For those who’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I’m overweight. I can’t remember exactly when my obsession with food began. I look at pictures of me back when I was 8-10 and I was a skinny kid like most kids. Puberty hit me and so did an appetite, which would have been fine except that my activity level went the opposite way. Video games and pizza came into my life and my waistline hasn’t been the same since.

I did play football a bit in high school and lost weight running suicides and up/downs in full pads in the hot Georgia sun, but after my parent’s divorce, I had to quit sports and get a job to help support the family. I was a chronic over eater. You know the joke, “I was born a man, I identify as a man, but according to this box of Kraft mac and cheese, I am a family of 4”? That joke embodied me. I would go to all you can eat places and chow the hell down. I was well over 200 pounds by the time I went to college.

College was more of the same, but add in booze and late night pizza binges, and things got worse. Funny thing is, there was always someone in my group that was fatter than me, so it was ok being how I was. “At least I’m not ‘that’ guy” I would tell myself. Eventually, though, you do become that guy. People greet you with “Hey big guy” or “What’s up big man”. It’s how they see you.

I tried many different diets, low fat, Quick Weight Loss centers, Atkins, working out, but I defeated myself each time. Finally I had reached 350 pounds I had had enough. I was miserable. I couldn’t participate in life like I wanted to. Everything hurt, I was tired all the time, and I was worried about basically dying. After speaking to a friend who had weight loss surgery and went from 425 to 175, I decided it was my time to have a gastric bypass. I know what I needed to do to lose weight (eat less, exercise more) but I lacked the will power to do it on my own. I had the surgery August 2021 and since then I’m down 105-108 pounds and still looking to lose another 50. I feel great and I have no regrets. It’s hard leaving the sugar and soda and shit behind me, but I’ve had 47 years of that stuff. It’s time to be healthy or healthier than I have been.

I saw an article recently that had the headline of dieting is based on oppression and there are no bad foods. Now the headline did generate heaps of backlash from those who didn’t actually read the article. There’s a video that goes along with the article which I’ll link to.

https://twitter.com/calleymeans/status/1628845247919947776?s=20

Some things in the video I don’t agree with like you are “healthy” at any size, but the bigger message in the video is that we have a broken relationship with food. We do. There are “bad” foods as in foods that are worse for you to eat than other foods. You might be thinking, oh you mean like chocolate milkshakes right? You’re partly right. The foods that I’m referring to as “bad” are the over processed foods that we find in the store all the time. The colorful boxes and sugar filled stuff. I do like those Kraft singles “cheese” though. The ideas of we are rewarded with a treat if we endure eating the veggies leads us to have a skewed relationship with food.
Since I’ve been eating better, more “real” food, I’ve noticed a change in my energy level. In my current configuration, I am supposed to eat between 1800-2000 calories a day. Eating chicken and meat and veggies, it can be really hard to reach that level daily. I feel like I’m eating more now than before my surgery.
Like a lot of things in America, we have developed an emotional attachment to food. Food is our friend. It won’t hurts us, judge us. It just makes us feel good when we eat it. We see glamour shots of giant ice cream monstrosities on Instagram. It’s the American way to go bigger, badder, and more over the top. How many commercials have I voiced where the restaurants advertise huge portions or “You won’t go away hungry here”. We are taught to stuff our faces. That video also suggests we have a neutral attitude towards food. It’s just food, fuel for the body.
Can you be healthy at any size? I was 350 pounds, but I had no health problems. No diabetes, no high blood pressure, no cholesterol issues. Sure my knees and back hurt, but was I “healthy”? No I wasn’t. Mentally I was a disaster and I would have for sure developed health issues and died at an earlier age. How many obese folks are there in nursing homes?
We need to learn to deal with food on an essential level. You need it to live, make good choices, and focus on how you can make your life better so you don’t have those emotional needs for snacking.
Hell, I heard a story today that said a recent study points to those who eat eggs can reduce the risks of heart problems. Didn’t they say before that the cholesterol in eggs would kill you and cause heart attacks? Don’t listen to these people. You know what the right decisions are.
I’m no expert, but I am here to talk to you if you have questions about weight loss surgery, over eating, obesity. I’m always ready to spread my opinions.