Weight-loss clinic clients celebrate 1,000 pound total loss

Rejoicing over the 1,000 total client pounds lost in five months, the Saratoga Ideal Protein Clinic is having a celebration today at its Bridge Street location.

The celebration takes place at 5:30 p.m. today at the Saratoga Ideal Protein Clinic, located at 112 W. Bridge St. in Saratoga, and everyone is welcome to attend. An Ideal Protein dinner will be served, and there is a gift basket raffle for all who attend.

Members of the clinic achieved the 1,000-lb total weight loss goal last week, according to Tonya Hill, nutritional health coach for the Ideal Protein locations in Saratoga and Laramie. Dr. Darren Bressler, also a chiropractor for Albany County Chiropractic Center in Laramie, is the owner of both locations.

Hill, who was once on the Ideal Protein program herself, said the Saratoga office opened last January and has seen much of its business come from word of mouth circulation.

“Everyone we’ve had start in the last four months has started because they heard from somebody else being successful at it,” she said.

The Laramie location, which will celebrate 10,000 pounds of weight loss since its opening, has been available for clients since 2010. Hill was offered her coach position by Dr. Bressler, after he commended her on losing 120 pounds while on the program in Laramie.

“Before Dr. Bressler offered me the position, he came to me and said I did really great on the program and asked if I’d be his coach,” Hill said. “We first started with about 15 or 20 clients at the Saratoga clinic, and over the last couple of months we’ve grown to about 35 now. We’re only here on Wednesdays, and I do the other clinic in Laramie for the other four days of the week. We try to reach everyone in Carbon County, and about 50 percent of the clients come from Saratoga and Encampment, while the other 50 percent comes from Rawlins.”

Hill said around 75 percent of clients are women, and husbands usually jump on board once their wives start the program. One of the few men currently in the program is Montie Munroe, of Encampment, who lost a total of 76 pounds in five months. He was originally 351 pounds when he started the program in January.

“My weight now is 275, and I have another 24 pounds to lose until I reach my goal for now,” Munroe said. “I have lost an average of three or four pounds every week. At the clinic they make sure you’re not gaining any weight back, and they can help you get back on track with the diet. Tonya has been great with her help and counsel, and you really couldn’t do it without her.”

In addition to becoming healthier, Munroe said he was also able to get off of oxygen and four of his medications from his massive weight loss. He said he would like to drop another 20 or 30 pounds eventually.

“I’d like to set another goal and make it down to 220 or 230,” Munroe said. “I’m a big-framed guy, so that’s about where I should be. I tried all kinds of diets before and none of them worked, but this was the first one that worked. It does take a commitment to get it done, and you need to commit to not eat the wrong foods and do what you’re supposed to do.”

To satisfy all tastes and cravings, Saratoga’s Ideal Protein location also offers a variety of healthy versions of foods that clients pay for weekly while on the diet.

“We have soups, puddings, drinks, chip-type foods, and pretty much anything that will satisfy peoples’ tastes,” she said. “If they’re looking for something salty-crunchy, we have that, and if they’re looking for chewy-sweet, we have that. We also have pre-made drinks that are ones you can throw in the cooler. They’re convenient and people can grab them and go.”

Ideal Protein also offers vitamins that provide calcium, magnesium, potassium, multivitamin, Omega 3, so that clients are not lacking in nutrients while on the diet. The program is also set up in phases, stating what or how much the person can eat or what they can’t eat throughout their plan, and when clients “phase out” correctly they can receive a 90-minute massage or three free boxes of food as a gift.

“The program is four phases, and as people phase out we teach them how to eat normal foods, gradually phase them into being back on whole proteins and teach them how to eat properly so they can maintain their weight loss,” Hill said. “In maintaining their weight loss, we also get them in an exercise routine.”

Clients keep diaries to record their progress and visit Hill weekly to discuss how their diet is going. They also get weighed on a Tanita-brand scale, which also measures lean muscle mass, body fat mass, water, BMI and basal metabolic rate, or how many calories the body requires.

People of all body types willing to lose weight are welcome to join on with the program, regardless of how much they may weigh.

“I schedule everyone for their own block of time, and we give people their own 15 to 30 minutes each week,” Hill said. “Everybody weighs in every week, and for people who live in Rawlins, I give them the option of doing a phone weigh-in every other week. That way they don’t have to travel, but most people travel because they really want to see how they’re doing. We want to make sure people are doing everything they’re supposed to, and holding people accountable by making them come check in each week makes them more successful.”

Hill said the program is for those 16 or older, and parental permission is required for those under 18. However, she said she is willing to talk about exercise and proper nutrition with those under 16 if they choose to visit the office.

“We don’t typically do kids, but we can teach kids how to eat properly and those things,” Hill said. “We don’t like to put them on a diet per se because we don’t want to give them a complex about it. We also want to do it when the kids are done growing, since we don’t want to do anything that would stunt their growth by putting them on the program too early. I have had people who bring their kids in, and we just talk about things like exercise, and not eating cookies and eating vegetables instead.”

Munroe said that Hill’s own time spent on the program was an extra push for him to go through the same process.

“I have been told by doctors that I need to lose weight before, but it was by some skinny doctor who has never dealt with it,” he said. “But Tonya’s been through it and knows what we’re going through. That really helps you mentally. It also helps to have the support of our small community.”

To sign up with the Saratoga Ideal Protein Clinic, call 307-742-6840. The clinic is open from 10:15 a.m. to 7 p.m. each Wednesday.