Jaime “Pandora” Williams has not had anything handed to her. She has worked hard for everything she has, including every pound of her 250-lb weight loss. From weight loss surgery and overcoming food addiction to figuring out how to deal with her father’s death to paying for training for a new career, Pandora has kept moving forward and earned her spot as one of our weight loss surgery heroes.

Jaime “Pandora” Williams has not had anything handed to her. She has worked hard for everything she has, including every pound of her 250-lb weight loss. From weight loss surgery and overcoming food addiction to figuring out how to deal with her father’s death to paying for training for a new career, Pandora has kept moving forward and earned her spot as one of our weight loss surgery heroes.

Throughout it all, she has kept her determination to help others. She has shared every step of her journey on her Desperately Seeking Slender blog, and has made a career as a weight loss and wellness coach. Find out how Pandora Williams, who was “Desperately Seeking Slender,” turned her life around and is helping others do the same!

Struggling with Weight from Childhood to Early Adulthood

Pandora comes from a family that did not eat healthy. They ate fast food often, and home cooked meals were likely to be tacos, pot roast and potatoes, and other high-calorie foods. She remembers father loving his sweets, and her mother struggled with weight gain and obesity after quitting smoking.

With a diet of cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, not surprisingly, Pandora had been overweight since childhood. She hit the 400-lb. mark 4 years after graduating high school, and also had chronic depression, diabetes, and sleep apnea. Atkins and intense exercise helped her get down to 225 lbs. before getting married, but the weight came back after marriage.

Weight Loss Surgery and a New Lifestyle

Pandora wanted weight loss surgery, but put it off for a few years because she couldn’t afford it. She got serious when her health insurance began to cover it, and got the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in 2010. She chronicled her entire weight loss journey on her blog. She lost 100 pounds by December of 2010, 200 pounds six months later in June of 2011, and entered “Onederland” (under 200 pounds) in October of 2011. Now, she maintains a weight of 165 lb. – quite a difference from her highest BMI of 69.9!

Needless to say, she threw away the old habits of eating a half-gallon of ice cream or a dozen tacos. She worked hard to overcome her food addiction. Portion control and measuring were new behaviors she had to follow. Now, five years post-op, she is able to get away without writing down every bite when things are going right.

Still, she keeps herself on track by food journaling and calorie counting the second she is unsure of herself, whether because of a jump on the scale or a high-sodium day. Pandora follows a carb cycling plan where she eats higher and lower amounts of carbs on alternating days. She’s an exercise addict, and that also helps her keep her weight in check.

Body Image and Reconstructive Surgery

Despite maintaining a healthy weight and feeling more confident in overcoming her food addiction, Pandora says her body image is a bit of a struggle. She has had 6 rounds of reconstructive surgery, and still has trouble accepting the mistakes she made in the past with her body and health.

A Life-Changing Letter to Chris Powell!

By August of 2012, Pandora’s weight was well under control, but she was not satisfied with that. She wanted to help others do the same. She knew she had the “the passion, desire to help, and love” for people who were struggling with their weight, because she knew exactly what they were struggling with. What she needed was help figuring out how to help them, and she just couldn’t get in touch with someone who could guide her.

Then, in August of 2012, Pandora wrote a letter to Chris Powell, the celebrity trainer on “Extreme Makeover.” After some persistence, she managed to get her letter to him, and she received a reply! He posted an encouraging message on Facebook, and that was enough to keep her motivated. Since then, she has had a couple more interactions with him on social media – including an encouraging message when she was feeling down – and was able to meet him in Hollywood at the Extreme Makeover Finale. She considers him and his wife Heidi an inspiration.

A Day in the Life

Between taking care of herself and helping others be the best they can be, Pandora is very busy! Here is a typical day in her life.

8:00 a.m. Wake up, food prep, get ready for work. Coffee, coffee, coffee!

9:30 a.m. Arrive at the gym. May do a 4 to 5-mile run or take a group exercise class like yoga before work.

10:30 a.m. Breakfast: Quest protein bar.

11:00 a.m. Start work - working the front desk and doing either one-on-one training or weight loss/wellness coaching sessions.

12:30 p.m. Lunch: Veggies (cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots): about five of each and either some low-sodium turkey breast with low-fat Swiss cheese or some hard-boiled egg whites filled with chicken salad made with a Greek yogurt base and green onions.

