On September 5, 2009 I took an incredible leap of faith, hope, and determination, and decided that I will put my past behind me and start a new life with Dr. Scinta.

I will be honest and say that during my first appointment I broke down and cried, not just tiny tears, but huge crocodile tears! Tears that were filled with years of frustration, fear and negativity! Dr. Scinta listened and took a considerable amount of time with me. Wendy is one of the very few doctors who said she would help me and never lost sight of what our agreed upon goal was!

Eleven months later I can tell you that I am so close to reaching my goal, that sometimes when I am looking at myself in the mirror the tears are still falling down! But these tears are not the same as before, these are filled with self worth, hard work and a bounty of happiness!

This journey has been priceless to me, and these are a few of my favorite thoughts I have taken away. Keep listening to all the positive things around you! Enjoy each day you have and keep believing that you are worth more than you ever imagined and that ultimately you will be better than OK, you will be GREAT!

There are not enough words to say thank you to Dr. Scinta and her staff for all they have done for me! I can also tell you that it was by pure chance I found Dr. Scinta, but in the end it was Dr. Scinta who found me and brought me back to a life worth living for!

“Kat” has lost 16 pounds. She started our program 2/16/10 w/ Dr Scinta’s BOUNCE Program. Kat is now at maintenance with a normal %BMI! She has just finished playing softball for her HS and is now playing for a travel team.

My name is Kat and I am 15 years old. When I was younger I realized that I was a little different from the other girls in my school. I was overweight and had to go to the school based health clinic more frequently to check on my high cholesterol problem. I am very self-conscious about the way I look and the way my body looks. So after trying different things and playing multiple sports the NP at the school clinic suggested that I go see Dr. Scinta.

When I first met with Jen I learned that they could help me lose weight and get control of my cholesterol. After different tests I learned that I was insulin resistant. With this information I went home and tried the program out. I was eating 4 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, a small snack, and dinner. I soon realized that it wasn’t all that hard. It wasn’t a diet, but a life style change that has helped everyone in my family.

I had great support from everyone (Dr. Scinta, the girls in the office, and my family), and seeing the extra weight come off me was a great feeling too. In the end I had lost the weight I was looking to lose. I even lost more pounds of fat then in my actual weight. I am very proud of myself and am starting to become less self-conscious.  I would like to thank Dr. Scinta and everyone at the office for helping me succeed at something I have been fighting for my entire life.

After college I was still pretty active, I played indoor soccer, racquetball and tennis on a pretty regular basis.  I put on 15-20 pounds but seemed to maintain that for a while.  I didn’t think this was a big deal so I never tried to lose it.   While playing indoor soccer I injured my neck and eventually had surgery to correct a bulging disc.  After that I stopped playing soccer and didn’t play racquetball or tennis nearly as much as I had before the injury.  As a result I started to gain weight and never looked back.  Over the next 10 years I got married and had two children and slowly kept gaining weight until I hit 280 pounds.

During those ten years I tried Weight Watchers, Biggest Loser contests with friends and various diets with moderate success.  The only thing was once I stopped those diets I gained it all back plus some extra.  It got to the point that I started to believe maybe I was just meant to be big.

This started to impact my health and more importantly it affected how I was able to raise and play with my boys.  I volunteered to coach my oldest son’s soccer team and I would sweat and be out of breath just from running around with a bunch of five year olds.  I began to wonder how I was going to do this when they got older.  Over the years medical issues started to pile up. I developed GERD, severe sleep apnea, fatty liver, arthritis, and my asthma worsened.

Finally in August of 2009 while I was sitting in my ENT’s office, I saw a pamphlet for Medical Weigh Loss of CNY.  The pamphlet said losing weight was a science and as an engineer that appealed to me.  I took the pamphlet home to my wife and we discussed it, I researched the website, and decided to go to the informational meeting.  Once I got home from the meeting, my wife and I discussed the pros and cons, the expenses, and whether or not I was ready to make such a large lifestyle change.   I decided I was and made an appointment to see Dr. Scinta.

