No Halloween is complete without candy corn. Whether you enjoy candy or not, it is likely that you will indulge in some at some point this Halloween season. A handful of 20 candy corn is estimated to be 150 calories. So just how long do we need to exercise in order to burn off the…
Read More“My girls are top shelf when it comes to chasing unhealthy eating habits out the door!! They are wonderful at coaching and sharing personalized treatment plans to live a healthier lifestyle and not a diet. I’ve lost 25 lbs in under 4 months and continue to stay with the program for continued control. Kudos to Kathleen and my girl “B” aka Bridget. Also, tremendous shout out to Emily at Platoon for the exercise co-op!”
In Summer of 2021, Erin decided she was ready for a lifestyle change. In less than 10 months, Erin lost 30 pounds of fat. She did not restrict food groups, but learned moderation that former diets did not teach.
“Kathleen and Bridget – I am so grateful for all the help and guidance you gave me. I am feeling so much better … blood pressure is good now and much less fatigue. My energy is amazing. Had the best girls trip to Nash this weekend and it was so nice to wear clothes comfortably and not hate all my pictures. You guys are the best!!! I have done weight loss programs before but never felt the love and support and had such personal guidance! It has motivated me to stick to the plan!!”
Meet George Brescia, Local Style Expert, TV Personality, and Author. George lost 35 pounds total (Fall 2021 – Spring 2022). He’s managed to keep all of the weight off and transform his eating and exercise habits.
Mary, 65, is a true MD Weight Loss success story. She has lost over 40 pounds through diet & lifestyle changes (September 2018-September 2019) . Since September 2019, Mary has sustained her weight-loss without compromising any of the things she loves, such as weekend trips to her condo in Florida & eating out with friends. She said that small changes in habits & learning to eat mindfully have made a BIG difference in her overall health. Great work, Mary!
“After gaining over 60 pounds during my pregnancy (my cravings took over) I thought that my postpartum weight loss journey would be fairly easy as staying in shape and eating healthy had always been part of my lifestyle. I didn’t realize, being a first time mom, that the lack of sleep and hormones during my daughter’s first few months would make this a slower journey. I was discouraged and not sure how to move the scale as my weight plateaued. I was recommended by my stepmom to reach out to Kathleen and Bridget. The best thing I ever did! I had always thought I understood how to lose weight effectively but they were beyond knowledgeable providing tips/tricks each week to help me through my journey. I never felt that I needed to sacrifice anything. After 5 months postpartum I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight and continue to incorporate what I learned in my day to day. They definitely teach you how to eat to make it a lifestyle change and not a diet.”
“Ashley came to our office for an initial consultation in August 2020 (2 months postpartum) and then completed our nutrition counseling program 100% virtually for about 3 months. We communicated 1-2X weekly via FaceTime and Ashley received tons of support along the way. She adapted to her new lifestyle of working and caring for a newborn (Daphne)! She had realistic expectations which resulted in sustained weight loss. Now that she is back to baseline, Ashley feels healthy & healthy, and is maintaining beautifully. We believe food is fuel and Ashley ate intuitively along the way and never restricted food groups. Congrats on a successful journey, Ashley!”
~ Bridget & Kathleen
Congratulations are in order for Susan, 75, who lost 40 pounds with MD Weight Loss (June 2019- December 2019) and has successfully maintained her weight since. Susan found the key to her success was indulging in her favorite foods in moderation. She planned ahead for these indulgences and did not restrict sweets or certain food-groups. Susan loved baking Christmas cookies and going out to eat with her kids and grandchildren. She was able to continue this part of her lifestyle, completely guilt-free! At MD Weight Loss, we believe that it is important to have social events and delicious meals to look forward to. Susan also stayed motivated by focusing on a feeling versus a number on the scale each week. These feelings included how she felt in her clothes as well as an increased level of energy. This kept her motivated to persist in her inspirational weight-loss and fitness journey. Susan is continuing to hit the gym, drink 64 oz. of water daily, and fuel her body with healthy foods.”
“Congrats to Michael who finished first in his age group in the Reindeer Run 5K in Ocean Reef Florida (December 2019). Michael has lost over 50 pounds in the past year & is staying healthy & active while at Duke University for his Freshman year!”
Mary, 65, is a true MD Weight Loss success story. She has lost over 40 pounds through diet & lifestyle changes (September 2018-September 2019) . Since September 2019, Mary has sustained her weight-loss without compromising any of the things she loves, such as weekend trips to her condo in Florida & eating out with friends. She said that small changes in habits & learning to eat mindfully have made a BIG difference in her overall health. Great work, Mary!
