Melanie's Story

Melanie Childress of Dallas is like many people who have struggled with their weight their whole lives, trying every diet out there and watching her weight constantly go down and then back up again. But as a 23-year-old medical student, Melanie is also learning all of the health risks associated with obesity and realized it was time to make a change for herself and her career.

“It would be hard to listen to your doctor and take their word if they are overweight, especially if they are telling you to lose weight,” she says.  “I knew exercise and nutrition were both important and Baylor was the first place I found that incorporated both.”

Melanie met with the dietitians at the Baylor University Medical Center Outpatient Nutrition Counseling Services in August 2006 to begin her new nutritional plan. “They had me write down everything I ate and how I felt when I ate – was I really hungry,” says Melanie. “Then they gave me a plan that is very doable. It is not extreme in any aspect and for me, it was a lot more food than I was used to being allowed to have.”

For Melanie, one of the most important aspects of the routine was learning balance in her eating. “There are all these foods and it is not necessarily that one food is ‘bad’ and you can never have it, you just can’t have it every day,” she says. “I have had to learn to balance.”

Getting past the myths she had been taught about nutrition and dieting was a freeing experience for Melanie. “There are so many conflicting things in the media about food, you are polluted,” she says. “There were certain phrases in my head – ‘You can’t eat that.’ ‘That has too many carbs.’ As it turns out, I was restricting myself too much and not eating enough carbs and not making sure to eat every couple of hours. That was what was making everything harder.”

Melanie has also developed a new passion for exercise and in the first seven months of following her routine from Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center, she has lost 50 pounds. “My husband is enjoying the food as well and his mom is doing the same thing too and my mother is meeting with the dietitians as well,” she says. “This has had a positive impact on the whole family.”

Individual results may vary.