The results of my physical were scary to say the least.  I was morbidly obese (BMI = 42.5), pre-diabetic, my cholesterol levels were high as well as my triglyceride levels, I had high blood pressure and my liver function tests were abnormal.  Dr. Scinta said that this could all be reversed and we decided I should do the full meal replacement program.  With the help of my group meetings, and weekly visits to the office I was able to successfully stay on the program for 16 weeks and started transitioning to normal foods shortly after Christmas 2009.  More importantly during this time, I was given the opportunity to realize that I should be “eating to live and not living to eat.”

After my transition I rediscovered that I actually enjoy working out again and recently decided to train for a triathlon and half marathon.  I now work out 5-6 times week swimming, biking and running.  When I started working out I was barely able to finish a mile run and yesterday I was able to finish a 5K run in 30:50.

Thanks to Dr. Scinta and her wonderful staff my weight is now approaching 200 pounds, my body fat percentage is getting close to being in the healthy range, my blood pressure is normal, as are all my other levels.  I am now able to play with my kids without being out of breath and sweating.   My kids keep asking when my diet is going to be over.  I tell them my diet ended in December and this is my new lifestyle.  My lifestyle has had a positive impact on my family as well.  My boys are more aware of the food they eat and are making healthier choices to be like their Dad and my wife has started to workout as well.

Rod has lost a total of 92 lbs at his visit today on a Partial Optifast Plan. He started his plan in November 2009. Next month we will recalibrate Rod for his 100lb visit. He has about 65 lbs to go until he reaches his goal.

My name is Rod and I have achieved half of my weight goal.  After a significant injury that took eight years of medical management to get the injury under control, in which time I saw my weight slowly increase.  I was unable to exercise, walk without a cane, walk any significant distance, in a significant amount of pain, diagnosed with an enlarged heart in October of 2009, elevated cholesterol, short of breath with any type activity, and obstructive sleep apnea with a CPAP rate of 14.

I started my weight loss program with Dr. Scinta and Medical Weight Loss of NY, PLLC last November just before Thanksgiving.  During this short time of less than 6 months I have gone through several changes with removing the extra weight.

I am now able to exercise routinely, including walking around the block which is 2.5 miles; without a cane, without being short of breath.  The pain in the back has decreased without the extra pull of the weight that was in my stomach.  I recently had a follow up cardiology appointment learning that my heart has gone down to normal size.  The cholesterol is on the way down, awaiting follow up blood work to possibly come off cholesterol medicine altogether.  The obstructive sleep apnea has improved significantly with a CPAP of 4.  Finally to know that I have significantly lost the weight as there has been big changes in my clothes.  My shirt size started at 3X tall, now an XL tall.  My pants were 46×32 and now are 38×34.  I am 6’3” tall and with the weight on I wasn’t standing up to my full height therefore the shorter pants along with the fact I was putting them under the stomach instead of wearing them on the waist.  I no longer carry the weight of my 13 year old child on me every day.

Obesity is my normal.  I grew up in a family where everyone was overweight and no one really talked about it.  It was not condoned, but it was accepted.  To me, obesity was just an inconvenience.

And then, life hit me.  I had gone to college, gotten married, and enjoyed life very much.  When I “grew up”, I realized that I wanted a family.  With my chosen career path as a Labor & Delivery nurse, I knew that my weight was a major risk factor to a healthy pregnancy.  I tried, unsuccessfully, for 2 ½ years to get pregnant.  My doctor told me all the possibilities that could be hindering my achievement of a successful pregnancy but avoided mentioning obesity.  I started to lose weight because I wanted to be healthy for a pregnancy and after a few pounds lost, I got pregnant!  I had naturally conceived triplets.

With my triplets, I was told to gain 65-75 lbs, even though I was starting out morbidly obese.  I was eating for 4!  I felt absolutely mortified that I had to gain that much weight, but took on the challenge willingly!  I had a license to eat.  I stayed healthy, gained weight and met up with a staggering complication at 24 weeks gestation.  One of my boys died unexpectedly in utero.  I was put on bedrest for 10 weeks, monitored closely and was told to expect my other son to die soon, or at best, he would be born with severe mental and physical handicaps.

I delivered my three children, buried one, and took the other two, home.  They are happy, healthy and developmentally appropriate 5 years olds now, and I count my blessings every day.  They even have a little sister now!

