Losing weight hasn’t just brought health benefits for three Yuma women: it’s caused people to do a double take because they don’t even recognize them anymore.

Myra Garlit, Barbara Rochester and René Sonoqui have all had a gastric bypass procedure within the last year, and together they’ve lost more than 300 lbs.

Rochester said volunteers have come back to Crossroads Mission, where the three work, looking for her.

“‘I’d like to see Barbara,’” Rochester said they ask, not realizing it’s her. “‘No, the Barbara that was here last year.’”

Rochester had the procedure in October with Garlit and Sonoqui following in December.

All three of the women say they’ve experienced health benefits because of the surgery.

Before, Rochester said her doctor told her she’d have to lose 100 lbs. or have both knees replaced.

She said she thought, “Oh my gosh, am I this overweight.”

She was a borderline diabetic and suffered from other complications such as sleep apnea.

“Now, my blood work is perfect,” she said.

Garlit said she also was a borderline diabetic and has experienced similar positive side effects from the surgery.

“I’m more aware of being healthier,” she said. “I love the strength I feel from exercise.”

Sonoqui said she was on up to six medications a day, and now she’s the coach of her son’s soccer team – rather than standing on the sidelines.

“Now, I’m actually out there,” she said.

But along with the good comes hard work and dedication – and a change in lifestyle.

That includes changing eating habits, the women say.

“At first I felt like I’d divorced my best friend,” Garlit said.

But the doctor that the three women saw for the procedure, based in California, holds a support group in Yuma for patients to meet and have an ongoing dialogue about their health.

Garlit said they’ve also gotten an “owners manual,” on how to eat and what things are good and what items to stay away from.

But everyone’s body is different and reacts differently to the surgery, the women said.

“I still don’t feel full,” Sonoqui said.

The women are also experiencing changes in wardrobe.

“I’ve always headed toward the big sizes,” Garlit said. “It’s still hard” to comprehend, she said, and on one shopping trip, she had to call someone to ask what the size below 1x is.

“It’s fun, it’s kind of an adventure,” Sonoqui said about trading clothes with her friends and dropping sizes.

The women say it’s also created changes in their family life.

Like Sonoqui keeping up with her 7 year old, Garlit and Rochester said they’re able to do more physical activities with the youngest members of their families.

For Garlit, it’s her seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She said one recent trip to the beach, she was able to ride a bike with her family and go on an extended beach walk with her granddaughter – something she hasn’t been able to do before.

“Now I can walk for hours,” Rochester said, who has seven grandchildren. “Now I can go to the zoo with them.”

Though the path may be different for each of the three women, the outcome has paid off with hard work and a dedication to a new lifestyle.

“It’s just a whole new life,” Garlit said.