Lisa Whealon: My whole life I struggled with weight, from the time I was a child on up to adulthood. After I had my second daughter, I was the heaviest I’d ever been, and just not feeling like I was the mom that I wanted to be. I couldn’t keep up with them. I just struggled doing everyday type things, and so I knew that I needed some help. I kind of had looked into some of the weight loss surgeries, but it scared me, the idea of having surgery and, having my two children, and what if something happened, and all of that. So, the balloon seemed like a less invasive way to accomplish the same goal.

I was amazed at just how smooth of a process it was. The whole procedure each time took just about 15 minutes. I could go in over a lunch break at work and swallow the balloon, and have the procedure and feel fine the rest of the day. So, I really had no side effects. There wasn’t anything that I experienced in that way. It was amazing just how quick and painless the procedure was. Within six months, I learned so much about myself, and about kind of best practices for this, and how I was going to continue to maintain it afterward, because that was my initial concern when I first learned about it was, “Well, what happens when the balloons come out?”

I wanted to make sure that whatever I was doing was maintained and repeatable after the balloons, and so that six month period I learned a ton about nutrition. I learned a lot about fitness, and a lot about portion control, and just macros, and caloric intake, and all of these things that are part of my life now, and kind of having the balloons really helped me take it seriously, I guess, for those six months, because again, I’ve done this throughout my life. I’ve done diets, and done fad things, but I guess I never really took it seriously as much as I did when I had the balloons.

My favorite part has been the non-scale victories. I mean, it’s been fun to watch the weight come off for sure, but the first time I was able to fly on a plane and not have to ask for the seatbelt extender, I mean, who would’ve thought? That was such a powerful moment. I remember sitting on the plane tearing up thinking about it. I was about to 270, 272 was my heaviest. Today I’m 184. I have like nine more pounds to lose so I can hit that hundred pound mark. I’m ready for that. I’m excited for that to happen. I think my advice would just be just start, learn more, start something. Don’t wait for next Monday. Don’t wait for January 1st. Do something now. Take the steps. Live every day, and every meal by meal, every day by day. Take it small, and just continue to repeat those behaviors and those actions.