Randolph
But with help from support groups and educational programs, some Twin State residents have found that they can maintain the daily habits of eating well and exercising necessary to keep pounds off and feel good.
After decades of dieting, Cynthia Thurston, a 65-year-old Rochester, Vt., resident, found a Type 2 diabetes prevention program hosted by Gifford Health Care in Randolph in 2016. The free, yearlong course helped Thurston develop habits she’d wanted to cultivate, but previously had put on the “back burner.”
Thurston started to exercise, putting an elliptical machine she’d had for 25 years to use by working up from a few minutes at a time to sessions that now last as long as an hour. She also began tracking her calorie intake. From her fellow participants, Thurston learned new recipes and strategies for avoiding sweet temptations.
The group, its participants and the materials, “just connected with me,” she said in a recent phone interview.
While people generally slow down as they age, Thurston said she’s had the opposite experience: “I can do things now that I couldn’t do when I was younger.”
In that first year, Thurston lost 70 pounds. She also found she had more energy — enough so that she was able to paint her home’s exterior, she said.
“A couple years ago, that just never would have happened,” she said.
Similarly, 70-year-old Robert Cliche, of North Haverhill, has found success through a support group that meets weekly at the Horse Meadow Senior Center. After decades of obesity, Cliche found the support group, which is a chapter of the national organization TOPS Club — “Take Off Pounds Sensibly” — six or seven years ago.
“I was obese for 50 years,” Cliche said in a phone interview. “I’ve only got one body. … Finally I got sick of hurting and being the way (I) was.”
Cliche said his weight hit a high of 412 pounds at one point, but with the help of the support group and bariatric surgery in 2017, he has brought his weight down to 185 pounds.
To keep it there, he goes to a gym in Woodsville six days a week at 4:30 a.m. and does 4 miles on the treadmill. He eats normally, though less than he used to.
“I’m living a good life now,” he said.
TOPS, a nonprofit network of support groups and educational programs, costs $32 per year to join and the local chapter collects an additional $2 per week in dues for awards, rent and supplies, Janice Hatch, the Haverhill group’s leader, said in a phone interview.
“It’s a good support group,” said Hatch, who has been a member since 2004. It “holds you accountable.”
The group meetings include weigh-ins and discussions of what members have gained or lost, as well as some sort of program and time for discussion, she said. Past program topics have include motivation, various exercises and nutrition-related subjects such as sodium.
Like the Randolph program, Hatch said, TOPS does not encourage dieting. Instead, she said, the focus is on exercise and healthy eating. The peer support and idea sharing among members is a big part of the group’s effectiveness, she said.
For herself, Hatch said her routine includes working out with friends three times per week and being “very aware of what’s going into my mouth.”
Both the Randolph-based program, which is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Prevent T2 curriculum, and the North Haverhill TOPS chapter would welcome new members.
In addition to the Randolph program, Gifford — through a statewide effort to reduce health care costs and improve outcomes known as Vermont Blueprint for Health — offers the Type 2 diabetes prevention course in Bradford and Wells River, said Megan Sault, a care coordinator with Gifford’s community health team. Gifford officials also would like to offer it in White River Junction, but have had trouble finding a space that is available as often as they need it. The course runs weekly for the first 16 weeks, then biweekly and then monthly, for a total of 26 sessions in the course of a year.
“We want to make sure that our community is at its healthiest,” Sault said.
At the heart of the success of the program, which Gifford has been running in various forms since 2015, is the interaction between the participants, Sault said.
“Group support is really the most important piece,” she said.
Sometimes couples take the course together and are able to help each other to meet their goals, which generally include losing about 7 percent of their weight. In addition, group members often develop friendships, and then take walks — aiming for 150 minutes of exercise per week — and menu plan together.
For those who aren’t interested in a group setting or are seeking assistance before a new group session starts, Gifford also offers individual consultation with health coach Carolyn Higgins, who has offices at Gifford locations in Randolph and Bethel, Sault said. Gifford aims to start new groups every 16 weeks, she said.
Since finding her own success through the Gifford diabetes prevention program, Thurston has become a facilitator and now helps to guide others through the 26 sessions. Each week covers a different topic, such as adding more physical activity into the day, healthy snack ideas, how to manage stress in a positive way and strategies for eating out.
Even as a facilitator, Thurston said, she continues to learn. At each class, participants share new recipes, as well as challenges and strategies for going to a party when they don’t want to eat the cake.
“Everybody’s been there,” she said.
More information about Gifford’s diabetes prevention program can be found online at myhealthyvt.org, or by contacting Sault at 802-728-7714 or msault@giffordmed.org. More information about TOPS can be found online at tops.org.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
