That’s me someday soon

But, this is me now. Actually, this was me a few months ago weighing in at around 330-340 pounds and standing at 6’2”. I’ve struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. Even as an athlete in my younger years it was easy for me to gain weight. It’s hereditary and both sides of my family struggle with either obesity and other weight-related issues or heart disease.

On February 2, 2016, I had a Sleeve Gastrectomy, or the Gastric Sleeve, performed on my stomach. Basically, the surgeon removes the largest portion of the stomach and leaves a small stomach pouch. The pouch looks like a small banana and can only take in tiny amounts of food at a time, making me feel full quickly without consuming the large amounts of food I was used to eating. It’s a very successful and less-invasive procedure.

On the day of my surgery I weighed 339 pounds, and as of today (February 7th) I weigh 318.6 pounds. Crazy, right?

My end goal is to look like this handsome guy again:

This was me at 19 years old. Ignore the Timehop thing; this picture was taken in 2002. I think I was around 6’ tall and weighed in around 215 lbs. here. I had about 10-12% body fat. I was in very good shape in this picture and I could bench press 245 lbs. 3-4 times. Those were the days! Since then I’ve grown a couple inches and put on more muscle, so my goal weight is 230 lbs. This surgery is going to help me get there!

Further down the road I will be writing more about my progress and tell you about how and why I allowed myself to get so unhealthy. Until then, please pray for me!

Rich