Mandy Weber, Colleen Levitan and Andrea Stern, MD in the lobby at Family Medicine Mt. Joy.
It’s been a little over a year since Colleen Levitan, LPN, CC, first started her weight loss journey. When the nursing supervisor at Family Medicine Mount Joy decided she wanted to be a health coach, she first decided to help coach herself to a healthier weight.
“I needed to practice what I was about to start preaching,” said Levitan. “And, I realized I wouldn’t be able to do it alone,” she added. “I would be more successful with a support system and I knew we offered a weight management program.”
Levitan planned to start the journey on her own, but quickly recruited two co-workers: Andrea Stern, MD, primary-care physician at Mount Joy, joined Levitan in February 2017, and Mandy Weber, practice manager at Mount Joy, joined in June 2017.
“If she was going to do it, I was going to do it,” said Stern. “Not only was this going to help me lead a healthier lifestyle, but it was going to help me set a better example for my patients,” she added.
The Medically Managed Weight Loss program is a physician-directed, clinically supervised medical weight management programs that offers two tiers of service. Tier One includes one-on-one consultation that offers services like nutrition education and exercise oversight. Tier Two helps patients learn healthy, long-term strategies and reduce their overall caloric intake with meal replacement products.
“I thought I knew a lot about diet and exercise, but what they teach you is so much more,” Weber said. “The program taught us how to read labels and know what we are putting in our bodies.”
Participating in the program together held the trio accountable to the journey – like, attending weekly meetings together and avoiding those tempting office treats.
Weber laughed, “Pickles, peppers and beef jerky! We truly have the most amazing, supportive co-workers,” she said. “They always make sure there are snacks we can enjoy too, while still being successful on our journey.”
And successful they are. In the last year, the three women have collectively lost 140 pounds.
“We lost a whole person,” they all chimed in unison.
“Losing the weight feels great and this experience has really brought us together,” Levitan said.
“But even more, our patients are noticing,” added Stern. “They are saying ‘wow, if you can do it, I can do it,’ and that’s really rewarding.”