My Battle With Obesity: It's Now Do or Die - I Have to Lose Weight and Change My Life!

I've gained and lost a couple of hundred pounds in my adult life. It has been a rollercoaster ride that I really haven't enjoyed. I find myself, at fifty-one years of age, at over 300 pounds at 5 feet 9 inches tall. I suffer from a variety of maladies. Some may clear up with weight loss, but all, seemingly would improve. But this time is proving harder than any other time in my life.

My struggle with weight gain began in my adolescent years. I lost weight during my high school years, primarily when I was an athlete. Being a high school wrestler means lots of conditioning and that kept me thin. While many of my team-mates struggled to "make weight," by wearing sweat suits and taking laxatives, I usually wrestled about 10 to 12 pounds under weight. But, after a serious bout with a virus in my sophomore year I was no longer certifiable by a physician to continue competitive sports. My weight began to be a problem once again.

I worked hard to keep it off in my senior year. I became serious about playing music in a local band with my best friend and I wanted to look good on stage. That is when the rollercoaster really began. I would struggle with gaining 10 to 20 pounds and having to struggle to get it back off. It happened time and time again. Then I got married and the situation turned worse.

When I married my wife, Karen, and settled into suburban life, I struggled with good home cooked meals and leading a more sedentary life. I played music for a living and it became very apparent that I had to work at keeping the weight off to keep up the image. I maintained a weight of around 215 pounds during the years I was performing in the band. While not exactly svelte, that wasn't too bad at the time. That was before losing an inch to degenerating disk disease and a back surgery. At 5 feet 10 inches the weight wore pretty well on me with the right clothes. But then my early years of abusing my body, together with the common maladies of aging, began to take its toll on me.

In 1990 I had reached my highest weight to date at 240 pounds. And then I injured my back in an industrial accident. I ended up in surgery to repair a herniated disc. After the surgery I lost weight at first because my eating was controlled in the hospital and I really tried to continue it after I got out. I lost about 15 pounds. But the back surgery didn't really repair the problem and I soon didn't feel like being as active as I once was. I began to eat the wrong foods in large quantities. I reached a plateau of about 260 pounds that lasted for a few years. In 1993 I changed jobs and began to spend 8 plus hours behind a desk everyday. I gained a few extra pounds and the stress of that new job put me back in the hospital in 1995 with a heart attack. That was a real wake up call.

Through the heart episode the Lord blessed me and cured me. I had every symptom of a heart attack, even coding at one time, but there was not residual damage to my heart muscle. I had a stent implant and carried on with my life. I felt a lot better and with a diet change I lost about 20 pounds. But that didn't last as long as I had hoped.

In 1997 I changed jobs and my new employment placed me in close proximity to a fitness center. I hadn't been involved in a structured conditioning program since I was in my early 20's. I jumped in with fervor and began to lose weight and to tone muscle that I had neglected for years. My fervor got the best of me, however. I got so zealous in my efforts that I neglected to follow proper guidelines in weight lifting. I injured my right rotator cuff. It was so serious that I couldn't sleep at night. I was unable to continue with my conditioning and the weight came back. I gained until I reached my next highest: 310 pounds. I then discovered Atkins.

In 1999 I dabbled with the Atkins diet and lost about 25 pounds, but many well meaning friends gave me such a hard time over the diet that I listened to them and went off of it. I stayed fairly steady for a year or so and then I read Dr Atkins book. That made a believer out of me. I wasn't as concerned about what others said. I researched the science behind the diet and went into it with zeal to make it work. The weight simply melted off! I lost 60 pounds! But I suffered yet one more setback.

In 2003 the rotator cuff injury was beginning to bother me again. It never had completely healed and I had aggravated it with some lifting that I should have stayed away from. You've heard the saying, "When it rains it pours?" Well the rain became a torrential downpour for me.

Through two additional incidents, within two months, I pretty much destroyed my right rotator cuff. I was in so much pain I couldn't think straight. I went through the most horrific surgical experience in my life. I felt I was coming out of it until, during rehab, I attempted to jump ahead and do some work that I was not ready to do. The result: a detached bicep. I later learned that the rotator cuff repair wasn't as successful as it appeared at first. I struggled through all of that and during the process I gained back to the 275 pound level. But the rain kept falling and I ended up in the hospital once again in 2005!

Under a serious workload I was working long hours and ended up in another work related accident. I took a spill that injured my lower back. I had always struggled with my left hip and sciatica from the earlier injury, but my right side was pretty stable. But when I took the fall I seriously injured a disc that affected the sciatic nerve on my right side. It went from bad to critical in a matter of 3 months. I ended up in the emergency room of Parkview Hospital in Kendallville, Indiana in early April. After being stabilized somewhat at the emergency room, and spending the night in Kendallville, I was moved by ambulance to Fort Wayne Lutheran for an MRI and the serious likelihood of surgery.

Well the surgery didn't happen. After a physical therapy and two rounds of steroid injections, it became bearable. The problem grew worse, however, after the doctor hit the nerve with the needle during the last injection. That that left me with residual pain and numbness that has plagued me ever since. Most of the time I had trouble just getting up in the morning and my weight ballooned to its highest at 325 pounds!

I've wrestled my weight down to 310 pounds, but I can't seem to get it going in the right directions this time. My blood pressure is a real issue. My back as well as my whole body is in revolt because of the massive weight I'm carrying. That's the reason I'm writing this article. I want to bring the struggle out into the open and place some accountability upon myself. I have to succeed in this matter. I have a five year old son, a daughter that is still in high school and two grown daughters, not to mention my wife, who need me. I want to see my grandkids, as well as see my son grown to manhood. This is a serious battle!

I plan to write updates on my progress and failures and allow you, the reader to follow along and, by your comments, to hold me accountable. I also want your encouragement, and for those of you who know the Lord Jesus Christ, please lift me up in your prayers, if you should feel so led.

So here I am, starting at 310 pounds. I will do the Atkins diet once again. It is the healthiest way to lose a lot of weight quickly. And the low glycemic element, not only helps the weight loss, but helps with the maladies I suffer from. When I was on the diet a few years ago my blood pressure came down and my cholesterol was the best it had ever been. The key is to continue the low glycemic diet and active lifestyle during and after the weight loss. Here I go! If anyone out there has any tips or words of encouragement, I'd love you hear from you. Until next time, here's to lot's of protein and at least two weeks of nearly no carbohydrates at all.