2:30 p.m. Snack: Usually a container of Greek yogurt or some homemade steel cut oats from home.

3:00 p.m. Leads a weight loss boot camp group training session with light weights and cardio – usually works out with the group.

5:00 p.m. Snack: Usually a piece of fruit like an apple or an orange, or a banana on higher-mileage days.

7:00 p.m. Leads a weight loss boot camp group training session with light weights and cardio – usually works out with the group.

8:30 p.m. Finishes running for the day if she didn’t get in an early morning run or get more than 5 miles already that day.

10:00 p.m. Home/Shower/Dinner: usually a lean protein like baked chicken or turkey and steamed veggies. Uses spices and changes the vegetables a lot for variety. Includes a serving of brown rice, couscous, quinoa or whole wheat pasta on days she eats carbs.

11:00 p.m. Snack: Usually Greek yogurt, no sugar added ice cream sandwich, a frozen protein bar, or an extra-thick protein shake.

12:00 a.m. Bedtime

Pandora tries to run longer distances after work if she doesn’t get to work out during her weight loss boot camp classes. Her days off on Sundays and some Thursdays may include an extra kickboxing class, a spin class, or a run over 10 miles.

New Lifestyle, New Career, and Paying It Forward.

As a morbidly obese high school graduate, Pandora had been limited in her career options. She made a living working from home at jobs such as customer support and data entry. Since losing weight and getting healthy, she has thrown herself into something she is passionate about – helping others get and stay healthy through lifestyle. Now, Pandora works as a weight loss and wellness coach at a ladies-only fitness facility gym, and has earned multiple certifications in the fitness and coaching industry.

She also pays it forward as a weight loss surgery advocate. She has spoken at the Obesity Action Coalition and Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America (WLSFA), as well as at other bariatric support clinics and groups. She publishes articles regularly, including here on BariatricPal!

You can follow Pandora on Desperately Seeking Slender and on Facebook and Twitter @SeekingSlender.

Sounds like an inspirational lady why does she freeze her protein bars I wonder?

Sounds like an inspirational lady why does she freeze her protein bars I wonder?

Maybe it's more like a liquid protein shake frozen.

Sounds like an inspirational lady why does she freeze her Protein bars I wonder?

She truly is!

Ask her and please let us know.... http://www.bariatricpal.com/user/248078-pandora-williams/ .

Ok I did....but now I feel like a idiot because it probably looks like that's the one thing I focused on out of all her accomplishments....Lordy Sometimes I should Just keep my wondering to myself

it sounds like she has done a lot to be proud of. At the same time, the line, "As a morbidly obese high school graduate, Pandora had been limited in her career options." leaves me a bit puzzled. Why did morbid obesity limit her educational and career options? There are plenty of people on this site who are morbidly obese and have bachelors and graduate degrees, as well as full careers.

Sounds like an inspirational lady why does she freeze her Protein bars I wonder?

Maybe it's more like a Liquid Protein shake frozen.

LOL! You do have to admire anyone who overcomes their hurdles in life to become successful. I think about that a lot when I'm starting to feel discouraged or the scale doesn't move as quickly as I want. It seems like we all give ourselves too many excuses for why we can't accomplish weight loss. Behavior is such a big part of the puzzle and I see that Pandora has her routine worked out to the minute, leaving very little room for error. She must've had some great support too, because it's difficult to overcome all the negative things we tend to tell ourselves. Great inspiration to hear how others have made their journey! Thanks for the article Alex.

it sounds like she has done a lot to be proud of. At the same time, the line, "As a morbidly obese high school graduate, Pandora had been limited in her career options." leaves me a bit puzzled. Why did morbid obesity limit her educational and career options? There are plenty of people on this site who are morbidly obese and have bachelors and graduate degrees, as well as full careers.

I agree, to a point.

But, my observation is that many of us have gained our weight throughout our lives and have been mostly functional throughout so we have been able to accomplish a great deal in spite of our weight struggles.

The younger generation seems to be gaining much more weight at a faster rate. So many seem to be at much higher rates and much younger (peaking at tremendous weights in high school and college). To me that means they don't even have the benefit of having more energy and mobility when they are young like I did. I was always heavy, but it wasn't until my late 40s where I became disabled.

Just watching My 600 Pound Life and seeing young people in their 20s who look and act like those of us who are in our 50s is heartbreaking.

That has got to have an impact on educational and career opportunities among so many other things.