New year, new me; weight loss victories and disparities

TAMPA, Fla. — New year, new me. That’s a phrase often heard at the start of the new year, especially when it comes to being healthy and weight loss.

In recent years, there have been breakthroughs with medication and surgical procedures. But for some communities, there is still a struggle.

Numbers show there is a racial disparity when it comes to obesity. There is a group of women in the Bay Area that is determined to change those numbers.

With their hands shivering, their walking shoes on and good conversation, getting in a workout on the Tampa Riverwalk is a piece of cake for these sisters now. But it hasn’t always been this way.

They shared photos of themselves just a few years ago battling obesity.

Vanessa Cowans shared photos of herself before her weight loss journey a few years ago. She has since lost more than 100 pounds.

“They help me. I help them. We talked about things, shared recipes. We go work out together, walk together. We’ve tried several different gyms,” she said. “I mean, I knew I was overweight, and I knew it was the biggest I’ve ever been and the heaviest I had been my whole life, but I just felt like, ‘I’m functioning, I’m OK.’ But not being able to get up a flight of stairs without feeling literally like I can’t breathe, that was a lot.”

She said she went to her doctor, where she got a nutritionist, a weight loss pill and eventually GLP 1 injections to help keep the weight off.

Her older sister, Charlotte Dixon, was also struggling with obesity. She took notice.

“Right when we first started, my A1C was getting high, and the doctor told me one more time, You’re getting ready to get on medication,” Dixon said.

It didn’t take long for their younger sister, Sharrel Cox, to join in too. Like her sisters, her health was on the line.

“I have dilated cardio myelopathy. So, I have a lot of meds that kind of help me retain weight,” Cox said. “So, I didn’t realize that until I got more educated. And once that weight started falling off, my health skyrocketed and got a lot better. So just by seeing them putting their effort first saved my own life.”

She feared having to go on a heart transplant list, but she says now that’s no longer a worry.

All of their health concerns are backed up by data. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women have the highest prevalence for obesity when compared to any other race or gender, something that doctors say can lead to a host of long-term problems.

Dr. Lindsay Wiles is the Obesity Medicine Director of the TGH + USF Bariatric Center.

Her patients use everything from weight loss surgery, pills and GLP-1 injections to treat obesity, along with diet and exercise.

“There are known risks with obesity, and those known risks are nine plus types of cancer that you’re at risk for. All of the heart conditions, all the liver conditions, all the kidney and sleep apnea and arthritis and all of those things.” Wiles said. “Those are the real things we live with every day that we can make better.”

She currently treats all three sisters, and she said they’re the kind of patients whose stories will impact and educate entire communities.

“That’s why I try to educate my patients so that they can educate the community and their friends and their family and everybody who has something to say about it,” she said. “There’s so much misunderstanding when it comes to this disease. Forever they’ve been told eat less, push away from the table. Exercise more and this can be fixed.”

For those who do have something to say about weight loss or they’re just thinking about it, Cowans has the same kind of advice she gave to her sisters.

“Start somewhere. Take the first step. Start somewhere,” she said.