“I was 303 pounds. It seems so long ago, but it wasn’t. When I see pictures of myself back then, it is like I was wearing a fat suit,” Sarah Cotter says.

Those days are long gone, however, with the help of Southcoast Health Weight Loss Center in Wareham. Thanks to their counseling, nutritional guidance, healthy exercise and effective new weight loss treatments, the 38-year-old Freetown resident lost 173 pounds.

“I had immediate, wonderful results,” she said.

Sarah started gaining weight after her father passed away in 2005. Throughout the years, she spent much of her time caring for other family members, resulting in the decline of her own self-care.

“Life just happened, and it went by so quickly,” she says.

Despite maintaining a relatively healthy diet and completing high-intensity workouts with a personal trainer multiple times a week, she was not able to lose enough to maintain a healthy weight. “I tried everything: exercising, Weight Watchers, dieting. I would lose some then gain some, it never stayed off,” she says.

“I had high blood pressure and would get winded easily with activity or climbing stairs,” Sarah says. “My father had high blood pressure and had a stroke, and my grandmother had diabetes. I knew I had to be proactive and get myself healthy if I wanted to live a long, fulfilling life with my family.”

She had married her high school sweetheart, Michael, and they wanted a child but had a hard time conceiving. Finally, she got pregnant, and today their son Nolan is a busy 11-year-old.

The couple were considering having a second child, but doctors at their IVF clinic told her that she needed to lower her BMI (Body Mass Index is a measure of body fat based on a person’s weight and height). Her doctors told her she had a hormonal imbalance that affected her ability to lose weight — and to get pregnant.

In 2021, Sarah went to the Southcoast Health Weight Loss Center in Wareham, where she met with Dr. Jessica Inwood, a weight management specialist who practices at the Southcoast Health centers in Wareham and Fall River. Dr. Inwood recommended that Sarah take Ozempic, an injectable drug used to manage type 2 diabetes and obesity and to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

In many cases, morbidly obese patients — those with a BMI of 40 or over — undergo bariatric surgery to facilitate weight loss, but Sarah wanted to try medical weight loss drugs first.

“I was scared of the daily injections at first, but my blood pressure was too high for oral medication. Dr. Inwood was very patient, walked me through the process step by step and helped me reset my mindset from scared to empowered,” she said. “The first injection was a challenge and I had to build up the courage to inject myself, but after the initial poke I realized it was super easy and wasn’t painful at all. I had immediate, wonderful results, and the weight continued to slowly come off, week after week,” she said.

Her regimen was interrupted for about eight weeks in 2022 after she had abdominal surgery to remove a benign tumor, and when she returned to the Weight Loss Center, Dr. Inwood and Physician Assistant Jessica Breen Sheth, in consultation with Sarah’s health insurer, prescribed Wegovy, a newer weight-loss drug similar to Ozempic.

Today, Sarah and Michael are still considering whether to have another child, but she knows she will be fit enough should they choose to do that.

Sarah says the only side effects she has experienced have been occasional nausea, constipation and diarrhea. But with the help of the Weight Loss Center team, she has been able to successfully manage these conditions.

“I surpassed my own expectations. My first goal was to weigh less than 200 pounds, and I thought I was never going to get there, but I did.”

She may decide to stop taking Wegovy at some point, but that will be a big decision to make with Dr. Inwood.

“It’s meant to be a long-term, even lifelong medication,” she says.

Today, she says she has “such a sense of achievement” and can do so many things she could not enjoy before.

She rides bikes with her son and has signed up for an adult volleyball league in Freetown. And she and family members visit patients at Southcoast Health hospitals as part of The Southcoast Funny Bones.

“I am happy and healthy now and want to share that bright bubbly feeling by bringing smiles and joy to people in the hospital,” she says.

Sarah is grateful for Dr. Inwood, PA Jessica Breen Sheth and the entire team at the Weight Loss Center.

“They always made me feel successful, supported, and consistently reminded me it was my journey they were there here to help facilitate. They have always been super-responsive and helpful with suggestions or insurance help,” she says. “Today, I am totally healthy, happy and excited about living each day to the fullest!”

For more information on Weight Loss services visit Southcoast Health Weight Loss.