About Michelle & Sean
Over the years, Michelle and Sean both struggled with their weight—a problem that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2022, both were ready to make a change—a change that was greatly needed to improve the couple’s long-term health and ability to care for their family. Yet, after years of failed weight loss attempts, neither knew where to start. Fortunately, some serious Google searching led them to True You Weight Loss—and their impressive journey to losing more than 100 pounds together in just a few months is one worth celebrating.
Looking Back: Michelle’s Story
Michelle’s personal challenges with weight date back to her childhood. Even though she was an active softball player during most of her early years, she often struggled with being overweight, and with family challenges that contributed to some unhealthy eating habits. Later on in her early adulthood, Michelle faced significant fertility challenges and the stress of a difficult first marriage, followed by a tough first pregnancy—all contributing to continued weight gain. She eventually reached almost 330 pounds.
After her divorce in 2005, Michelle was strongly advised by her doctor to lose weight and get healthy, or risk not being around much longer to raise her daughter. This was enough motivation for Michelle to pursue gastric bypass surgery—and the results were impressive. After only a year, Michelle lost more than 100 pounds, but life’s challenges made it difficult to sustain the weight loss.
Soon afterward, she met and married Sean, they moved to North Carolina, and became pregnant with son Peter. Their son was born about seven weeks early, suffered a stroke, and spent a considerable amount of time in the neonatal intensive care unit. The stress of this difficult experience sent Michelle back to food for comfort, and the weight gain began again.
In the years that followed, Michelle faced numerous heartbreaks and challenges that exacerbated her weight gain, including a severe injury that shattered her left leg, required nine surgeries and rendered her unable to walk for two years; the death of her father; and a full hysterectomy and removal of her ovaries. Her leg injury also led to the diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome.
“All of these experiences made it impossible for me to maintain a healthy weight or stay in shape,” Michelle explains. “Our son was also diagnosed with severe autism, and we learned that he would need 24/7 care for the rest of his life. It was so overwhelming that I became an emotional eater, and I had absolutely no time for exercise. Food was my friend, and the vicious cycle continued.”
Over the years, Michelle had experimented with countless weight loss strategies, including a popular meal replacement plan and counting calories on her own, but nothing gave her steady results. By 2020, Michelle suffered from pre-diabetes, was diagnosed with high cholesterol, and struggled with a great deal of pain, anxiety, and depression. All of these challenges were only further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When 2022 came, Michelle was desperate to lose the weight, especially when she took a serious look at her son’s future. She knew that she and her husband needed to be there to care for him for many years to come—and that was a powerful incentive to make another serious decision to lose the weight for good.
Michelle’s determination took her online, where she discovered there were non-surgical options for patients who’d already undergone bariatric surgery—something she’d never heard about before. When she found out that Dr. Christopher McGowan and True You Weight Loss offered a non-surgical bariatric surgery revision procedure, she was instantly excited. Michelle talked to her husband about it—and while he was skeptical at first, after doing some more researching and watching some videos, he was sold and ready to make the investment—for both of them and for their family.
“Not only did Sean agree that it was a good idea for me, he asked if he could make an appointment to learn more, too. It turns out that Sean had his procedure first—and his early success and encouragement paved the way for our successful journey.”