Kristen B, 40, has done fabulous on our program. Kristin has lost a total of 40 pounds in the last 6 months. Here is a photo of her family In Disney in November 2019 after completing the Disney Castaway Cay 5K! This was their first 5K walk/run together as a family. Even on vacation, Kristin was motivated to make healthy choices & keep up with her fitness goals. Keep up the good work, girl!
I lost almost 100 pounds in less than a year. I lost sixteen inches in my waist and even three inches around my neck. I lowered my cholesterol 67 points; my bad LDL’s dropped 73 and my good HDL’s increased 19. Unprecedented results for someone with lifelong weight problems. I have kept the weight off and am confident it will stay off.
That brings me to intimacy. No, sorry, not that kind of intimacy. I’m talking about intimacy with food—my lifelong habit of binge eating while no one noticed. Just me and my calories. But I only binged when I was stressed . . . or when I wasn’t. When I was sad . . . or when I wasn’t. When I was feeling bad about my life . . . or when I wasn’t. Ugh.
I’m pushing fifty years old. Prior to coming to MD Weight Loss, I had gained and lost forty or more pounds four different times as an adult. A no-fat regimen in my mid-twenties. Atkins in my early thirties. South Beach in my late thirties. Smoothies twice a day in my early forties. Each time I lost the weight. And each time I gained all forty back, plus ten more. You do the math.
Every one of these efforts was the dreaded four-letter word . . . diet. (I can think of a few other four-letter words to describe them as well.) Sure, I exercised and tried to get more sleep—yadda, yadda—but it was always a significant deprivation in my intake that triggered the weight loss. I gave something up. And once I stopped giving it up, I “found” all that weight I had lost . . . quickly.
Enter MD Weight Loss. No fads. No gimmicks. No deprivation. It may be one of the biggest clichés around, but Kathleen and Bridget’s approach is not about diet, but about lifestyle. Not all clichés are bad.
Kathleen and her husband, George, who also monitored me throughout the process, each have over thirty years’ experience as a registered nurse and board-certified clinician, respectively, with emphasis on cardiovascular disease and critical care. Bridget has a kinesiology degree and integrative nutrition certificate. The team has chops.
These professionals took the time to get to know me (and my wife, who joined me on the journey—as much to support me as to drop a few pounds herself). They learned where I ate, where I shopped, and where I travelled for work and for pleasure. Rather than steering me away from the routine of my life, they embraced it—and taught me how to eat normal food, at normal places, like a normal person . . . and lose weight doing it. Whoa.
MD Weight Loss showed me how to read, measure, or accurately estimate the calories and nutrition in food. They taught me how to record what I ate and drank (the technology is super easy). It then became simple math. I starting taking in less calories than I needed to maintain my current weight, and the fat fell off. I ate three normal meals a day and snacked when I was hungry. A normal way to live.
That’s where the second “I”—integrity—comes in. Previously, I might have guessed the calories in a sandwich or how many Doritos I ate (and usually guessed low, right?). I might have said, “well, I had a couple of light beers last night.” About 200 calories. The integrity comes in to say, “Actually, I had four beers last night, one of which was a high-calorie IPA.” 600 calories. And I probably made some bad food choices before bed. Sad, but true . . . for most of my life. Confronting this intimacy with integrity broke the vicious cycle and helped me grow as a person while I shrank as a person.
Routine meetings with Kathleen and Bridget involved weigh-ins (more integrity), but also better intimacy through candid conversations about the decisions I was making and how they reflected the kind of human being I aspired to be. Kathleen knows when to wag her finger and be stern, when to console and be gentle, and when to admit she doesn’t have the answer. Bridget is the queen of food science. It continues to amaze me the vast differences among food calories at my favorite haunts, especially my own kitchen and my kitchen-away-from-kitchen, Wawa.
I started to see how food affected—and often dictated—my routine and my mood. When I started this journey, I was the proverbial “live to eat” person. Now I strive to eat to live more often. I still have my days and my nights. I still binge. But it’s now part of a broader lifestyle involving awareness, moderation, and big-picture thinking. Intimacy and integrity, working together. Who knew?
I’m proud that my wife and I have referred more than twenty (and counting) friends and relatives to MD Weight Loss. I’m proud that my family has lost almost 400 pounds (and counting), with one brother on the verge of surpassing my tonnage decrease! We are taking far fewer medications. No more sleep apnea. Significantly lower risks for Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and joint replacement. Longer life expectancy, lower health care costs, higher quality of life, higher self-esteem . . . and more pleasant to be around. What’s that return on investment? Priceless?
We are blessed to have MD Weight Loss in our lives.
