Finally Free
/After losing 200 pounds, Madison Rogers feels like a new person
by Lisa Porterfield Thompson
For most people, losing 100 pounds is life-changing enough. For most people, dropping that much weight in a short amount of time is satisfying, and enough of an achievement to be celebrated and relished. It’s safe to say, however, that Madison Rogers is not most people.
“I loved myself before I lost the weight,” Madison said. “I have always been very confident in who I am. I know self-image issues are something most people struggle with, especially people who are overweight. I don’t know why I was different. Maybe it was amazing people like Jenny Walker, who spoke into my life at a young, impressionable age. Or my wonderful husband who has loved me dearly at any stage of life. Maybe it was from my awesome mother who always built me up, told me I was beautiful, and that I could do anything. But I think the foundation of my confidence truly came from understanding what the Lord thought about me. He says we are made in his image. Beautifully and wonderfully made.”
Austin, Madison, Denton and Baylor during 2021, the year she decided that her health needed to become a priority.
Madison has lost 200 pounds in less than 18 months and has an incredible story to tell. “I have always had a weird relationship with food,” Madison said. “I struggled with weight my entire life. My parents loved me and took care of my health. I just snuck food because it made me feel good. Other kids got their joy from playing with their friends, and I got it from eating. It made me happy.”
Madison is the middle child of three daughters. She and her family moved to Texarkana when she was 10 years old, and she attended Redwater High School, where she graduated in 2013. Her parents, Rick and Melissa Doty, own multiple Chicken Express restaurants in the Ark-La-Tex area.
Madison and her high school sweetheart and husband, Austin, have two children: Denton, 5, and Baylor, 2. She recalls the time in 2021 when she realized her health needed to become a priority. “I knew my family was complete, my baby was 10 months old, and I was done having kids,” Madison said. “I was the heaviest I had ever been at 370 pounds. Life was getting a little hard. I was out of breath easily, and it was hard to find clothes. My energy levels were low, and my motivation was low. I knew that where I was wasn’t sustainable. I loved these kids that the Lord blessed me with, and I wanted to see them grow older. I wanted to watch my grandbabies grow up one day.”
“I truly didn’t care about how I would look. I just wanted to be healthier.”
Madison said her decision to have bariatric surgery was not based on a desire to appear a certain way. “I didn’t care about getting skinny,” she said. “I truly didn’t care about how I would look. I just wanted to be healthier. After trying diets all my life and knowing that my ability to break my addiction to food alone would be nearly impossible, I prayerfully looked into bariatric surgery. I have always heard bariatric surgery is ‘the easy way out’ or ‘cheating,’ but if you’re drowning in the ocean, about to die, and someone throws you a life raft—you’re going to take it. I took it, and I’m so glad I did.”
Madison underwent sleeve gastrectomy surgery in Frisco, Texas, at the Bariatric Experts in October of 2021 with Dr. Scott Stowers. “This surgery was like rehabilitation for an addict,” she said. “It constricts your ability to consume large amounts of food. I was no longer able to eat enough to [derive joy], so I had to find another outlet to get that joy. I was sad for a season, shopped a little too much for a season, then found that the joy that I have been seeking my entire life was in my best friend all along. I found that the Bible in Psalm 43:4 says, ‘Joy comes from the Lord.’”
Before having her surgery, Madison’s goal was to weigh less than 300 pounds, but in the first five months after her surgery, she lost 100 pounds. “I felt amazing,” she said. “My increased energy was wonderful, but more than anything, I felt like I had gotten the hang of life. I was waking up every morning and spending time with the Lord. When I ate, it was to truly fuel my body and not out of an unhealthy relationship with food.”
Madison with her sisters, Makayla Hughes and Miranda Dodson, and mother, Melissa Doty, during Makayla’s baby shower in February 2020.
Madison decided it was time to get serious about her health with all the newfound energy and focus. “Though I never wavered in this program, I never truly believed that this would work for me,” Madison said. “I never fully trusted the Lord when he told me that I would not be overweight by the end of this journey. After losing 100 pounds, I chose to commit to losing the next 100.
After opening The Edge Salon in December 2019, Madison put her efforts into creating a professional and supportive environment for stylists so they can provide the best services to their clients.
“I got a membership to the gym and learned how to work out,” she continued. “I moved my time with the Lord in the morning to 4 a.m. so that I was able to workout at 5 a.m. and be home by the time that Austin leaves to go to work. I tracked my food and pushed my body. And I prayed and asked for a supernatural willpower and patience. It was extremely hard— the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. It was all-consuming and felt like I was juggling a million things at once. The hardships, the trials, and the sacrifice—it was all worth it. I did it. As I stepped on the scale in January 2023, I had tears in my eyes. I had officially reached my goal.”
Madison lost 200 pounds in one year and 4 months. “200 pounds of weight lifted off of my bones and joints,” Madison said. “I feel like a new person. I have energy to last for days. I love working out, and I’m able to keep up with my kids. My husband is so supportive and so proud. My entire family has been so uplifting, especially my grandmother, Nanny Jo. She really encouraged me and held my hand through this whole process. She was my rock.
Madison coaches Nash Orena as he participates in a tortilla frisbee game at PowerHouse, the youth group associated with Church On The Rock.
“When Jesus says in John 6:35, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst,’ I believe that he is saying that he fulfills. Whatever we are searching for, whatever we are filling our lives with to get that ‘joy’—he is saying that all we have to do is to come to him, and we will never hunger, and we will never thirst again.”
Madison hopes other can find a similar freedom as she is enjoying. “Christ loved me,” she said. “And because of his love for me, he has given me true joy—more than I could have ever imagined. I hit my goal of losing 200 pounds, and I’m finally free.”