For Diane Merzbach, the Secret to Weight Loss Was in Her Genes

Some families aren’t made by blood – they’re made by love. That’s how it was for Diane Merzbach. Adopted by her family, Merzbach didn’t need to share DNA with her family for them to be her family. However, growing up, there was one thing she didn’t share with her family that did weigh heavily on her – her weight struggles.

“My adopted family is my family and they never made me feel anything otherwise,” Merzbach says. “However, it was hard to not feel like the odd duck when they were all super fit and in shape, and I wasn’t. I carried more weight than them and because weight wasn’t something they struggled with, it was something that always made me feel like I stood out.”

Merzbach’s weight struggles began when she was a kid and followed her into adulthood. Despite actively trying to lose weight, doing so has been an ongoing struggle – until Merzbach sought out answers to why.

“Despite being active and eating right, the weight was stubborn and wouldn’t budge,” Merzbach says. “The only time I saw a decent amount of weight loss was after undergrad when I started a job at a horse farm that involved extensive physical labor and long hours. Because I was working 14-hour days, seven days a week, I wasn’t consuming the calories my body needed, which is why I was seeing weight-loss results.”

However, as soon as Merzbach went back to a normal life, all of the weight came right back on.

“Being that the only time I saw success with my weight loss wasn’t sustainable, I knew there was something more going on,” Merzbach says.

Merzbach was determined to find out why what worked for everyone else to lose weight didn’t seem to work for her. Finding that answer is where her DNA did matter.

Because Merzbach’s adoption was an open adoption, she had the opportunity to reach out to her biological mom when she turned 18. What began with emailing back and forth blossomed into a solid relationship over the years – and as it turns out, held the key to her weight-loss struggles.

When meeting her extended biological family, Merzbach realized she didn’t stand out when it came to her weight. She noticed many people in her birth family shared the same weight struggles as her. That’s when it clicked for her – there was a genetic connection.

“While unhealthy diets and inactivity are major factors in being overweight, genetics can play a role as well,” says bariatric surgeon Richard Boorse, MD, with Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence. “Research suggests that genetics account for 40 to 70 percent of obesity’s heritability, with a person’s genes influencing factors like appetite regulation, metabolism and body fat distribution – making some people more susceptible to weight gain and retention than others.”

This realization brought Merzbach so much clarity. “I felt this validation that there was more to my weight struggles than just diet and exercise. There was a genetic component and I realized the only way to counteract my genetic tendency to gain weight is to look at more powerful options,” Merzbach says.

She knew now that if she wanted to make a drastic change, she had to change something inside of her – and that’s when she decided to explore bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery was something Merzbach had thought about prior to her revelation, however, she says, “I thought it was a cop-out and I was determined to achieve weight loss without surgery.”

Before moving forward with surgery, Merzbach did her research, starting with talking to some of her friends who had the surgery. “I asked them a bunch of questions, one of which was if they regretted the surgery, and not a single one of them said they did. Their only regret was not doing more during recovery. So I knew, if I followed the rules and stuck with it, bariatric surgery was what I needed to change my life.”

In March 2023, Merzbach underwent a gastric bypass – a procedure that assists in weight loss through restriction and malabsorption. Dr. Boorse performed Merzbach’s robotic-assisted bariatric surgery using minimally-invasive techniques, which result in less scarring and a faster, easier recovery.

At 368 pounds, Merzbach took the first step toward changing her life. Now, a year and a half after surgery, she’s down 157 pounds and a day doesn’t go by where she’s not grateful she decided to take that first step.

“Since losing the weight, I not only am no longer prediabetic, but I have so much more energy and am able to keep up with my stepsons,” Merzbach says. “I don’t get winded on small walks or need to take a nap in the afternoon if I had a busy morning. I’m no longer saying ‘no’ to doing things because I’m too afraid I will slow down my friends and family.”

While Merzbach was an active person before this surgery, she’s even more active now. “Day-to-day activities aren’t hard anymore and I’m not getting out of breath doing them. In fact, I now have to actively find more strenuous activities to make me out of breath.”

As a result of her weight loss and lifestyle change, Merzbach’s husband is getting healthier and her family is eating a lot healthier, too. “I’m able to use the knowledge I’ve gained to help teach my stepsons how to have a healthy relationship with food as well as the importance of eating a well-balanced meal.”

Having gone through the process, Merzbach can attest that bariatric surgery is not “the easy way out” as some people think.

“Going through this experience is not easy and it takes a lot of time, mental energy, guts and drive to do this,” Merzbach says. “Bariatric surgery is a tool for changing your life, but it’s you who must put in the hard work and who has to actively change your relationship with food for this to work. If you can’t do the surgery prework – changing your diet and making the necessary lifestyle changes – and commit to this fully, bariatric surgery is not going to be the miracle worker it can be. While hard, it’s 100 percent worth it.”

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