“It Takes Two”: Supportive Wife Helps Diabetic Husband Lose 100+ Pounds

When Brandon Lewis was told that he was prediabetic, the news went in one ear and out the other. In fact, the Dallas-based comedian and actor kept the news from his wife, Seckeita, and took a two-year hiatus from seeing his doctor.

He didn’t return to the doctor until two years later, though it wasn’t by choice. By this time, Lewis was experiencing the telltale diabetes symptoms (unquenchable thirst and frequent urination). However, it wasn’t until he began feeling really sick during the filming of his first project, a movie called “Jerico”, that he decided to reluctantly return to the doctor.

This time around, the diagnosis was type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

“When he said, ‘You have type 2 diabetes,’ it just hit me,” Lewis shares. “When he told me I’d have to be on medication for my heart and kidneys, it took everything in me to keep from tearing up.”

Lewis is currently on a host of medications to help him control his diabetes, high blood pressure, and A1C.

Unfortunately, Lewis is all too familiar with kidney disease.

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About two years ago, his mother was diagnosed with stage 3 chronic kidney disease and is currently borderline stage 4 due to her uncontrolled diabetes and a failure to keep her A1C under control.

The American Heart Association Know Diabetes by Heart Ambassador also lost his father two months ago due to complications from cancer.

“He was in complete renal failure [and] on dialysis for maybe the last eight years of his life,” Lewis shares.

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Lewis is now more determined than ever not to let the disease control his fate, so he decided to take the first step toward turning his health around. That meant losing weight and changing his diet, which had included three sodas a day. Fortunately, his supportive wife was ready to take on the challenge with him, motivate him, and hold him accountable.

“I couldn’t do it alone,” Lewis says. “I needed someone to remind me to take my medicine, to hold me accountable when I was too scared to hold myself accountable.”

“It takes two people who are trying to do it together to push the other one,” Seckeita, a film and marketing director, adds. “You have to not give up on it. If you’re the one pushing, you have to keep pushing. Don’t give up and then let both of you end up in the same boat.”

For the couple who have struggled with obesity, working together to maintain a healthier lifestyle often entails cooking heart-friendly meals and doing fun activities together that keep them moving. What does a heart-friendly meal look like for the couple?

Their diet is high in protein, lower in carbs, and higher in vegetables.

“My wife and I, we try to cook most of the meals we eat, basically staying out of the restaurants,” Lewis adds.

“It’s all about us being on one page, one court,” Lewis notes.

“In avoiding the onset of cardiovascular disease, we are learning that we must be on the same page…of the same cookbook,” he adds. “It means developing and maintaining the healthier daily habits of your partner, like going for walks together when one doesn’t feel like it.”

With his wife’s help, Lewis has also committed to losing 100 pounds, a journey he is chronicling in an independent film called “Impossible”.

“I’ve gotten off to a great start at the beginning of the year, and a couple of months ago, I lost up to 40 pounds. I’m well on my way to meeting my goal by the first of the year,” Lewis adds.

He also credits his personal trainer, NFL legend Donald Driver, for some of his success.

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“For my birthday December 2021, I started my weight loss journey with him and he was my physical trainer and basically got me on a workout regimen with his own personal doctor monitoring my progress and we got off to a really great start,” Lewis shares. “So that just got me really focused and got my mind sharp to go on this weight loss journey and so far it’s been a success.”

Lewis admits that living with diabetes can be overwhelming, “but you have to be patient.”

Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to have a supportive partner.

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What You Can Do To Support Your Partner

Have a partner you’d like to support on their health journey? The couple and John A. Osborne, M.D., director of cardiology for the Low T Centers in Dallas, TX, offer tips to try with your partner:

• Approach conversations with love and without judgment. “Gentle, non-confrontational conversations are key,” Lewis says. If your partner makes a poor health decision, gently explain to them why you’ll be making a different choice. “Say no with your actions,” he says. “Go for that walk after dinner whether your spouse wants to or not. Do not diverge and abandon your plan. Instead, help them realize how good it makes you feel and that they are ultimately missing out. Show them in the nicest of ways that you will neither join nor co-sign on their misbehavior.”
• Get competitive in the kitchen. “Tapping into each other’s competitive streak can also help,” Seckeita says. “Kitchen cook-offs to challenge who can make a healthy meal that the family likes … and other shenanigans can make getting healthy together more fun.”
• Get checked out for the same health conditions. “If your spouse has heart disease, you need to double-check and make sure that you’re okay as well,” Dr. Osborne suggests.
• Make your home into a health-promoting zone. “Creating an environment that promotes health, including a good diet, regular exercise, no tobacco use, and compliance with medications, is very important to ensure that we can prevent cardiovascular events,” Dr. Osborne says. As a spouse or partner, you can play an important role in helping with this. From buying fresh foods to going on daily walks to laying medications out on the counter, these small steps can help your partner stay on track.

Managing your diabetes

T2D disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic Americans. However, most patients are unaware of chronic kidney disease and the increased risk of cardiovascular events associated with it.

In patients with T2D, up to 40 percent develop chronic kidney disease (CKD), which damages the kidneys and reduces their ability to filter waste, according to a study.

If you have diabetes, get your kidneys checked regularly with blood and urine tests. Regular testing is your best chance to identify CKD early if you develop it.

Although it may require lifestyle adjustments, you can still live a long life free of complications by changing your diet and exercise routine and keeping your blood sugar within the recommended range. Early treatment is most effective and can help prevent additional health problems.