HeavyContact
Where do I start? Well, I am 33 years old and married to a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent woman. She is super supportive and always there to offer encouragement and advice. She has been a major help in my making the decision to investigate WLS surgery. I have always been big. The earliest realization I can remember of being overweight was in the 5th grade when I was weighed at 170lbs. I lived in Illinois and my parents owned a Mexican restaurant and my sister and I had free range access to the kitchen. I can remember taking a whole restaurant size bag of french fries and dumping them in the deep fryer. I didn’t stop there; I had to add shredded cheese and chili. Fast forward to 8th grade, we had moved to California and I experienced some of the cruelty that kids can dump on those that are different from the rest of the group. I continued to gain weight even though in high school I was a member of the wrestling team with its 2 hour workouts 5 times a week. At home was my mom and her good cooking. Things like fried chicken and mashed potatoes, coupled with 2 or 3 servings helped me maintain a robust 210-220 throughout high school. My problems with food have mainly revolved around portions. I can eat until I feel ready to bust, take a break and just a few hours later I can attack it again like a refugee. My heaviest ever was in the neighborhood of 365-375 pounds. That was in 2002 and I was embarking on a career change. I was trying to get a job in law enforcement and being that big was not going to allow that to happen. I started eating a lot less and working out. I managed to lose 75 pounds in a year. When I saw 299 on the scale I was so happy. I was strong and had a good enough level of health to get the job I was trying to get. In the meantime my first wife was diagnosed with cancer. From Feb 2004 to her passing in July 2004 I completely fell off of the wagon, easily gaining back 40 pounds. In November of that year I moved to a new city and began working for the department of corrections. Since then I have remarried to the above mentioned woman and have pretty much yo-yoed from 300 to 335 over the last couple of years. I feel like WLS will finally give me the tools to maintain a healthy weight while forcing me to watch my portions. I feel that I also must mention that my dad, also overweight, passed away from a massive heart attack when he was just 56 years old. That is my major #1 motivator for making this decision now to change my life. I feel it is truly a life or death issue for me. I hope you follow along with me as I travel this path toward health and longevity. Please feel free to add me as a friend and share your stories, tips and feelings as you make your way to finding yourself buried under all the fat.
