Big step to healthy life by doing marathon

The women in a weight-loss support group are proving themselves winners this morning when they descend upon Central Park and partake in a half marathon - an event many could only dream about doing when obesity defined their lives.

“It’s really about attitude,” said Lisa Megna, who underwent bariatric weight-loss surgery in 2005. “Your outlook and experience changes.”

Attitude is what turned Megna from being bedridden following a work accident and three ensuing back surgeries, to an athletic dynamo who completed a half marathon three months after surgery and a full marathon later that year.

She is thrilled to be training for today’s half-marathon with nine other local women from the Choose 2 Lose weekly bariatric surgery support group she started and leads in Fishkill.

“It’s such a sense of accomplishment,” Megna said of the 13.1-mile event, sponsored by MORE magazine. “People who never thought they’d do something like this, like me, they will be motivated to say ‘I can do anything in my life.’ ”

That empowerment is a boost for any athlete. For people who have struggled with morbid obesity, participating in this event also celebrates their conscious decision to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

The American Society for Bariatric Surgery says that while the stomach surgery directly addresses obesity, it is also beneficial in abating other diseases produced by obesity, including: diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, degenerative arthritis and psychosocial impairments. But the surgery alone won’t solve health issues. Nutrition and exercise must be part of the equation.

Depending on the process chosen, stomach surgery can act in one of two ways: either restrictive or malabsorptive. The former decreases food intake and promotes a feeling of fullness, while the malabsorptive reduces the absorption of calories, proteins and other nutrients. Some surgeries use both techniques.

‘Surgery is a tool’

For Dina Cahill, 37, the decision to have the surgery meant the opportunity to return to her formerly active self, a lifestyle that eluded her when she weighed 350 pounds.

“I did sort of think of it as a cheater’s way out,” the Poughkeepsie resident said of the surgery. After unsuccessfully trying numerous diet programs, her reluctance faded after researching the surgery. “Once I decided, I never really looked back.”

Today she will walk the half-marathon, after training with Megna and the other members of the group. They’ve spent the past months working out three times a week alone, and then once a week together for a distance-training event. It’s a far cry from the 5-foot 11-inch Cahill’s active days on the college soccer field, but it is an invigorating workout that leads, step by step, to a healthier life.

“The surgery is a tool to use, not abuse,” the special education teacher said.

Megna, 40, pursued bariatric surgery when she was facing a fourth back surgery and had gained more than 100 pounds after being bedridden for two years. She went to a weight-loss seminar in July 2005 and the presenter mentioned some patients go on to run marathons.

“Maybe someday…” she thought.

In late 2005, at 263 pounds,

she had the surgery. In January, an American Stroke Association fundraising program piqued her interest: In exchange for marathon training, she would raise money for stroke research.

It was a perfect win-win.

Megna went on to raise $7,500 for the stroke association and last March finished the MORE half-marathon and a marathon in Hawaii in June. This year she’s sharing the experience with other surgery recipients.

“Today, looking at me, you’d never know I’d weighed that much,” said the probation officer who now weighs in at 135 pounds. “I don’t feel I’m a different person, I was always motivating, very confident, (but) I’m glad I had weight-loss surgery. It gave me my health, but I’m the same person that I ever was.”

Her efforts now focus on sharing her knowledge about the surgery and helping others along the path. In addition to the weekly support groups she coordinates, Megna is training to become an exercise instructor and runs her Choose 2 Lose store, which offers health and weight-loss food and supplies.

“I really want people to experience freedom. I know how it feels to be down and out, you’re so big … and you always get the short end if the stick,” she said. “But you need to believe you can change and take the steps to do that.”

Source : www.poughkeepsiejournal.com