BEFORE
BEFORE
Shelly
Missy
Lost 40 Pounds
WEIGHT-LOSS METHOD: Bariatric Surgery
WEIGHT-LOSS METHOD: exercise machine, Bowflex TreadClimber; price starting at $999.
J
ust three years ago, Goshen homemaker Shelly Slagel, 38, was struggling with being overweight after two difficult pregnancies that kept her on bed rest, going through a tough divorce, and moving into a small condo. But in April — at 40 pounds lighter and buff with amazing abs — she was riding a bike along the beach in the Pacific Palisades, Calif., filming a commercial for a fitness equipment manufacturer. “I couldn’t have dreamed or asked for anything better in my life,” says Shelly, who runs the snack bar at North Oldham County High School. “It was hard to come back to reality.” Three years ago when Shelly wanted to get back in shape and regain her confidence, she went looking for exercise equipment that would fit into her smaller home. She purchased a Bowflex TreadClimber — a combination elliptical, stepper, and treadmill — and within two weeks felt that her jeans were looser and her body more toned. Within four months, she’d lost most of her excess weight. Now, at 5 foot 3 inches, she weighs 105 pounds and is in the best shape of her life. “I wasn’t expecting it, but the muscle definition that came with the TreadClimber was great,” Shelly says. “I was just trying to lose weight to get back into my clothes. I [exercised] at least three to five times a week. It’s kept the weight off, and I’ve stayed at this weight ever since.” Last year, Shelly entered a Bowflex contest that offered a chance to win $5,000 for telling your fitness story. “They emailed back and asked if they could speak to me,” Shelly says. “My mouth dropped. They called and said, ‘We are thinking of using you for a commercial.’ It was the most exciting thing.” By February, Shelly was announced as the winner and given the choice of taking the money or doing a commercial. “My mom says I should have taken the money, but you couldn’t buy that experience,” she says. The company flew her to Los Angeles, put her up in the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, and assigned her a makeup artist, hairstylist, and wardrobe stylist. Then for two days, she was filmed on the beach biking along the Pacific Coast Highway and working out on a TreadClimber inside the modern house used in the movie Californication. “They treated me like a celebrity,” she says. “People were asking who I was and asking for autographs.” Bowflex has since asked Shelly to be a spokesperson. “I love it,” she says.
AFTER
Lost 155 Pounds
D
iabetes runs in Melissa “Missy” Bagshaw’s family, and she didn’t want to end up like her aunt and cousin, who passed away early because of related health issues. Missy had mushroomed to 317 pounds, and after trying various diets and exercise, she was desperate. “I would get the weight off, and it would go right back up,” says Missy, a 47-year-old mother of two sons. “I did that I don’t know how many times. I was on high blood pressure medicine. I had high cholesterol. I was miserable. When I look at pictures, I can’t believe I got that big. “I’ve done Weight Watchers, exercised, the Atkins Diet. For me, it worked for a while, then something would happen, and I would get off it and gain it all back and then some. That’s why I said this is my last resort — having something to control my appetite.” In 2008, she decided to have lap band surgery, a procedure that makes your stomach smaller and limits the amount of food the stomach can hold. The surgery was performed in August of that year by Dr. Jeff Allen at Norton Weight Management Services. “My family was all against it,” Missy says. “I did a lot of praying about it, a lot of research about it. It was right for me. I wasn’t scared at all when I went into surgery. I wasn’t even in pain or anything when I came out of surgery.” Since that time, she’s lost 155 pounds, has gone from a size 26/28 to a size 10, and is off her high blood pressure medicine. “I have to work at it,” she says. “It’s taken me five years to reach my goal, and I plan on staying this way. I figured I went to all the trouble to do the surgery, so I’m keeping it off. But it’s not easy.” Missy has since gone back to school and will finish her associate degree in nursing at Galen University with the goal of becoming an RN and working in bariatrics. Last Christmas, she was looking at pictures at a friend’s house and saw someone she didn’t recognize. “I thought, ‘Who is that?’” Missy says. “It was me. It was the first time I saw myself as healthy and slim.”
AFTER TODAY’S WOMAN