Eleven patients lost 240 pounds and averaged 200 minutes of exercise a week.

That's what success looks like for the Prevent T2 Diabetes group that finished its work in February.

What will success look like for the next group that joins the Prevent T2 Diabetes group? A healthier life, according to Madison Pate.

Pate, one of the Prevent T2 Diabetes leaders, was recently named Lifestyle Change Coach of the Year by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The Pelham Medical Center-based coach offered these five life lessons people learn in the Prevent T2 program.

1. How to lose weight and keep it off – Weight loss is essential to preventing Type 2 diabetes and for controlling it once it starts.
2. What to eat and how to eat the right amount – Learn to identify the proper portion size for maintaining weight, and how to pick the best foods for you.
3. How to find time for fitness – Our lives get busy, but carving out time to exercise makes all the difference in the world.
4. How to manage stress – So many health factors tie back to stress … eating, lack of exercise and more. Prevent T2 discusses ways to effectively deal with stress in a healthy way.
5. Most importantly, how to prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes!

Pate is one of several coaches in the program, according to Diabetes Education Manager Erica Moore, MHS, RD.

Moore nominated Pate for the statewide award, calling her “the epitome of an outstanding Diabetes Prevention Program coach.”

Prevent T2, a yearlong program, began in 2015. There have been eight groups so far, and others will begin in Spartanburg and at Pelham Medical Center this summer.

“We have some really outstanding outcomes and success stories,” Moore said.