About Fat Kat

Melanie Calvert Benton, (aka) Melanie D. Calvert, Dahlia Patton is a retired respiratory care practitioner who now works with her first loves, photography, writing and the outdoors. While running a successful photography business for years, she only recently turned to writing a novel through the urgings of her husband Western Fiction Writer W.R. Benton. Melanie's photography has appeared on the covers of all four of Mister Benton's "The Drum Series" and soon will be gracing her own books. Her first historical novel, "A Southern Moon Rising," was released in July 2008.

Today, Melanie is sharing her successful weight loss and healthier lifestyle through speaking engagements.

An avid outdoorswoman, she enjoys deer hunting, fishing, camping, Citizen Band Radio and of course, outdoor photography. She prefers the smell of wood smoke, the crackling of a fire late at night, and the serenity of nature, to a fast-paced life in a big city. Melanie is a supporter for empowering women from all walks of life, as a matter of fact she is also pursuing an acting career. Born and raised in Mississippi, most of it on a farm, she is a true Southern Belle.

She started Fat Kat in an effort to help everyone with weight loss.

She may be reached at:

Her Photography website is: http:www.visualimpressionsphotography.info

Her Western site : www.melaniedcalvert.com

Her Blogs: www.myspace.com/ladyfox250

www.myspace.com/dahliapatton


Her accomplishments include:

Book cover artist for western - fiction writer W. R. Benton's "The Drum Series" http://www.wrbenton.net

Active in Go Red For Women ( American Heart Association)

Supports the Make A Wish foundation for children with life threatening diseases

TV personality

Member of:

Southern Writers Group,

Southern Humorist Writers Group

Mississippi Writers Guild

Women Writing the West www.womenwritingthewest.org

Jackson Photographic Society

Associated with the Western Writers of America through W. R. Benton

Writes for:

Women Anglers & Hunters Too!

Mississippi Wildlife Federation

Accomplishments:

14 year Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant www.marykay.com/mcalvert

Published in the North American Hunting Club Cook Book "Prizes Of Autumn " for "Melanie's Venison Roast" Listed under: www.authorsden.com/melaniedcalvert

Melanie is a 2008, 2009,2010 Mentor nominee for a Strong Woman Award, sponsored by: Mississippi Baptist Health Systems, Lifetime Television For Women and Comcast spotlight.

Featured in 2006-2010 on WLBT's " Midday Mississippi " with host Wilson Stribling

Featured in July 2006-July 2010 on "Listen To The Eagle" with host Paul Ott Carruth

Recognized in the April 2007 issue of "Today's Mississippi Woman" magazine for as an outstanding Mississippi woman

Her photos published in "Mississippi Magazine's" September/ October 2006 issue along with Anne McKee's article "Author ! Author!"

Melanie's article, Down On The Old Farm (Reaching For The Stars' published in the
June 2008 issue of Desoto magazine.

2010 Dynamic Woman of Mississippi Honoree (Miss August)

2010 Fitness Lady Success story.

2009-2010 "Go Red For Women" Banquet committee member

Reduce your risk of death from being overweight by changing your life style now, before it's too late. Talk to your doctor about your weight, discuss healthy eating changes, and get an approval before you start any weight loss or exercise programs. Learn to develop a healthy life style and attain better living through healthy living habits! Fat Kat - healthier living.

Almost A Year Out: "Having To Take The Heifer By The Horns"

Melanie D. Calvert-Benton Copyright © June 2010

Any of you that are curious about RNY (Roux en Y) gastric bypass, will appreciate this update.

