Maria Marks, 63, a former Michigan mental health worker who retired to Phoenix seven years ago, was physically active and maintained a healthy weight of about 140 pounds for most of her adult live.
But a few years before she retired, when she quit smoking cigarettes, she lost the appetite suppressant inherent in nicotine. Soon after, she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition that further slowed her metabolism. That combination helped drive her weight up to nearly 200 pounds at one point.
“That combination was really a disaster,” said Maria, born and raised in Detroit, who when she was younger played racquetball and softball, and in later years became an almost daily walker. “I really never had a weight problem until my late 40s. I was discouraged that — even though I still walked — I wasn’t losing any weight.”
This past August, when she saw an online ad for a weight loss program, she was ready, but skeptical, not knowing at first if it was a scam. She called the number and left a message. When she got a call back, she was reassured when she learned the program was being run at the HonorHealth Research Institute.
“Once she said she was from HonorHealth, I went, ‘Oh, good!’ This is on the up and up,” said Maria, who soon after visited the HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center campus for a health evaluation and meeting with the project’s principal investigator, James Swain, M.D., medical director of the G/I Bariatrics Research Division of the Research Institute.
She weighed in at about 190 pounds. She met with a dietician who “set me on the right track,” said Maria, who was encouraged to drink more water.
Maria also received an Elira device, which is a wearable patch that uses Radio Frequency (RF) and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) technology to help patients reduce fat by activating certain nerves in the skin above the stomach with electrical impulses that help suppress the appetite. Elira works without the use of drugs, and its settings are controlled via Bluetooth connection to an app on smartphones.
Set for 30 minutes before each major meal — breakfast, lunch and dinner — the device is worn daily, placed at the bottom of the breast bone. It is taken off 30 minutes after dinner.
The device helped her maintain her new limit of 1,200 calories per day. It was a little uncomfortable at first, and she was surprised the first time it pulsed, she said, “But after that it was no big deal. It really curbed my sweet addition,” added Maria, who loves chocolate peanut butter cups and other candy sweets.
The real test of the device, she said, was in October when she took her annual “girl’s trip” with four long-time friends to Florida and didn’t gain any weight despite eating at restaurants: “That was a win-win for me.”
Maria, who lives in Anthem, walks 3-5 miles almost every morning around the track that encircles a nearby soccer park. She uses a device on her wrist to count her steps, and sips during each lap on a 50-ounce water bottle.
When she finished with the three-month clinical trial in November, she had lost 20 pounds.
“It worked. I was tickled pink. This (clinical trial) gave me a lot of incentive. I’m thrilled,” said Maria, who also was impressed with the Institute staff and Dr. Swain: “They were wonderful. I can’t tell you enough. Very professional. He (Dr. Swain) is wonderful. Very thorough. Explained the program. Explained the device. He was great.”
Maria would recommend the HonorHealth Research Institute program to others who want to lose weight. She still limits her calories and drinks lots of water on her way to her new goal of losing another 15-20 pounds.
