off long term through diets, medication or exercise, weight loss surgery may be for you. Attend one of our free monthly info sessions or get started today by watching it online! https://www.newlifebariatricsurgery.com/info-sessions/
Dr. K. Robert Williams and the New Life Center for Bariatric Surgery are part of Premier Surgical Bariatrics in Knoxville. Dr. Williams is the Medical Director of the Park West Center for Bariatric Surgery, a division of Covenant Health Bariatric Services.