I cannot begin to explain the emotional toll that my pregnancy took on me.  I was not in a good place for a very long time.  I had to find a balance between grief and celebration; to mourn and be thankful, simultaneously.  I lived as I knew how.  I performed daily tasks, I went back to work, I took care of my new children and I ate.

For most of my life, I have felt overwhelmed with the amount of weight that I had to lose.  As I continued to ignore it and feel overwhelmed, that number kept getting bigger.  I would always wait for tomorrow to start my diet and every night would be my “last good meal.”  My family and I deserved better than that.  We went through too much to lose each other to obesity.  All my life, I have been the thief of my own time.  I have given away my life in pounds to the tomorrows that were never there.  With Medical Weight Loss of NY and Optifast, I finally chose to take that time back:  For me, tomorrow has finally come.

I had been overweight my entire life – and then I found Dr. Scinta, and my life completely changed!

I come from a history of obesity.  Growing up, both my parents were overweight, and their bad habits passed on to my sister and I.  I was overweight as a child and into my teens.  My first attempt at getting the weight off was when I was 14.  I had just moved to a new school, and I realized that other kids didn’t like me because I was fat.  So I began a low fat diet, losing almost 40 pounds in 9 months!  I was still overweight by about 20 – 30 pounds, but I felt better and became more active in sports, and life became a little easier as the new kid in school.

I maintained that weight for a year or so and then gradually put on about 20 pounds by the time I graduated high school.  Then I went to college, and instead of putting on the Freshmen 15 my first year, I put on about 40!  I knew it was time to do something again.  At this point, I wasn’t just overweight anymore.  I was now obese.  I went on a high protein, no carb diet and lost that 40 pounds during summer break!  But the following school year, I gained 90 pounds, which was over double what I’d lost.  From then on, I struggled more than ever before.  I continued to try different weight loss diets and programs that would work for the first 30 - 40 pounds, but it always came back, plus some.  I was a yo-yo dieter.

And then the health issues started.  In my mid-20’s, I was diagnosed with a fatty liver and found out I also had high cholesterol!  My family doctor said fatty liver was caused by yo-yo dieting, and yo-yo dieting is more unhealthy than just being overweight.  My high cholesterol was also due to my being overweight.  Now, I really had to start thinking about my health.  Heart disease runs in my family, and my mom had just had a heart attack a couple years prior, so I was aware of the potential of having a heart attack with my family history, even at such a young age.  After a few years of struggling with my fatty liver and high cholesterol, my doctor said it was time to start taking cholesterol medication since I couldn’t control it on my own with diet and exercise.  And then I knew…I had to do something different.  I was too young to be dealing with these health issues.

In the Fall of 2008, my best friend saw an ad in The Good Life, Central New York Magazine for Medical Weight Loss of NY, and she sent me an email about looking into it.  At the time, I didn’t believe I was ready to attempt yet another weight loss program.  I had just tried another program in 2007 that cost me over $1,000, which didn’t work out for me.  Did I really want to try another program that could potentially cost even more money?  I held onto that CNY Magazine for months, and finally, I convinced myself to attend a free info session to find out what Medical Weight Loss of NY was all about.

I started the Optifast program on March 18, 2009 as morbidly obese.  I was at my highest weight ever, and I was ashamed of myself, depressed, angry, and all of the other negative emotions that go along with being overweight.  And when I started the program, I still didn’t think I was quite ready to even attempt losing the weight.  I had so much to lose, and it just didn’t seem attainable!  But Dr. Scinta’s staff was so supportive, and they’ve heard these concerns from all their patients.  So I rolled up my sleeves and got started.  Now, I’ve lost 110.5 pounds in a year’s time, and I couldn’t be happier!

One of the most important things Medical Weight Loss of NY has helped me realize throughout this journey is that this is a lifestyle change, not just a quick fix.  It’s about getting healthy, not just losing weight.  In order to be successful with weight loss, you have to change bad habits and develop new and healthier ones.  Dr. Scinta, Sheila, Jennifer, Phyllis, Jen, Pat & Johanna have all been incredibly supportive, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.  I look great, I feel great, and I even inspired my sister to do the program!  She’s lost over 100 pounds so far in only 6 months!

I am very grateful for Dr. Scinta and Medical Weight Loss of NY, and I look forward to inspiring more people to take control of their lives and get healthy!

