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It’s not very often you hear someone in a wheelchair say, “Oh it was easy to lose that weight.” Usually it’s the exact opposite. We’re not moving as much, we’re not doing a lot of stuff, which means we’re not burning as many calories. For us, losing weight is a uphill battle. However like all things in life, there are those who totally prove this wrong.
From a mother and wife from Georgia who wanted to become the sexy wheelchair wife for her husband to a newly injured paraplegic who used his injury as a catalyst to lose weight, here are three amazing weight loss stories from people who use wheelchairs.
Video #1: Atlanta mom and wife loses 37 lbs
After 20 years of being in a wheelchair, Jamie Goodwin, a 38 year old paraplegic from Atlanta, Georgia took it upon herself to lose some weight that’s been bothering her since having her three boys. She was injured in a car accident when she was a teenager, and has since become a pastor’s wife and blogger (with 1700 followers on Facebook), following her “Wheelin’ Weight Loss.” Check it out
After trying different methods to lose the weight, she decided to head out and find a trainer to give her the workout she needed. Despite choosing a trainer with no experience, the two worked together to help her develop a weight loss program,. Since starting her weight loss journey 10 months ago, she’s lost 37 pounds doing a combination of wheelchair racing (she just finished her first 5k!), boxing, weight lifting and a few other things.
Jamie, at the pace you’re going you’ll be the “hot wife in a wheelchair” that you say you want to be for your husband very soon. Watch her story on Fox 5 Atlanta
Video #2: Nashville paraplegic loses half his body weight
Back in 2009, Mike Moeberg, who was 26 years old student at time, found himself a T10-11 paraplegic after a car accident. A lifelong resident of Nashville, Tennessee, Mike loved all the yummy food from this region, and unfortunately had the weight to prove it. But when he became paralyzed, he decided it was finally time to lose that weight; all 300 lbs of it.
And that’s exactly what he did. After attending rehab at Shepherd Center, he put himself on an intense workout routine and diet plan with a target to lose over half his body weight knowing it’d make his life easier (transfers, pushing himself, etc). He now weighs 160 lbs.
To realize this goal, Mike too got into hand-cycling, and now he races as well as does upper-body weight training on a weekly basis. Watch Mike talk about his amazing weight loss journey
Video #3: Director Jazzmyn Banks discusses 16 extra lbs
For Jazzmyn Banks, a wheelchair-user with a degenerative joint disease who only weighs 4’6, she has to be extra careful of putting on any extra weight. Just a few extra pounds can wreak havoc on her transfers and moving her limbs. And even though she only put on 16 extra pounds, it has been significantly making her life more difficult.
In her video, she discusses candidly exactly what she’s gone through – how she weighs herself when she can’t stand on the scale, how gaining weight effects her joints and her heart (not good) and how she plans on losing the weight. Her biggest challenge – creating a diet that works since she can’t workout.
Her trick is the “supermodel” portion control diet and she uses disposable portion cups to help. Check out Jazzmyn’s video
The key you guys: Don’t think weight loss is impossible if you can’t stand up and use your legs. The human body is amazingly resilient and even in the face of disability it will drop the pounds. All you need to do put down those Cheetos and move whatever you can for at least three times a week. Can you do it?
What helped you shed the pounds?
Watch the videos!
– Fox news story of Georgia paraplegic who’s lost 37lbs
– Mike Moeberg, a para who lost half his body weight
ideas@spinalpedia.com
