vellpike
My name is Robert and I was born into a family of obese people. My family is of Italian heritage from New Jersey and we have strong roots in food as entertainment, comfort and general pleasure. Since I was a child, my family would get together and overeat until they were almost sick. For them, this was the sign of a good meal lol. I have been over weight since I was 9 years old. When I reached my late teens and early twenties, I worked VERY hard almost obsessively in the gym to lose weight. I got down from 300 to 220 in over a year spending most of my time in the gym. I felt great and entered college at that weight. I continued to work out in the gym and became a body builder while in college, but as college progressed and classes became harder, I focused more and more on my academics and building my mind. When I graduated college, I had gained almost 40 lbs and was miserable. I had worked so hard to lose my weight and to have it come back was like having a cancer that would resurface. Once out of college, I got a job and began to develop my career. I lost some weight during the first year of this new career and was again happy, but that, once again didn’t last. I got married to a beautiful wife and had two wonderful children that I cherish every day of my life, but I was still gaining weight and unhappy with my body. I found my unhappiness projected into my family life which made me withdrawn and depressed. After seven years since graduating college, I unhappily obtained a weight of 320 lbs and was having to constantly take high blood pressure medication. My fasting blood sugar level was reaching pre-diabetic and my doctor informed me I had a fatty liver. I decided enough was enough. I wanted to live long enough to see my children grow old, so I once again was going to fight my demon and battle to lose weight. This time I needed something more in my arsenal to combat my obesity or I would again lose the war. I had tried dieting all my life and it would work, but the weight would come right back. I knew about weight lost surgery because two of my family members had it done, but I also knew the problems they had after surgery (which I am finding are all manageable and due to their not following instruction). So in October I went for a consult and decided it was time. I weighed the possibilities and side effects of the operation with the probability of my early death due to my obesity. The statistics were pretty frank. If I continued to live this life, I was going to die an early death. End of story. On December 21 2009, after not sleeping the whole night, my wife and I drove to the hospital where I surrendered my old life. As I write this, I am 5 days post operation and am still learning a lot. This is my story…