A Houston woman's weight loss journey gave her 'so much energy'

Candice Brown bikes with her daughters on June 1, 2023, in Houston. Brown struggled to lose weight after gaining 110 pounds during her third pregnancy, despite exercising and eating a healthful diet, until she underwent bariatric surgery and lost 90 pounds.

No matter how hard she tried, Candice Brown just couldn't seem to lose weight.

The Houston resident, 41, struggled to keep her weight under control for more than a decade after she gained 110 pounds during her third pregnancy. Brown exercised and avoided sweets in favor of broccoli and green beans, but nothing seemed to work.

By the spring of 2021, she weighed 255 pounds. She’d also developed other health concerns, such as elevated cholesterol and Achilles tendinitis.

Just after Thanksgiving in 2021, Brown was unable to walk up the stairs at the Texas Capitol while she was there with her three children. She’d make an excuse to stay behind while they walked upstairs to the next floor, then take an elevator without telling them.

"I wasn't able to keep up with the kids. I wasn't able to walk up and down stairs. I was out of breath and tired," she said. "I was overweight, and I was just tired all the time."

By that point, Brown had already decided that she needed to make a change. One month later, she underwent gastric sleeve surgery at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest. The procedure is the most common type of bariatric surgery and involves removing most of the left side of the stomach to restrict food intake.

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Brown now weighs 171 pounds, having lost nearly 90 pounds in the 18 months since the surgery. She's continued to maintain a healthful diet, and she loves to exercise on her own or with her kids. She hopes to run a 5K next year and plans to start training once she earns an associate's degree in nursing from The College of Health Care Professions next month.

"I feel great. I have so much energy," Brown said. "I’m a lot more active with my kids now. We started to play volleyball more, we started to ride our bikes — things I couldn't do with the excess weight."

Brown's struggle to lose weight despite trying to exercise and eat well is common, said Dr. Dexter Turnquest, a bariatric surgeon who performed Brown's surgery at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest. Losing weight is a complex process, and maintaining weight loss is even more difficult, he said.

"It's very common for people who are trying to do all the right things, and perhaps are doing all the right things, to hit a plateau that they can't get past," he said.

Brown gained about 30 pounds during her first two pregnancies with her son Devion, now 23, and daughter Iyanna, now 17. She never expected to gain about 110 during her third pregnancy with her daughter Saniyah, now 17.

Her weight climbed to 268 pounds during that pregnancy. Exercise and eating plenty of greens helped bring it down to 199 after Saniyah was born, but she couldn't bring it any lower.

Candice Brown on June 1 in Houston. Brown struggled to lose weight after gaining 110 pounds during her third pregnancy, despite exercising and eating a healthful diet, until she underwent bariatric surgery and lost 90 pounds.

"The weight would just be at a standstill," Brown said, "or I would slowly start to gain weight."

By 2012, her weight had climbed back up to 235 pounds. Doctors determined she had hypothyroidism, a common condition where the thyroid gland doesn't make enough thyroid hormones. The condition causes metabolism to slow and can lead to weight gain, though it is rarely associated with massive weight gain, according to the American Thyroid Association.

When you eat, your body processes food into energy that it uses to function. But if you go on a diet, your metabolism naturally adjusts itself, so your body doesn't need as many calories to meet its needs.

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Metabolism is also influenced by many factors, including genetics, age, muscle mass and certain health conditions, Turnquest said.

"Losing weight and maintaining weight loss is not as simple as willpower," Turnquest said. "There are some physiological things that are happening that are really out of your control."

Although it can be difficult, maintaining a healthy body-mass index (BMI) is important, Turnquest said. Anyone with a BMI higher than 40 is considered "high risk" for developing health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and sleep apnea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"When you hit a (BMI) of 40 you automatically become a candidate to undergo surgery," Turnquest said. "The risk of surgery is much less than the risk of you carrying that weight."

Brown started considering bariatric surgery in late 2020. She was tired of seeing someone for the first time in a while and hearing them comment on the fact that she’d gained weight.

By the spring of 2021, she developed Achilles tendonitis and needed to wear a walking boot for six weeks. Her doctor explained that her weight was putting too much stress on her foot, but she was too heavy to qualify for foot surgery.

That's when she realized that she didn't want to have bariatric surgery to stop hearing comments about her weight. She wanted to lose weight so she could improve her quality of life and be more active with her kids.

Turnquest said his patients undergo a comprehensive evaluation to determine the best treatment for them.

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If a patient is only looking to lose a few pounds, they may not need surgery. Weight gain often occurs at significant moments in someone's life, such as after college, marriage or divorce, a move or the start of a new job. Other patients may be taking medication that is causing their weight gain, Turnquest said.

Candice Brown with her daughters on June 1, 2023, in Houston. Brown struggled to lose weight after gaining 110 pounds during her third pregnancy, despite exercising and eating a healthful diet, until she underwent bariatric surgery and lost 90 pounds.

The evaluation also helps to determine what type of bariatric surgery is the best option for a patient. Patients with Type 2 diabetes, for example, have been found to benefit from gastric bypass surgery, Turnquest said.

Brown was considered a "moderate risk" patient because her she did not have any other serious health conditions and was already active and trying to lose weight, Turnquest said. He felt gastric sleeve surgery would be right for her.

"She’d been doing her best to lower her weight," he said. "Really, we were looking for something to give her that extra boost."

Brown had surgery on Dec. 13, 2021, and returned home the next day. Patients need to start on an all-liquid diet after the procedure before transitioning to soft foods and then eating normally, Turnquest said. Brown also avoided sweets, alcohol, red meat and bread for six months, and she's continued to forgo sweets ever since then.

The surgery, along with healthful eating and regular exercise, led to the result that Brown had been trying to achieve for years. After four months, she’d lost 30 pounds; after six months, she’d lost 60. She’d lost 85 pounds by the one-year anniversary of her surgery and has maintained that weight ever since.

Her transformation has inspired her children, too. Brown said Iyanna has also become more interested in healthful eating and exercising.

"This has not just helped me, but it helped my overall household," she said. "Now we can grocery shop on a different level. On a healthier level."

Turnquest said Brown is doing "fantastic" since her procedure.

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"She's very outgoing and probably more engaged in her life than she was prior to surgery. And really, that's the big deal," he said. "At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is get people to live their best life."

Brown's transformation has improved her attitude and self-confidence, too.

Before her surgery, she shopped for all of her clothes online, where she could find shirts in size 2XL. Now that she wears a medium, she enjoys going to the store to try it on to see how it looks and fits.

"It feels really good just going to the store to pick up an outfit, and without even trying it on, most of the time I know it fits," she said. "I love it."

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