Hello, my name is Linda. I’m 60 healthy years of age now thanks to Dr. Wendy Scinta and her wonderful staff.  I hit the “turning point in my life” in the Spring of 2007. I’ve been overweight since my 40′s and the weight kept creeping up, until I hit well over 250 lbs.  I always believed that I carried the excess weight well, always looking good, and being healthy.  But I had a life altering experience when I fractured my lower leg, and had to be non-weight bearing with a cast up to my knee for 6 long weeks.  The excess weight and being non-weight bearing put a whole new perspective on my life.  I knew I had to get this weight off, and under control once I was recovered from the fracture.

It was December 2007 that I saw News Channel 9 WSYR and the spot they did on Medical Weight Loss of NY and Dr. Scinta.  I knew I wanted to find out more information.  I called Jennifer, and set up an appointment to attend one of the free informational meetings.  As I sat through the meeting, I knew I was going to do it, no matter the cost, as I’ve tried several other weight loss programs in my life only to lose 25-30 pounds at the most, and never keeping it off.  I set up my next appointment to have the labs, and finally my appointment with Dr. Scinta.  I can’t say enough positive things about this whole process.

I started the Full Program in Feb. 2008, I continued with the full for 13-14 weeks, and I lost 45 pounds, my weight then went to a 60 pound loss by July 2008.  I felt great, so I started to walk, no more knee pain from the weight.  I transitioned to the Partial and eventually back to a 1200 calorie diet.  I had lost 80 pounds by summer of 2009.As the old saying goes” you didn’t put the weight on overnight, so the same goes for the taking it off.”

This program is the best I’ve ever done, it treats the complete person, by incorporating the group meetings into the plan.  My goal now, is to get my BMI (body mass index) in a normal range. So I’m working on that 100 total pound weight loss with Dr. Scinta’s help.  Thank you so much to everyone in the office, you are all truly wonderful. I feel so great!I can’t believe how much better I feel. My life has been blessed. So here goes – next time it’ll be 100 pounds.

Linda

I come from a family in which there is no problem with obesity.  To my knowledge, not a single family member or relative has been overweight.  My problems with weight began in the late 1970’s, when I figured I had about 20 pounds to lose.  Although I never tried to gain knowledge about making smart choices concerning calories, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugar, or fat, I was able to take off necessary pounds by simply cutting back on portions.  It was easy for me to lose that weight, but it returned just as easily and charted new territory in my approach to obesity.  I followed this pattern for years, and by 2005, my doctor was telling me I was obese, and that I had no excuse for it.  Although what she said was true, there was nothing that moved me to put an end to what was a slow march to an early death.   At a doctor appointment in 2008, my weight was recorded at 268.  I knew I was addicted to food, and always figured I would do something about it someday, but I had no plan, no goal, and no motivation.

In August of 2008, I encountered a series of extremely unpleasant events involving family relations, which motivated me to seek professional counseling.  This “family of origin” work I began to do was extremely difficult and emotionally painful, as I discovered I was sealed in a closed circle of behaviors, formed when I was very young, that had to be changed.  I found that even though I would never be able to force another person to change, that changing my own behavior would help me grow out of old destructive patterns. The personal reward would be a growing sense of self-esteem and self-acceptance I had never previously recognized.  I was to find that there would be many areas of my life seemingly unrelated to “family” – that would be changed by applying answers I arrived at in my counseling.  That counseling, by the way, is an ongoing process.  It is not finished.

As I made progress in counseling, I found the issue of my weight became increasingly unacceptable to me, although I could arrive at no means by which I would lose weight.  In the summer of 2009, I heard of successful weight loss involving injections causing the body to burn fat instead of muscle.  Since the process appeared to involve no hard work, I went online to find out more about it.  I read quite enough about the process, but did not seem to find anyone in my area who used it.  In my web surfing, I came upon Dr. Scinta’s attractive and exciting website.  Her Manlius office is in an area in which I constantly find myself, and I had promised my companion, Sue, that I would begin a weight-loss program, so I went to Medical Weight Loss of New York for an introductory appointment.

