Desire to Help Mom Prompted Woman's 140-pound Weight Loss

By Rhoda Fukushima
Pioneer Press

Heidi Jacob of St. Cloud was highly motivated to lose weight for her 2005 wedding.

But she did not do it for herself.

Or for her husband-to-be.

She did it for her mother, Sandy Hem-mesch, who has polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder characterized by fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys. Getting to a healthy weight meant Jacob, 29, could be considered a possible organ donor for her mother.

"She could need a transplant one day," Jacob said. "It made me think, 'Maybe I need to do something.' "

As a result, Jacob lost 140 pounds and learned something about her own health in the process. Her story was the focus of the October-November issue of Modern Bride magazine.

"It's been pretty exciting," says Jacob, a data processing supervisor. "Co-workers want my autograph."

Growing up as Heidi Hemmesch in Paynesville, Minn., she says she was the chubby bookworm — if she had a choice to read or play outside, she'd pick the book.

In high school, Jacob played volleyball, softball and was a cheerleader who eventually quit cheerleading because she did not want to wear the short skirt. Once she curtailed her activity, her weight climbed, and by the time she was 17, she weighed about 185 pounds.

"Food is a boredom thing for me," she says. "When there's nothing else to do, let's eat."

After high school, Jacob attended Minnesota State University Moorhead. While at Moorhead, she met Chris Jacob through an Internet bulletin board. He was going to school in North Carolina.

"Logging on was an easier way for me to meet people," she says. "They couldn't see me. I was always self-conscious."

A few months later, when Heidi Jacob weighed about 220 pounds, they met for the first time. During that visit, they got engaged, something she now says was premature.

"We got engaged the first time we met, but it took us nine years to tie the knot," she jokes.

After Chris Jacob graduated from college, he moved to Minnesota and they got an apartment together. Climbing the three flights of stairs to their apartment — laden with groceries — left her out of breath.

"I ate convenience foods and didn't exercise," she says. "It slowly kind of creeped up on me."

In 2001, Jacob weighed 324 pounds and wore size 28. Realizing her mom might need a transplant someday, Jacob decided to do something about her weight. She ruled out gastric bypass, which she felt was too restrictive. She joined a Curves women-only gym.

The workouts helped her lose inches, but she still ate french fries, pizza and other high-fat, greasy foods.

Sandy Hemmesch, a registered nurse, had long told her daughter that being overweight was bad for her kidneys and encouraged her daughter to examine her eating habits.

"I said you need both — you need to do the work and you need to change the diet," Hemmesch says.

The following year, Jacob started the Richard Simmons Diet, which promoted small portions and plenty of vegetables. She lost 40 pounds but hit a yearlong plateau in 2003.

Deep down, she knew it wasn't a true plateau; she wasn't following her program as faithfully as in the past. At the end of the year, she joined a Weight Watchers group at work.

By her brother's wedding the following year, she had lost 90 pounds. She also joined Gold's Gym, which offered her a variety of more intense workouts, from weights to step aerobics. By her own wedding in September 2005, she had dropped to 185 pounds, her lowest weight since high school.

Since getting married, Jacob hasn't followed her Weight Watchers program as carefully and has regained 25 pounds, but she says she's determined not to buy new, bigger clothes.

"Pizza just calls my name sometimes," she says. "I just need to learn to say 'no.' "

Even with the weight loss, Jacob suffered from high blood pressure. She, too, was diagnosed with PKD — the same disease her mother has — and learned hypertension was connected to the condition. As a result, Jacob cannot be an organ donor for her mom.

"My mom was good motivation to get started," Jacob says. "And now, having it, it should be good motivation to keep going."