Bariatric Surgery Sets Up Volleyball Coach for Weight-Loss Success

There are two things that bring Sue Arndt, 61, to life – her family and coaching volleyball. So, when her weight began weighing heavily on her ability to give her lifelines her best self, she knew she needed to lose the weight that was holding her back, once and for all.

Growing up as an athlete and an avid volleyball player, weight wasn’t something Arndt necessarily struggled with. But that changed when she and her husband Rich decided to have kids. High school sweethearts, Rich and Sue met during their sophomore year of high school and haven’t left each other’s side since. After getting married, they decided to grow their family, welcoming two healthy daughters just two years apart.

Like many women, Arndt gained weight during both of her pregnancies. While healthy and normal to do so, she struggled with taking off the weight after giving birth to her second daughter. But as a former athlete, Arndt knew what she had to do to lose the weight – exercise and clean up her diet. But despite doing “all the right things,” she got stuck in this seemingly endless cycle of losing some weight, only to eventually gain it right back.

“No matter how hard I worked out or how little food I ate, I couldn’t get a handle on my weight,” Arndt says. “I felt demotivated, but remained determined to lose the weight, and to do so on my own.”

While her weight affected her energy and created limitations, Arndt was still able to do the things she loved – coach volleyball and spend time with her family – thus enabling the continuation of her weight loss/gain cycle. That is until her weight took a noticeable toll on her health and she received a much-needed wake-up call. In October 2017, at 285 pounds, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

“That was my first ‘that’s enough’ moment,” Arndt says. She buckled down and managed to lose a pretty significant amount of weight. But then, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she gained back a large portion of the weight.

Frustrated about the weight gain and tired of the weight loss/gain cycle, she decided to try something different. She turned to her longtime doctor, Lehigh Valley Health Network internal medicine physician Matthew Winas, DO, for help. He knew that Arndt’s goal was not just to lose the weight, but to get off her diabetes medication as well. That’s why Dr. Winas suggested Arndt consider bariatric surgery.

“Bariatric surgery not only results in significant weight loss, but it also results in remission of diabetes in most patients,” Dr. Winas says. “Weight-loss surgery would effectively treat Sue’s type 2 diabetes by helping her achieve a healthier body mass index by reducing her food intake and decreasing the number of calories her body can absorb. This alone can decrease a person’s insulin resistance and make blood sugar easier to control.”

Arndt wanted to exhaust all of her options before opting for surgery, so she began weight-loss medication. However, after three months, she wasn’t seeing much result, only managing to shed a few pounds. Suffering from constant joint pain and living a life ruled by medicine, she needed a different approach to lose weight.

“At that time, I was on medication not only for my type 2 diabetes, but also for high blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol as well as using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine to treat my sleep apnea,” Arndt says. “However, Dr. Winas assured me that if I have weight-loss surgery and I keep being the rule follower that I am, I would get on the other side of the diabetes and the other conditions my weight was contributing to. So, I began researching like crazy because I’m not one to jump in with both feet. And honestly, part of me thought having weight-loss surgery was a cop-out or the easy way out. However, the more I heard other people’s stories and gathered information, I discovered it’s not an end-all fix. It’s a tool and a lifestyle change. And I felt at peace about my decision to have surgery.”

That’s when Arndt decided bariatric surgery was the right path for her. “This is going to be my reset – getting a healthier lifestyle and becoming the best version of me for myself, for my six grandchildren, for coaching, for my husband and our retirement journey.”

Two days before Arndt’s surgery, she took her last diabetic pill – a strange concept for her after having to take it religiously for years. Then, in June 2023, Arndt underwent a gastric bypass surgery – a procedure that assists in weight loss through restriction and malabsorption – performed by bariatric surgeon Paul Cesanek, MD, with Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence.

Arndt awoke from surgery and never took a diabetes pill again. She also went off several other medications right away. Less than three weeks after surgery, she was off her blood pressure medication as well, and was no longer tethered to the CPAP. For the first time in years, she was living life medication-free.

“I couldn’t believe the difference in my body – how my blood sugar and pressure came down immediately. I thought to myself: ‘This is it – this is the tool that I needed,’” Arndt says.

“It is not uncommon for patients to come in with the mindset that bariatric surgery is ‘the easy way out.’ However, after going through the education process, they come to realize surgery is a real commitment to improving their health,” Dr. Cesanek says. “Bariatric surgery is a long-term solution, likely to improve multiple health issues and their overall quality of life. Sue is a prime example of a patient who recognized she needed to make a change in order to live a healthier life, both physically and mentally.”

Today, Arndt is living life 93 pounds lighter, and she’s never felt better. Everything about her daily life is different.

“Going through with weight-loss surgery was about getting on the other side of all the medicines. The weight loss was a bonus – as was the energy I’ve gained, the complete reset of my life, and gaining 15 years back to my life,” Arndt says. “I can actually play with my grandchildren now, like I’m actually racing them and keeping up. Before, I’d run 10 feet and then have to give up.”

As head coach for Northampton Area High School’s boys volleyball team, an assistant coach for Emmaus High School’s girls volleyball team, and co-director and head coach 18 national at Velocity Boys Volleyball Club of the Lehigh Valley, Arndt feels like she’s the coach her players deserve.

“It’s a passion of mine to pour my heart into the kids I coach – I feel like it’s my calling. Now, I’m able to be the best coach I can be for them. I’m more engaged with my players while coaching. For example, when you coach volleyball, sometimes you have to get on top of jump boxes. I used to panic because I was so big and I thought it couldn’t hold my weight or center of gravity. But now, I’m climbing right up there and it’s easy,” Arndt says. “My players never saw me as being this heavy coach, but now that I lost weight, past and present players reach out to me to tell me how proud they are that I did this because I always encouraged them to eat healthier and exercise, and now I’m exemplifying it for them.”