Advising him that it might be time to look after his own health, Merrill suggested that Spitler, then 48, visit the Vandalia office of Dr. Rick Gebhart.
Last week, seated behind his desk at the cemetery’s offices, a 250-pound Stan Spitler paused as tears welled in his eyes.
He then gave a simple, straightforward answer to the question that had summoned them: How has he been able to maintain the discipline needed to lose half his body weight in the trying aftermath of his wife’s passing?
Said Spitler, “You have to think about life.”
His has changed as the result of his dramatic weight loss, and so has his body.
For one, the veins in his legs that for years were obscured by layers of fat have reappeared.
Spitler said similar layers of fat have receded from around vital organs, including his heart and liver, relieving some of the strain on their function.
The lost weight has also made him breathe easier – and not just in the poetic sense.
“When you get to that size, people go into sleep apnea,” Spitler said.
For three years, he used a CPAP machine to keep his air passages open at night for a restful sleep. A year ago, he was able to pack the machine away because he no longer needed it.
Spitler also has been able to stop using the insulin that he’d been taking for more than two and a half years to counteract the effects of Type II diabetes.
Under his strictly supervised and medically monitored program, his dose was reduced by half on day one and eliminated six months later.
Changes also have Spitler’s pancreas providing more of the natural insulin that keeps blood sugars in balance.
The beginning weeks, of course, were the most trying.
Forewarned and with some prescribed help, Spitler was able to manage his cravings for carbohydrates, cravings that since have disappeared as he’s distanced himself from not only potato chips and ice cream, but foods with other naturally occurring sugars, among them milk, cheese and fruits.
He’ll have to remain vigilant, he said, because just as his bones grew larger to accommodate his excess weight, his former level of obesity has permanently made him more sensitive to carbohydrates.
Six months into the program, blood taken from Spitler’s more accessible veins revealed that low hormone levels were contributing to his weight problem. The hormone treatment that followed increased his metabolism and helped the cause.
For a time, Spitler was losing 5 to 7 pounds a week, a rate that sent him back to his favorite clothing store to retool his wardrobe, then to Goodwill stores to drop off the garments he had begun to swim in.
An upper body that once required a 6X to cover it now requires only 2X. Given his 250-pound decrease, the six-inch reduction in his waist line seems modest, and although his shoe size has remained 10 1/2 to 11, Spitler is leaving a smaller footprint.
No longer requiring widths of EE or EEE, he can buy footwear off the rack.
If all that is cause for celebration, the mere mention of two other issues bring back immediate reminders of the damaging sense of shame and embarrassment weight issues can cause.
“One thing that really got me: When you get into a car, a seatbelt won’t fit you,” said Spitler. “I had to have extensions put on the seatbelt of a car.”
“The other thing that really got me: I couldn’t sit in a booth at a restaurant. I had to sit in a chair.”
Those two daily, constant reminders of obesity he said, “Bothered me for a long time.”
Now on a maintenance plan that returns him to his doctor’s office every six months, his day begins with a protein bar and a protein shake, gives way to a lunch that typically might include chicken breast, green beans and coleslaw.
Dinners include steak and unbreaded chicken strips, pork loin and fish, mixed cauliflower, broccoli and boiled red potatoes, tossed salads with vinegar-based dressings.
He snacks on veggies, peanuts and popcorn.
There is the occasional free day when he can eat what he wants and some accommodation for the realities of the holidays.
He remains on what he calls “a tiny bit” of blood pressure medicine; takes a drug that helps move accumulated sugar from his bladder into his urine; and takes calcium supplements, fish oil, and a metabolism booster that falls short of sending him into the jitters.
Even before he reached his goal in November – a goal supported by regular walks — friends and acquaintances had been asking Spitler how much weight he had lost.
I imagine that when Spitler invited them to guess the amount, as he did me, they awkwardly dodged the question before offering congratulations and confessing that they’d worried about him.
If they were like me, those same friends and acquaintances then paused for a moment to savor the look on the face of a good person who has managed to overcome a life-threatening problem under most difficult circumstances and return to health.
Likely because it’s life affirming, it’s one of the best feelings mere mortals can have.
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