Climbing mountains: How Molly lost more than 100 pounds

Molly Smith recently accomplished one of the biggest feats of her life when she climbed 12 miles up Skiddaw Mountain, one of the highest peaks in England. 

It was just a year earlier that Molly could barely walk a mile. 

At 250 plus pounds, there were a lot of things Molly couldn’t do. The last time she and her husband, David, and kids, had visited England, David’s native country, she waited at the cottage while David and the kids hiked. She remembers making a promise to herself that someday she would hike Skiddaw Mountain too. 

The impetus behind what Molly now calls her “victory climb” started almost two years earlier with a decision in January of 2018 to enlist in the Nebraska Medicine New Direction weight loss program. At the time, Molly weighed more than 250 pounds and had just undergone major surgery. 

Molly had met bariatric surgeon Corrigan McBride, MD, medical director of the Nebraska Medicine Bariatrics Center, several years before at her daughter’s soccer game. “I didn’t want to do surgery, but I knew they had other options,” says Molly. “And I knew Dr. McBride would not be part of a program that was not medically sound.”

Molly says after she went to an informational meeting, she knew it was the right program for her.

The New Direction program, which is offered through the Bariatrics Center, is a medically supervised weight loss program that uses meal replacements to help achieve weight loss. The program starts with high protein meal replacement shakes, soups, pudding and protein bars, and eventually transitions to meals made at home.

Weekly education classes teach participants how to transition to healthier eating and lifestyle habits and develop a new relationship with food.

Before starting the program, participants undergo a comprehensive evaluation in the Bariatrics Center that includes lab tests and an EKG to ensure they have no medical problems that would preclude them from the meal replacement program.

“I meet and evaluate each person individually to determine which plan is medically safe and the best option for each person,” says Lauren White, PA-C, certified physician assistant at the Bariatrics Center, who followed Molly monthly throughout her weight loss journey. “To be successful, you have to be in it for the right reasons. This is not a quick fix. You truly have to adopt this as a lifestyle change. Molly came in with a mindset that she was committed to losing weight and making changes to her eating habits over the long run and her success is incredible.”

Molly remembers the day that she started on her weight loss journey like it was yesterday – Jan. 9, 2018. “That’s the day that I was mentally ready to commit to it,” says Molly. “If you’re not mentally ready, it’s not going to work for you.”

Molly had been overweight for most of her life. But it was during her first pregnancy when her doctor put her on bed rest for two months that her weight really went out of control. She gained 100 pounds and was never able to lose it. 

The first week on the weight loss program was the hardest. “But once the weight started coming off, I was in a zone,” says Molly. “I wasn’t hungry anymore. And the great thing about the meal replacements is that I didn’t have to think about food or meals and what I was going to eat next.” 

On Sept. 27, 2018, about nine months after Molly had started the program, she had lost 107 pounds and had reached her goal weight of 155 pounds. Now, more than a year later, Molly has maintained her weight loss, “I joined a gym and started exercising regularly,” says Molly. 

Her cholesterol dropped. Her sugar levels dropped and she was able to stop taking blood pressure medications. She also makes better food decisions now and keeps several shakes on hand when she doesn’t have time to make a meal. She continues going to the maintenance classes with the New Direction program twice a month to help hold herself accountable. 

Molly says she is living a new life today. She has much more energy now. She can walk down the aisles in her classroom at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Omaha, Nebraska, where she is a paraprofessional without bumping into desks or kids, she doesn’t need a seat belt extender when she travels, and shopping for clothes is fun. 

“You have to ask yourself, ‘How much is your health and life worth to you?’,” says Molly. “This has been an investment in my future and one that has paid off.”