MD Weight Loss and Beyond is a great team of people dedicated to helping you reach your health goals. Kathleen and Bridget are professionals who are honest, enthusiastic, and committed. My first visit was in March and since then they have helped me in losing 40 (!) pounds. They find what works for you and you make small goals to a healthy, well-rounded approach. The support at MD is one of a kind”
Mike, 69 has been involved with the Senior Olympics for a few years. Mike finished first in the 400 walk and second place in the mile walk at the Delco Senior games, which took place June 10th – June 21st, 2019. In August 2018, Mike won 3 medals at the Maryland Senior Olympics. Mike has also qualified for 2 different events for the National Senior Olympics. Throughout Mike’s journey at MD Weight Loss, he has lost a total of 45 pounds (December 2017- August 2018), and has maintained his weight throughout the last year (August 2018- July 2019). Mike said that major lifestyle changes with nutrition and exercise have truly paid off. Keep up the great work, Mike!
Kathy & Jen have lost a combined total of 60 pounds, and feel the best they have in years. Here is a before/after photo from Fall 2018 at their gym. The after photo is at their gym in Spring 2019. They have helped each other stay motivated with their wellness goals.
“Having become recently engaged it was time to start to look for a wedding dress. After trying on several wedding dresses, I found the one! The only problem was, I really needed to lose about 20 pounds before my wedding date to look fabulous in my dress. Knowing I couldn’t do it alone, because in order for me to lose the weight I had to be accountable.
After consulting a close friend who had recently lost weight, she suggested MD Weight Loss and Beyond. There I met Kathleen and Bridget, weighed in and the journey began. I wanted to lose at least 20 pounds. Kathleen and Bridget kept me motivated. Gave me recipes, what to eat, what not to eat and discussed the importance of drinking water and exercising. The weekly weigh-in kept me on track and accountable.
At my last fitting for my dress they even had to take it in again, just two weeks before my wedding. Thanks to Kathleen and Bridget, I was able to meet my goal and look fabulous in my dress, on my Wedding day!”
“On June 30th, 2018, I went to a wedding. As weddings go, it was outstanding: a beautiful couple; a classy venue; an excellent deejay; a top-notch menu; an open bar. I could not have been happier to be there; except, when it came down to it, I could have. You see, this wedding was a first for me. After a lifetime to being overweight — and more than a decade of being obese — I had finally encountered something I dreaded: the moment that my weight kept me from fully participating in something I enjoyed. I knew on July 1st that something had to give. I was officially finished with being fat.
What to do? Well, whatever would give me the quickest results, obviously. I did some quick research and landed on the keto diet, with which a friend had been having some success. I searched for recipes, went food shopping, and made some delicious foods. After being affected by the “keto flu,” however, it quickly became apparent that the keto diet was not for me. That was when my friend told me about MD Weight Loss & Beyond, and about the successes that Kathleen and Bridget had helped others in similar situations to achieve. If they could help those others, my friend insisted, they could absolutely help me. “Just text Kathleen. See what she says. Go for a consult. What could it hurt?”
I took a chance, and texted Kathleen on Friday. “Does Tuesday work?” came her reply. I had my first meeting with Kathleen and Bridget on the evening of July 17th. After a medical exam, I got onto the scale for the first time. It read 273.8 lbs. It wasn’t the highest number I’d ever seen, but it certainly wasn’t one that I enjoyed looking at. Kathleen and Bridget laid out the facts, designed a plan for me based on my needs, and provided all of the encouragement and accountability I could’ve asked for. Weekly weigh-ins and tracking of food — along with frank discussions about my exercise, diet, and water intake — helped me to be successful. I won’t lie: it’s not an easy journey, especially at the start. However, it’s not as hard as you think it is, and I promise, it is so worth taking that chance.
Fast forward to October 4th. I crossed the 50 lbs mark. By Christmas, I had hit 75 lbs. As of today — April 4, 2019 — I have lost 91 lbs; of those 91 lbs, 82.4 lbs have been pure fat loss. My BMI has fallen from a 41.6 to a 27.8. I have gone from wearing a size XXL t-shirt to a size M. I have gone from a size 42 pant below my belly (with a size 52 required if I wore my pants where I was supposed to) to a size 32 at my natural waist. I have gone backpacking and rock climbing for the first time in a decade. Travel is simpler and more comfortable. I don’t have to worry about finding a nice piece of clothing, only to sadly discover that the size XL is sold out. I look and feel the best that I have since I entered high school in 2005.
I’ll tell you the same thing that my friend told me: take a chance. Text Kathleen. Go for a consult. What do you have to lose? Nothing but fat. What do you have to gain? Everything.