During my high school years, I had difficulty maintaining my weight. I was very thin and played football. I was an offensive lineman and wanted so very much to weigh 200 pounds. I ate a lot of food but remained thin. At almost six foot three inches tall I wore size 28 waist pants and weighed 160 pounds. I lifted weights and had no fat on my body at all. It was very frustrating to be so thin. If you would have told me that I would be fighting morbid obesity later in life, I would have told you were nuts.
In 1966 at the age of 17, I enlisted in the U. S. Army. Army chow seemed to agree with me and when I returned from Viet Nam my weight hovered around 200 pounds. I felt great! The next few years I worked in construction and had little difficulty in maintaining 200 pounds even though I ate constantly. After my 1st marriage in 1974 my weight rose to 230 pounds. This was the first time in my life that I began to worry about my weight. I went on weight watchers and got back down to 220 pounds and maintained that weight somewhat through 1982 when I went to work as a correctional officer. In 1978 I went through an awful divorce and my weight dropped to 210 pounds. That is what I weighed when I met Joyce my present wife of 22 years.
After one year working in the prison my weight had risen to 245 pounds. I started dieting on and off. I would lose ten or fifteen pounds but soon I would gain it back plus a few extra. By the end of my third year in the department my weight soared to 280 pounds. I tried Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, Cabbage diets, fruit diets, liquid diets, fasting and other assorted diets. I became familiar with Richard Simmons, Dolly Parton, and a host of other fat reducing celebrities. I tried many drugs including: Redux, Fen Phen, Fen Pro, and Meridia. I spent (along with my dear wife) hundreds of dollars on bicycles, treadmills and Gym memberships.
The sum total of weight loss for these remedies is probably around 1200 pounds. Some how, through it all, I have ended up with a BMI of 42, waist measurement of 54 inches , and a belly that measures 58 inches and a total combined weight of 322 pounds.
My hips hurt, my knees hurt, and I don't sleep well. I have severe hypoglycemia, High BP, and high cholesterol. I have observed my wife's success and have decided that it is time to live. My sister died at age 37 from complications from diabetes. My father was all but crippled by diabetes when he died. And I am not ready to die as Jabba the hut. I am looking forward to my WLS. |
