It's the new year again, and although I can't prove what the number one New Year's resolution of all time has been, I'd venture to guess it has something to do with losing weight.
Patty Ream may understand that. And in a different way, so may Mark Brown and Sherry VanSickle.
Ream, a registered dietitian, started the Diet Center (located in Yeckel Square off Route 31 in Donegal) three years ago and Brown and VanSickle have lost a combined 228 pounds in eight or nine months from participating in her program.
"It's like being let out of jail," said Brown who weighed 356 pounds at one time but has since lost 138 pounds.
Brown was motivated to lose the weight after he saw some pictures of himself that someone had taken.
"I hadn't really seen a picture of me in a while and when I saw those pictures I knew I just couldn't take it any more," said Brown. "I told Patty that I was either going to get this weight off me or I was going to die."
Ream, who is also a certified personal trainer and has a National Dance Exercise Association (NDEA) certification and a general nutritionist certification, also operates a 24-hour gym.
Brown has moved on from the diet center program to working out in the gym.
"I have two stepsons half my age and I used to make them tie my shoes so I could go to work," said Brown. "Now I could kick their butts."
VanSickle, a heart patient, has lost over 90 pounds on Ream's program.
According to Ream, she is careful with VanSickle's program and worked around her medications. Ream also contacted VanSickle's doctor to cooperate on the treatment.
The key component of the Diet Center's program is the vitamin B-12, which controls the whole nervous system. It is administered intermuscular (by shot) or isotonically (drinking).
"Eighty percent of all the people in the United States are depleted of B-12," said Ream, who added that the depletion can be caused by stress, excessive sweating and depression.
According to Ream, the B-12 vitamin helps a person sleep, gives them energy, normalizes their digestive track and speeds up their metabolism (the number one goal of the Diet Center's program).
"When you finish our program, you will have a whole new metabolism," said Ream. "You won't go back to the slow sluggish metabolism you had before."
Along with the B-12 vitamins and the one-on-one personal advice, such as what to eat and what not to eat, that each person gets through the program, they also have group therapy talks once a month.
The only other vitamins that are not included but she asks the participants to purchase from her or someone else are, Vitamin C and a supplement of Calcium, Magnesium and Boron.
"I started this program from scratch," said Ream. "I got it copyrighted and approved by a doctor and a dietitian. I made up a hand book for the program and I've been working for the past five months on making it a franchise."
She has succeeded and has sold two franchises so far. Both are for Gold's Gyms in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Ream wants to put them throughout every area but she has a specification that no one can open one within a 10 mile radius of another.
"If anyone wants to open, they don't have to have any credentials because they will be under us. They will be trained by us," said Ream. "I don't want any of the centers to change in any way. It can be set up different as far as building wise, but the program has to be the same."
Ream also stated that they do not charge the person who starts a franchise any type of percentages from the money they make. "It's just a one time thing. They pay us a lump sum and then the money they make is theirs."
She added that she would completely set them up to get them open with training and everything.
"Doing this gives me the chance to change someone into a great, get-up-and-go, happy person, when at one point they walked through the door and didn't care if they lived or died," said Ream.
For more information on the Diet Center, contact Ream at (724) 593-2660.