Jen Avery explained the Medical Weight Loss program involves full or partial diet replacement using Optifast Products, after a calibration reveals how many calories I need to maintain my present weight, versus the number of calories one of the programs doles out to me each day.  As I listened to Jen’s explanation, I felt a fire of motivation I had never felt before.  This program covers everything one needs:  medical supervision, a storeroom of all the Optifast products one would ever care to see, ongoing checkups, and attendance at a weekly class at Medical Weight Loss.  I agreed to begin the full diet replacement program, using only Optifast Products.

At my initial calibration appointment my weight was recorded at 257.  My photo was taken, and I was poised to begin my program on October 7, 2009.  Driving home from Manlius, I stopped at Burger King for what would be my last meal before my diet.  (What a stupid choice that was.  I could at least have gone to Justin’s or Delmonico’s and had a great steak!)  I lost weight rather rapidly, my full diet replacement program having lasted from October 7 to exactly December 7, at which time I ordered delicious grilled salmon and steamed broccoli at a celebratory lunch with Sue.  As of New Year’s 2010, my weight stood at 200, with my target at about 187.

On December 7, I bought a Brooks Brothers tuxedo at a consignment shop with Sue, who encouraged me to get it although it was too small.  On January 9, 2010, I had photos taken as I wore the tux, which now fits all but perfectly.  I’m sure that with 10 more pounds to lose, that tuxedo will be extremely comfortable.  I am currently in the transition phase of my diet program, eating two well-planned meals a day.

I cannot praise Medical Weight Loss of New York enough.  Dr. Wendy Scinta is extremely encouraging and knowledgeable, and some of her staff have successfully gone through their own weight loss programs and are supportive by example and attitude.   The classes I attend “meant to be compulsory” are a delight and a highlight of my week.  My instructor, Johanna, is a behaviorist, and extremely knowledgeable about addictions. She takes great delight in helping all of us to see our addiction to food, and what got us there.  The power we gain in her class will be a mainstay in our coping with maintaining weight and successfully dealing with addiction to food, a day at a time.

I am totally sincere when I say that Medical Weight Loss of New York and Dr. Scinta have given me back my life. If I were to list all the aspects of daily life that have changed as a result of this diet, I’d be busy with that list a long time.  I will simply mention a pre-diabetic condition that has completely disappeared, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, absence of tired feet, and no more tendencies to fall asleep in the afternoon.  I feel great.  The process I began in my family of origin counseling will continue, for I have seen that the forces involved in my extremely poor self image were also the same forces causing me to add fat to my body and pounds on my weight.

Long before I joined Medical Weight Loss of NY’s program, I had on many occasions lost a lot of weight as much as 30 pounds, only to gain it back quickly.  I was not able to keep it off until I started Dr. Scinta’s Medical Weight Loss Program in May of this year.  I have had great results with this program.  Dr. Scinta and her staff have kept me on track and I would not have lost and kept it off without the program and their encouragement.

Until recently, I have been on Oxygen 24/7 and Sleep Apnea equipment.  The greatest benefit of my recent weight loss is that I no longer use the Oxygen during the day.  I may also be able to get off the Sleep Apnea/Oxygen equipment and be totally Oxygen free.

I can’t tell you how great it feels to breathe well and not carry around those Oxygen tanks.

I am so grateful for Dr. Scinta’s Medical Weight Loss Program and everything Dr. Scinta, her staff, my wife, family and friends have done for me.

My sincere thanks to all.

I have tried so many weight loss programs, I couldn’t even count them – Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss, Dieticians, Clubs, gyms, Curves, you name it.  I was at the point where I weighed more than I had ever in my life.  I was warned by two doctors to lose weight for my health.  I was considering gastric bypass surgery as my last hope but really did not want to go that route. I knew someone that had died from complications.

I saw Dr. Scinta on TV and checked out her website thoroughly. I was impressed with her background, credentials, methods, and success stories.  Because of past failures, I wanted to be sure before I made an investment in another program.  I went to the information session.  Once I went for an appointment and met Dr. Scinta and her staff, I knew that this would work.

The program was organized, flexible, well-rounded, and very supportive.  Her approach is so unique and easy which is why it works.  I don’t know why other bariatricians have not adopted her approach.  This is by far the best program.  She has thought of everything.

As of now, there are 95 lbs less of me.  Thank you Dr. Scinta.