TORONTO -- Jamie Bogart has shed 80 lbs. from his overtaxed body in just six months -- the equivalent weight of a 10-year-old child.
It's a major accomplishment for the 45-year-old man from Dundas, whom Sun readers first met in 1999 when he weighed 490 lbs. and was fighting the Ontario Health Insurance Plan to pay for his treatment at a North Carolina fat farm.
Things weren't much better last year as Bogart fought depression and failing kidneys, even at his "improved" weight of 472 lbs.
Not even a phone call of encouragement from weight-loss guru Richard Simmons could lift his spirits last spring. But this past January, as Bogart started yet another doctor-monitored diet, something clicked and for once, he fully committed to fighting the morbid obesity that had weighed on him for decades. He now weighs 402 lbs.
"I just came to a point where I had to do something," said Bogart, who lives on a disability pension.
"What a difference. I can see some light. It's great. My attitude has changed. I know now that there's some hope."
Bogart credits his success to his doctors and a medically supervised liquid diet that has cut his daily caloric intake to about a thousand.
$2,700 TREATMENT
As part of the year-long, $2,700 treatment -- which is not covered by OHIP -- Bogart is seen by a team that includes a psychiatrist, internist, endocrinologist, social worker, occupational therapist and dietitian. He also swims daily for an hour.
Dr. Arya Sharma, director of the Canadian Obesity Network and a world-recognized expert who's supervising Bogart's weight loss, said his patient has taken just the first step in a lifelong process.
"People are never cured for obesity. It's a chronic disease that requires chronic treatment," he said, noting part of the reason Bogart feels so good is that he is eating a balanced diet for the first time.
"We know (the program) is not going to have a lasting effect, because like any diet, the weight is going to come back," Sharma said. "The next step is, can we help to maintain that weight loss?"
Sharma said people like Bogart are genetically predisposed to become obese and are triggered by their environment and lifestyle.
"The genes load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger. A person like Jamie has the genes to become that big. I don't. There's nothing that I could do to myself to make myself weigh 500 lbs."
Also, Bogart's kidney function is now at about 50%, up from the 20% they were working at last year.
Even healthier is Bogart's attitude.
"I'd like to lose another 200 lbs. And I'll do it. There's no question," he said.
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