“I lost a whole person,” says Yvonne Beraldi, a longtime Culver City resident who radiates joy, confidence and vitality. In so doing she found herself.
For most of her life it was a frighteningly different story.
Despite a diagnosis of CMO (chronic morbid obesity), she had continued to gain weight, topping out at 350 pounds. Burdened with sleep apnea requiring the use of a CPAP machine; diabetes with complications including Stage 3 renal failure; COPD with emphysema; fibromyalgia; congestive heart failure; mini stroke; and extreme hypertension, Beraldi ingested 25-30 prescription pills a day.
Her excessive medication caused chemically induced seizures. Having been rushed to the hospital over twenty times, the ambulance siren became her personal background music.
By December 2009, at 285 pounds, with legs and feet swollen to elephantine proportions, Beraldi faced cellulitis for the fourth time in five months. Her vascular surgeon informed her there was no surgery for her condition. Life in a wheelchair awaited her.
The disease, complicated by lymphedema, was progressing. Her antibiotics were becoming ineffective.
“I knew if the infection entered my bloodstream, I could die,” she said. “I still had CMO, and the thought of being in a wheelchair petrified me.”
Her prayers for help led her to keep losing, the cellulitis cleared up, and she entered Weight Watchers on February 3, 2010 at 252 pounds.
“A fantastic woman named Joy was my first leader. Part of working the program was her focus on giving me self respect. I’d never known that. I learned that I was/am special, and she continually reinforced it,” Beraldi remembers.
By spring 2011, she was ten pounds from her goal, but terrified of sabotaging herself because the weight wasn’t coming off fast enough.
“I was getting discouraged, depressed and disgusted. My leader then, Elaine, my cherished friend, gave me an assignment to write down at least 20 reasons why I do what I do and face some of the demons that got me to Weight Watchers to begin with,” says Beraldi.
She dredged up childhood memories of physical, mental and emotional abuse. She became an emotional eater at the age of seven, learning the comfort of food.
“As a young woman I was date-raped by a boyfriend and his friend. Humiliated, I never reported it. I began to add other comforts to my arsenal and when they didn’t work to mask the horrific pain I was in, I tried to commit suicide a few times. From these abuses, most of my life decisions had been self-destructive.”
She remains invested in that pivotal assignment.
“It’s now a life-long project,” Beraldi stated. “The demons are still there, but with one decided difference—they don’t have me anymore.”
The word choice is prominent in the revised vocabulary of this survivor. She is careful to choose people and situations that are healthy for her. It’s working.
Beraldi has embraced physical activity with a passion, doing the Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge her first year in the program.
“Later that year a friend introduced me to running and I added Zumba to my exercise routine,” she said.
In January, this 62-year-old grandmother became a certified Zumba Gold instructor and teaches at Kaiser Permanente. Inspired by her theme song, “I Believe I Can Fly,” by R Kelly, she joined 99 of her peers in a Zumba performance during the Clippers half-time show at Staples Center.
“It was awesome,” she said with pride.
At 148 pounds, Beraldi has lost a total of 202 pounds, 104 of which were subsequent to joining Weight Watchers. In March she became not only a lifetime member but an employee.
“I just smile and give praise, glory and honor to my Lord and Weight Watchers,” she said. “I had medical conditions that doctors told me I would have for the rest of my life, but not so today. Approximately 95 percent of them no longer exist. Now I take two and a half prescription pills a day, eagerly awaiting the day I won’t be taking any. That CPAP machine now collects dust in the closet.”
