Page 66 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2021

HEALTHY LIVING
FROM TO
Reality
A Woman’s Journey to Health
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster A photos courtesy of Heather Allen
s a child, Heather Allen was always on some sort of diet. As an adult, the 34-year-old tried every fad diet, exercise program and lifestyle change out there and
could never lose more than 15 pounds, despite being active in sports throughout her life.
“Surgical weight loss was something I had always considered – I actually spent three years researching it – but I was nervous about it. I decided to rst try the non-surgical route with the South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center where I had access to dietitians and nurse practitioners. I followed the guidelines to a T and still couldn’t reach my goal weight, likely because my obesity was genetic.”
That’s when Allen decided to take the next step in her weight loss journey. “After my years of research, trying the non-surgical route, and talking to Dr. Avara and many other patients that had gastric surgery, I decided that it was time.”
Many of the people Allen reached out to during her research process had used South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center and had great success. “I gured if they all had great things to say, then why change the course?” she said of her decision.
While only seven months post-operation from her gastric sleeve, Allen has already hit her 80 pound weight loss goal. Allen says one of the best moments since her surgery has been clothes shopping for the rst time – something she used to dislike doing.
“Before surgery I had to order my clothes online because they didn’t carry my size in the store. I recently went shopping and remember thinking, “There’s no way that these pants are going to t,” but I wanted to see how far o I was from tting into them. I got them on and they were actually too big! I sat in the
HEATHER ALLEN before and after her gastric sleeve surgery.
dressing room and just cried. I still get emotional each time I go down a size.”
The South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center has been helping men and women like Heather Allen to meet their weight loss goals since their formation in 2000. Founded by South Mississippi Surgeons (SMS), they have been providing the Coast with quality surgical care for over 30 years.
To learn more about weight loss surgery, visit their website at smsurgicalweightloss.com, where you can register for free.
DR. WILLIAM AVARA, III DR. JASON PAYNE DR. JOHN HALL
South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center
1124 Oakleigh Road, Ocean Springs 228.872.7277 • www.smsurgicalweightloss.com
66 | March 2021
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