I am almost one year out, ( August 17, 2009) from having RNY gastric bypass surgery. I had tried almost EVERYTHING to lose weight, ( WW. Sugar Busters, Alli, low carbohydrate diet, cigarettes, etc.) Nothing was working to help me shed the weight I was carrying, in essence I was well on my way to having a: Heart Attack, Diabetes, stroke and / or.. dying. Over the years, I had procrastinated about losing weight, I even had a strong family history for cardiac problems as well as Diabetes. New Years Resolutions were made and broken, diet attempts to no avail. Several years ago I had a family member ask me: "Do you have to special order your blue jeans?" That question was devastating enough, it should of been my "wake up call' but still the weight mounted. Finally two years ago a little voice whispered in my ear: " Do something now, before it 's too late." I wanted to live, I had things to do, people to see, I couldn't just die." I quit smoking September of 2008, so I made the most drastic decision I had ever made in my life, to have Bariatric Surgery

At forty-nine years of age, I attended two weight loss seminars a year apart. The seminar programs offered: a milk shake diet, lap band and the famous "RNY gastric bypass." I knew the milk shake diet wasn't for me, I knew I could "cheat" and I wasn't fond of the "lap band' as I knew had enough medical training about the balloon that I could "Cheat" there. I wanted something PERMANENT, a procedure where I couldn't cheat.. so I had the gastric bypass.

With help from my husband, I made the painful decision to have the gastric bypass. Of course I had questions, was scared and knew that there were risks to having the surgery. It soon came to me as a realization "I was going to die" IF I didn't go through with the procedure. So, I did all my pre-op papers, general blood work (yes, a baseline Arterial Blood Gas ABG, EKG and a Colonscopy, Upper & Lower GI (yuck!) Yes, that too as the surgeon needs to know if you have any underlying problems with your lower bowel and intestines. The program required me to have a psychological evaluation as part of the program, it's only to see your if your "head" is in the right mental state to take on this type of surgery, because Gastric bypass is not to be taken lightly, some people choose weight loss surgery for different reasons.


The morning of August 17, 2009 loomed in front of me.( I had lost ten pounds prior for having Laproscopic surgery to shrink my organs.) A month before, I was required to lose ten pounds. At my heaviest, I weighed almost three hundred pounds. Now, I was down to two hundred and eighty-three. I was checked in, my pre- op protocols were started ( IV, BP, Blood work) It was a waiting game, one where I would come out on the other side... a different person . (you got that right) The surgery went fine, I had several complications at first,they were corrected within a couple of days. Being sore, was part of the game, not as bad as being totally opened up, I was grateful for medication available.

After the first day, I crawled painfully out of the bed to the rest room, then gradually began walking in the hallway, so I wouldn't develop post op complications with my lungs. My hospital stay was from a Monday until Saturday. Going home was good, I wanted to start my new life. Days have been up and down, it was like taking a step forward and two steps back, sometimes they were good and bad. Gradually things smoothed out, days into weeks, weeks into months. There for awhile I had a Vitamin D deficiency and needed mega doses to correct that. The weight was dropping off me and my husband began to call me "Droopy Drawers" Throwing up occasionally was a part of my routine, I finally got it under control with a few months.

Months rolled by with my clothes starting to hang. A friend and I would go to second hand shops to get clothes to fit our shrinking bodies. There was no sense in buying nice clothes as you drop weight, you just wind up giving them up. Now, it is June and I have come down by one hundred and seven pounds, I have dropped eight dress sizes and wearing a size sixteen. I haven't worn a size sixteen since I was in high school! You have to understand I have been obese MOST ALL MY ADULT LIFE . Even when I was nineteen, I was heavy.( I now know what NBC Weatherman Al Roker went through, congrats to Al for his eight years success!)

Today, I speak to you as a changed woman, I finally roped "that heifer" and got her under control. She fights with me everyday, snorting and cutting up, so I just have to pull her back in line. Each day is a learning experience.The best thing about having this surgery is: being able to sit comfortably, wear clothes that look nice, look forward to new camouflage wear, write my blogs and books, do my photography, go camping and hunting WITHOUT SHORTNESS OF BREATH. Life is good, it shows every time when my husband compliments me.

Melanie D. Calvert-Benton (Copyright June 2010)

Melanie Calvert Benton is available for any of the following events: schools, churches, senior citizen groups, libraries, hunting clubs, women's groups, fitness centers,radio talk shows, etc. Have your media person contact us with the details.

Events over fifty miles will be subject to transportation costs payable by USPO Money or cash. Please try to book at least one month ahead of scheduled event to avoid calendar conflict.