Success Stories | Jacksonville Weight Loss Center

Hello, my name is Jaime Heffner. I began my journey with Dr. Cywes in February of 2011. Before beginning my journey, I was just like every other fat person out there, and thought that I could do it on my own, but I was wrong. My waking up moment of realizing that I needed help was on a trip to Disney World with my Mom, 5 year old son, and 3 year old daughter. I went to get on one of the rides and almost couldn’t fit. I made the decision THAT day I needed to make an appointment with Dr. Cywes for lap band surgery. I knew then that I didn’t need to do it just for me, but to be there from my children. If I didn’t get help soon, I knew I would not live to see my children make it out of elementary school. [Read more]

I am a Lap Band patient of Dr. Cywes. I had my lapband done November of 2011. I was classified as being morbidly obese. I weighed 388 lbs. I have been big my whole life. To date I have lost a total of 118 lbs. I now weigh a whopping 270lbs. I still have more to go to reach my goal. My goal is to get down to 170lbs. I will meet my goal in no time. With the help and wonderful direction that Dr. Cywes has given me, I will be at my goal very soon. I can’t remember the last time that I weighed less than 300lbs. [Read more]

I was 23 years old and my weight had reached a whopping 333 pounds. I had turned into a miserable person. I was very negative, depressed and most of all I hated myself. I was tired of feeling uncomfortable in my own skin, so I decided to make some changes. In December of 2007, I started to take phentermine (doctor prescribed weight loss medication) and within 6 months, I had lost 70 pounds. I was happy about the weight loss, but I was still very unhappy with myself. [Read more]

At the age of 23 and a few months after the birth of my second child, I unexpectedly had to have a total hysterectomy. This is when I began to gain the largest part of my weight. I was weighing approximately 200 pounds and I began having headaches. So I decided to get my eyes examined. That is when my world turned upside down. [Read more]

I have battled with my weight all my life, and in March 2010 I reached an all-time high of 335 pounds. I had heard about gastric surgery and explored my options. An RN in Gainesville referred me to Dr. Cywes and I attended a seminar. I signed up for the process and my lap-band was installed in July 2010. Since then I have lost 105 pounds and my goal of 195 pounds is in sight. [Read more]

I can truly say that I have, or should I say that I did have a weight problem all of my life. I can remember being teased as a child about being bigger than the other children, this continued through high school and throughout college. During my college years, I was introduced to prescription weight loss drugs that helped me to lose a large amount of weight. Needless to say, the weight returned. After marriage and three sons my weight ballooned to 355.5 pounds. I tried everything, every weight loss program I could find, only to lose no more than 50 pounds. You name it I’ve tried it. [Read more]

I’m a married mother of three that has battled with her weight for over 19 years. As a teenager I was fit and trim. When I got pregnant with my first child I gained 85lbs with that pregnancy and the weight never seemed to come off after that. With every new pregnancy I gained more weight and by baby number 3 my weight just kept climbing. [Read more]

In August 2010 I looked at myself and said I want to live! I have not been over weight all my life, only for about 18 years or so. I’m an Air Force Veteran but after I got out I started to gain weight. It was a slow process I guess. At first I was over 200 lbs…then 250…then, due to my volume eating and eating the wrong things, I got to 344—my all-time heaviest. I didn’t really see myself as that large and heavy and life went on for a while. Then things changed, my life was going by and I wanted to be in my life! [Read more]

My journey begins May of 2009. I work as a Police Dispatcher and got really sick at work one night. I could not breathe. It scared some of my colleagues. They took me over to Fire Station 16 to get checked out by the paramedics. Long story short, my parents came to pick me up, and we ended up at the ER. Tests were done, but they could not seem to find a problem. They sent me home with an inhaler. [Read more]

Over a year ago in June 2010 my family practice doctor told me if I did not lose 100 pounds, I was a heart attack waiting to happen. He put in a referral to Jacksonville Weight Loss Center. For many years I struggled with managing my eating habits. My business was stressful and I was on the road a lot, we even named a meal for me, the 321. It included a Double Burger, Chicken Sandwich and a Sweet Tea and cost $3.21. I was a stress eater and never paid attention to what passed my lips. I could not walk past food without taking a sample bite or two. I often bought things I knew were not good for me, but they made me feel good. Of course, I had to wash it all down with something sweet. I had the tomorrow syndrome; “I will start tomorrow losing weight”, but tomorrow never gets here. [Read more]