Dropping Pounds: Patty Albert of Islip’s 100-pound weight loss
Patty Albert, 49, of Islip, poses for a photo. She dropped 100 pounds with the help of MyFitnessPal, a free online calorie counter and diet plan program. Credit: Jeffrey Basinger
Patty Albert, 49, Islip
Community Islip
Occupation Assistant preschool teacher
Height 5-foot-7
Before 270 pounds (September 2014)
After 170 pounds (November 2015)
Her story
When Albert’s father died in January 2014 from a combination of diabetes, congestive heart failure and a sedentary lifestyle, she swore to herself she wouldn’t put her two kids through a similar scenario.
She says weight issues have always been in her family, and she has lost and gained weight back before. But on Labor Day weekend 2014 she started in earnest and downloaded MyFitnessPal, a free online calorie counter and diet plan program. “The summer was the last hurrah,” she said. I used Labor Day weekend as my starting point.”
Tracking daily calorie consumption, activity level and the user’s goal, the MyFitnessPal website (and smartphone app) determines ideal calorie and nutrition needs and tracks progress toward the user’s ideal weight. Albert also started going to Lucille Roberts for 30 minutes twice a week (later kicking that up to five days a week, an hour each day, saying, “I laugh at my naiveté, like two a days a week would do it!”).
No food is off-limits with the program. “If I want a hot fudge sundae, I’ll have it, but it may be all I have that day.” Asked whether she’s reached her goal, she said, “Everyone says I have, but I don’t feel like I’m there yet. I want to lose another 10 pounds.”
Olivia Albert Credit: Olivia Albert
Her diet
Albert will have an apple for breakfast. (She won’t eat if she’s not hungry.) Lunch can be half a turkey breast on whole wheat bread and some fruit like strawberries or a banana. Dinner is whatever she makes for the family, but she eats only half of what she used to. She has an 11 a.m. snack of rice cakes and a 3 p.m. snack of Oreo cookies. (She takes three cookies and eats half of each, “charging herself” for 1½ Oreo cookies, admitting “It’s all mind games.”)
Her exercise
Albert exercises for an hour a day, five days a week, on two different elliptical machines, a treadmill and a stationary bike.
Her advice
“There’s no magic pill, no quick fix. Just get up and go and do it. The more you push through, the easier it gets.”
