Simultaneous weight-loss success by department heads at Massachusetts club recognized by newspaper’s golf columnist.
A weekly golf column written by Bill Doyle for the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette reported on the simultaneous success that two department heads at Cyprian Keyes Golf Club in Boylston, Mass. had in losing significant amounts of weight.
Head pro John O’Hara and Superintendent Dick Zepp have combined to lose nearly 200 pounds, Doyle reported, with the 6-foot O’Hara dropping 109 pounds, from 322 to 213, in 20 months, and the 6-foot-2 Zepp losing 87, from 305 to 218, during the last eight months.
“Everybody does a double-take,” O’Hara said in describing the reaction to how the two now look. “It’s amazing.”
“Some of the people here this spring didn’t recognize me,” Zepp added.
O’Hara, 44, has been heavy for much of his life, but a physical exam 20 months ago revealed he had developed Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and hemochromatisis, an incurable disease in which too much iron builds up in the body; O’Hara’s iron level was 10 times higher than normal.
Medication controlled the first three conditions, but not the hemochromatisis, which can cause organs to fail. So O’Hara gave up red meat and shellfish and had a pint of blood extracted each week for 22 weeks, to lower his iron level.
Not wanting to continue blood work for the rest of his life, in April 2010 O’Hara underwent Lap-Band surgery, a laparoscopic procedure in which an adjustable silicone belt or collar is placed around the upper part of the stomach to separate the stomach into two sections and restrict the opening to its main part, thus forcing the patient to eat more slowly and have smaller quantities of food. PGA Tour golfer John Daly lost 115 pounds after undergoing the same surgery in early 2009.
O’Hara now eats mostly chicken, haddock, swordfish, fruits and vegetables, but not a lot of anything. Where it used to take him five minutes to wolf down a big meal, it now takes him 30 to finish a small one.
His diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are now gone, as is his sleep apnea, and he’s full of energy instead of being tired all the time. Now that he’s lost so much weight, people tell O’Hara he looks more like his brother Terry, Cyprian Keyes’ former Director of Golf, who weighs about 170 pounds.
The weight loss has also helped O’Hara’s golf game, by eliminating how he used to slide back and forth during his swing and helping him once again turn his hips properly. “I’m trying to get back to the days like in high school where I could play really good—I’m getting close,” he told Doyle.
Zepp, 60, once weighed as much as 325 lbs. and has taken medication for high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and an irregular heartbeat. Four years ago, he had a defibrillator-pacemaker installed, and the device probably saved his life a year later when he went into ventricular fibrillation on the day in 2008 when the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
Motivated by the success of O’Hara’s Lap-Band surgery, Zepp asked his doctor if his heart condition would put him at risk if he underwent the same procedure. His doctor told him he’d be at risk if he didn’t. So last December, the superintendent also had the surgery.
Unlike on the “Biggest Loser” TV show, O’Hara and Zepp haven’t competed against one another to see who can lose the most weight, but have given each other strong support. “The more you talk with other support people, that’s the best thing you can do,” O’Hara said.
“I’m much happier,” he added. “I’ve got a new lease on life. I was on a bad path. I probably gained another 10 or 15 years easy.”
“I haven’t felt this good in 30 years,” Zepp said.
While some people have regained their weight after undergoing Lap-Band surgery, both O’Hara and Zepp are determined to keep theirs off. To stay motivated, O’Hara keeps on his desk a photo of when he was at his heaviest that was taken with Annika Sorenstam when she visited Cyprian Keyes’ Callaway Golf Performance Center three years ago.
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