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Jan 5, 2025
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Las Vegan’s secret to shedding 59 pounds in a year: ‘No secret at all’


Las Vegan’s secret to shedding 59 pounds in a year: ‘No secret at all’

Ellie Thomas presents for a photo with among the pants she used at the height of her 315 pounds weight battle, on Friday, April. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. Thomas now weighs 164 pounds and she was Nevada 2021 Take Off Pounds Sensibly Queen (TOPS) for losing 59 pounds throughout 2021. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @btesfayeEllie Thomas positions for a picture with her dogs Willow and Caliblue and among the trousers she wore at the height of her 315 weight fight, on Friday, April. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. Thomas now weighs 164 lbs and she was Nevada 2021 Take Off Pounds Sensibly Queen (TOPS) for losing 59 pounds throughout 2021. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @btesfayeEllie Thomas, who weighs 315 pounds in 2016, presents for a picture, on Friday, April. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. Thomas now weighs 164 pounds and she was Nevada 2021 Take Off Pounds Sensibly Queen (TOPS) for losing 59 pounds throughout 2021. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @btesfayeEllie Thomas, who weighs 315 pounds in 2016, postures for a picture, on Friday, April. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. Thomas now weighs 164 pounds and she was Nevada 2021 Take Off Pounds Sensibly Queen (TOPS) for losing 59 pounds throughout 2021. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @btesfayeEllie Thomas, who weighs 315 pounds in 2016, strolls her canines Willow and Caliblue, on Friday, April. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. Thomas now weighs 164 pounds and she was Nevada 2021 Take Off Pounds Sensibly Queen (TOPS) for losing 59 pounds throughout 2021. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @btesfaye
Ellie Thomas has actually spent most of her life attempting to drop weight.

The 62-year-old Las Vegan figures that she has actually tested just about every crash diet, weight-loss program and body-slimming program presented over the past numerous years, but none of them ever brought enduring results.

Losing 59 pounds in a year, an achievement that earned her the title of 2021 Nevada Queen from TOPS Club - - a weight-loss education and assistance company whose acronym stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly - - is an outstanding task for Thomas.

A lot more excellent: Almost a year later, not a single ounce of those 59 pounds has returned.

The trick, Thomas discovered, is obvious at all: consuming better; taking part in physical activity; getting support from others who are battling the same fight; and, most of all, altering her mindset about food.

" I recall now at how foolish I was," Thomas says. "I 'd diet the wrong method, with all of these crash diet, because that's what they are. You're not configuring yourself to consume right."

Thomas' slendering success was honored at a TOPS occasion last June in Las Vegas. Likewise honored was 2021 Nevada King Ronnie Heidle, a Pahrump man who lost 19 pounds to obtain his own objective weight.

Each year's TOPS Kings and Queens are members who have actually lost the most weight and reached their goal weight as set by their doctors. TOPS is arranged to honor its 2022 royalty June 23 and 24 at the Suncoast.

A diet plan roller rollercoaster


Thomas, 62, was shocked to get the 2021 honor. But receiving any honor including success at weight loss would have been surprising to Thomas for most of her life.

" It was when I was, like, 12 or 13 years old that I got chunky. That was when the entire diet roller coaster started," says Thomas, who moved from Chicago to Las Vegas in 1962, 2 days before her 2nd birthday, after her uncle opened an air conditioning company here and offered her dad a task.

A doctor prescribed diet pills for Thomas when she was 12 - - she lost 30 pounds in 3 months prior to giving up. By her 20s, "I was constantly searching for a way to lose weight," Thomas states, despite the fact that "I didn't get really heavy up until marriage, kids, all that things."

Thomas would attempt any weight-loss method - - any crash diet, any brand-new treatment - that came out. She lost a few pounds with a few of them however, eventually, "I 'd regain the weight due to the fact that I didn't understand how to consume."

" I did WeightWatchers. That was great, but I never ever kept it off," states Thomas, who even flirted with fen-phen, an appetite-suppressing drug combination popular in the 1990s that later was found to be possibly hazardous.

‘‘ I was going to die' Her highest weight throughout those years was 315, the 5-foot-3-inch Thomas states. Being overweight caused anxiety - - "I simply felt caught (in) a huge body," she includes.

It likewise brought other health problems, including hypertension, arthritis, back and spine issues and the requirement for a knee replacement.

" It took a long time for me to recognize that if I didn't lose weight I was going to pass away," Thomas states.

In 2006, she underwent stomach coronary bypass. The couple took out a $25,000 loan to pay for it since her spouse's insurance didn't cover the treatment. A year later, Thomas weighed 185, having actually lost 130 pounds and dropping from a size 28 to 14.

" I kept weight off pretty good till about 2012, and after that simply began eating," states Thomas, who eventually returned to 235 pounds.

‘‘ Change for the better' In 2014, Thomas and a group of friends signed up with TOPS, where Thomas began to concentrate on the emotional side of weight reduction. She now recognizes, though, that she wasn't totally devoted to the program. She wandered away from TOPS and started to restore weight. She rejoined the group in 2018 however still wasn't ready to commit.

Came the pandemic. Obesity is thought about a risk element for major COVID complications, and Thomas was clinically not able to receive COVID vaccinations. So, in April 2020, being "in the middle of COVID made me realize that I needed to change for the better and I required to get serious about living a healthier way of life," she states.

TOPS uses an "specific approach to weight-loss and overall wellness," according to the organization, offering members with a variety of tools and techniques that consist of group assistance, health education and recognition.

" We talk a lot about assistance and responsibility," states TOPS President Rick Danforth, who has preserved his own 100-pound weight loss for more than 15 years. That's been key for Thomas: "Going every week to that assistance group and understanding you are liable to that scale," she says.

" You weigh in each week and have meetings," she adds. "I seemed like it was down to earth. Everybody was doing the same fight." Thomas has found out the value of thinking of and tracking what she eats and making sound options. In her case, that suggests lowering carbohydrates and increasing entire grains and vegetables in her diet plan. And she incorporates everyday exercise, mainly in the kind of strolling a number of miles with her canines, Willow and Caliblue.

‘‘ A day at a time
' Her weight now holds stable at 160 to 165 pounds. Her objective is 155.

" I now eat to live instead of live to consume," Thomas states. "My daughter, she's like, ‘‘ Mom, you do not consume.' I'm like, ‘ I simply don't eat the way I utilized to.' "Thomas likewise is working to recover the emotional scars that can come with a lifetime of being obese. She recalls a "defining minute" while visiting buddies in San Diego and being unable, at 315 pounds, to suit a roller rollercoaster car.

" That's when I stated I was going to have the stomach bypass," she says. "I believed it was a cure-all. It wasn't.".

Even now, "I take a look at myself and I understand I still feel heavy," Thomas says. Regardless of what others say, "you hold that. You're psychologically scarred, however you try to put it aside.".

Her suggestions for others: "Take it a day at a time. If you can't do that, take it a minute or a meal at a time. Don't look for the easy escape.".

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Elwood Hill
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Elwood Hill

Elwood Hill is an award-winning journalist with more than 18 years' of experience in the industry. Throughout his career, John has worked on a variety of different stories and assignments including national politics, local sports, and international business news. Elwood graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and immediately began working for Breaking Now News as lead journalist.

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