“From a Size 7, down to a Size 3.”
That’s how 6-foot-8 Jerome Barnes describes three years of diet, exercise and born-again salvation that have led him to shed 120 pounds from his peak of 468.
He serves as a model of success that our local care and treatment specialists always aim to achieve. Among their next steps is creation of an annual Obesity Summit, set for Friday morning at Saginaw Valley State University.
Barnes, 59, has earned his living as a home maintenance professional, a.k.a. handyman, a career with more physical activity than most. Going back to childhood, he was one who would rather play than watch.
“We were sports fanatics,” he explains. “Football and basketball, of course, but also baseball, softball, hockey, soccer. We played them all.”
And so what happened? From his Chicago upbringing, young Jerome came up to Saginaw and settled in, so to speak. And in spite of his athleticism, he was not strictly a meat-and-potatoes couch potato..
“Cakes,” he says. “At least four or five times, I tried to slow down, but those cakes would get me.”
Stories of recovery may differ slightly with each individual. Barnes is humble in regard to his accomplishment, telling jokes on himself, but he is firm in stating that a return to church life has been the source of his strength to challenge overeating and also nicotine, cutting his pack-a-day cancer sticks by more than in half at this point.
“I probably would not be alive right now if I had not changed,” he says, now attending “informative classes where they give advice on choosing fruits and vegetables. As for the cigarettes, one day I’m going to throw them all out, I get so sick of them.”
He is aiming to get down to 300 pounds, and not thinking beyond, keeping his steady pace to be there for offspring on through a quartet of great grandchildren.
“I might have to stop (dieting) at some point,” he adds with a laugh, “because all this buying new clothes that fit gets really expensive.”
News in local health care
Friday’s free-admission Obesity Summit is an initial outgrowth of the 18-month-old Health Equity Council in Saginaw County, one of 11 formed under Gov. Whitmer in response to the covid pandemic. The agenda is geared to health care and social service professionals, but anyone may attend under the Health Department’s new “BWell” moniker.
Topics range from “exercise is medicine” to prescription medications to the impact of being overweight on mental health.
Leaders of the Health Equity Council are aiming in early May to release their initial overall report on obesity and other concerns.
