Everett lawmaker has shed about 150 pounds

If you’ve bumped into Rep. Marko Liias lately and concluded the state lawmaker is half the man he used to be, you’d be just about right.

Liias has lost weight, a lot of it, to the point where even the 32-year-old Democrat from south Everett is impressed by how visibly different he looks.

“It is incredibly dramatic,” he said. “I remember looking at pictures from high school and college and thinking this picture makes me look good. Now, I look at them and say ‘What was I thinking?’ I looked so bad.”

He’s shaved nearly 150 pounds from his 6-foot, 3-inch frame — and the total poundage may actually be more. When his weight reached 352 pounds in late 2008 — his freshman year in the Legislature — he stopped checking.

“When you weigh that much you don’t weigh yourself very much. It’s not helpful,” he said.

He said he tipped the scales at 206 pounds last Friday, which is less heft than he carried as a student at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo.

“Now I weigh myself every day,” he said.

How he did it can be summed up easily — adjustable gastric band surgery, diet and exercise — though it’s been anything but easy to reach this point.

It started midway through 2009 when Liias met with Gregory Lind, the medical professional he’s been getting check-ups from for two decades. Lind, a nurse practitioner at Lake Serene Clinic in Lynnwood*, suggested stomach surgery.

“Every year the doctor would point out that I needed to lose weight,” Liias said. “I tried Atkins (diet). I tried Weight Watchers. What I was doing wasn’t working and I needed some help.”

Lind told him obesity had ties to another problem Liias suffered, sleep apnea, and made the lawmaker susceptible to heart disease and diabetes.

“It finally got to the point where I said, ‘You have to do something now,’ ” Lind said.

In late 2009, Liias began learning about the surgery and it took several months before his health insurer agreed to cover the procedure. Liias said he did it soon after celebrating his 29th birthday on July 17, 2010.

He said he dropped about 30 pounds pretty quickly, then stalled.

Surgery, Lind noted, is only a tool to facilitate weight loss, and Liias still needed to change his lifestyle to realize greater results.

That happened in May 2012 when Liias said he significantly altered his diet by eating smaller portions of healthier foods. Salads were in and useless carbs were out. He began shedding pounds and in March of this year he felt fit enough to start running, biking or taking long walks at least three times a week.

“It’s not a diet any more. It is a lifestyle,” Liias said. “I’ve run 5K races and there’s no way I could ever do that before.”

Lind called the transformation “amazing. He’s blown me away with what he’s achieved.”

You know who else noticed? Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, who has sat next to Liias for four years and seen all the pounds disappear.

“I think there’s a bravado that he’s always carried around,” she said. “He’s more confident.”

Liias’ political aspirations may have provided a bit of motivation.

Being obese can turn off voters. It’s a subject nudged into the spotlight by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016. Some political pundits wonder if the governor’s weight could be a liability with the electorate. So when Christie said he had stomach surgery, it became a national news story.

Liias hopes his healthier lifestyle enables him to enjoy a longer life in public service. And there’s a practical payoff too: He’s in better shape in 2014 when he campaigns for a state Senate seat.

“A Republican is going to have to be in pretty good shape to battle me on the ground as we go door-to-door,” he said.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

Correction, Oct. 22, 2013: The location of the Lake Serene Clinic was stated incorrectly in earlier version of this article.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.