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.