Just Obese

6 of 40

Hello, and welcome to the sixth edition of 40B40. I have noticed that some of the substacks I enjoy reading have a small blurb at the top, telling the reader something about the essay they are about to read. Peregrino is “one man’s journey from faithless to zealous, single to husband/father, and morbidly obese to just obese,” today, I bring you the story of how I went from morbidly obese to just obese. I hope it motivates you to get back on the horse, as people say, and make better choices. I know I need to. We can do it! Go us!

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Rock bottom

When I learned about morbid obesity, I thought it was an exaggeration. Then the doctor showed me a chart with height on the X-axis and weight on the Y-axis. The intersection of my height and weight was literally off the chart.

It’s impossible to forget that you’re morbidly obese. But I had plenty of reminders. Sleep apnea, my waist 52 pants, and XXXL shirts were daily reminders. Then there was asking the flight attendant for a seat belt extension when flying or stacking two plastic chairs together at the taco stand to avoid bending and possibly breaking the chair.

I had an analog bathroom scale that went from 0 to 100 kilos, and when I stepped on it, it would almost go around twice.

It was the summer of 2009. I was twenty-five years old, weighed 168 kg (370 lbs), and probably would’ve had a heart attack by thirty had I continued the same trajectory. I had hit rock bottom.

Desperate times

Obesity is a lifestyle malady, plain and simple. I lived a sedentary lifestyle and ate garbage; there’s no other way around it. I had been on diets on and off for a decade, losing and gaining weight with every round. I needed something that would force the lifestyle change on me.

Bariatric surgery has entered the chat.

I had read about the gastric bypass. This surgery involves connecting the esophagus to the intestine, bypassing the stomach. This seemed quite extreme, so I continued my investigation.

I talked to three surgeons and decided to make an appointment with the one that ended up operating on me. He introduced me to gastric sleeve surgery. In this particular surgery, about 80% of the stomach is removed, leaving a cylindrical or “sleeve” shaped stomach about the size of a banana.

This seemed like a less extreme option that was just as effective. I got a loan to pay for the surgery, set a date, and went on a liquid diet a week before the surgery. My surgery was scheduled for January 10th, 2010, and I remember being bitter about not being able to eat Rosca de Reyes that Epiphany. I was probably hangry. I was also addicted to sugar.

The surgery went great, and by day four, I was already doing my normal daily activities. However, because my banana-shaped stomach was still swollen from the surgery and less stomach tissue meant I produced less ghrelin, the hunger hormone, I wasn’t hungry for a week. So, I technically fasted for a week post-op and was doing alright as long as I was hydrated.

I had lost 30 kg (66 lbs) by April of that year without that much effort. I couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites of anything at a time. It was sometimes annoying because I would still order as before and end up with a complete meal in a doggie bag.

Run Walther run

I joined a gym where I would walk on the treadmill. Walking turned into jogging, and jogging turned into running. I was obsessed with recording my runs in the Nike Run Club app. I wouldn’t work out if I couldn’t log my workout. I had a problem but in a good way. Maybe.

Monterrey has a big running community. There were 5K and 10K races almost every Sunday. I had only run inside on a treadmill but could run a 5K without stopping, so it made sense that my next goal would be to run a 5K outside. And so I did. I had caught the running bug.

I was obsessed with running. I would talk about dri-fit shirts, my ASICS gel-kayano 17s, how to avoid nipple chaffing, power songs on my running playlist, and so on. I was really annoying. But collecting medals gave me a purpose.

I switched from a big box gym to a mom-and-pop gym focused on core training; this was a game changer. A stronger core meant faster times. Suddenly, I was signing up for 10K races; running felt like therapy. It was a time for my body to go on autopilot while I could let my mind wander. I worked through a lot while running. I was also going to actual therapy, which was fantastic.

Then my friend Otto, a marathon runner, asked me if I had considered running a half marathon. I told him I hadn’t, but it seemed like the next logical step. So I prepared for a half while he was training for a marathon. We would schedule long runs on Sunday mornings and run together. He ran the whole half marathon with me and encouraged me every step of the way.

Half Marathon

I made some rookie mistakes that ruined my half-marathon experience. I changed my carb-up meal the night before the half. I usually had a plate of pasta and protein and decided to have a big salad instead. This threw everything off. Plus, I had a nervous tummy that morning. I had to stop to use the toilet after fifteen minutes of running. The route was hillier than I had anticipated, and I started to get cramps in my hamstrings.

I still finished and was proud of my accomplishment, but I knew I wouldn’t try to go for the full marathon. I kept participating in 5K and 10K races, mainly for the medals and occasional free t-shirts. But you can only get so many until they become a nuisance. What do you do with them? Do you hang them? Frame them? I’m sure all my running crap is still in a shoebox in my parents’ house in Mexico.

Barbells and babies

The lightest I’ve been since the surgery was 102 kg (224 lbs) when I moved to Phoenix in 2012. It helped that I didn’t have a car that first year and had to walk everywhere. 

Between then and 2016, I did a lot of CrossFit-style workouts in a boot camp setting. Even though I went up to 120 kg (264 lbs), I didn’t care because I was also at my strongest.

Yes, I was into the Vibram five fingers.

Then we started having kids, and I dropped the boot camp crew. My dad-bod has settled comfortably around 136 kg (300 lbs) for the last five years at least.

Becoming a father has made me painfully aware of the need for my health to be tip-top. I wanted to be the kind of dad who plays with their kids, can toss them in the air, and easily catch them. But I had to find a solution that gave me the most bang for my buck.

Enter the kettlebell.

I went minimalistic. One hundred kettlebell swings every day. Then I got a rowing machine and would alternate between swings and rowing. That’s my garage gym setup.

The problem now is that I’m getting old. Last year I hurt my knee on a hike and went to physical therapy for a few months, only to injure myself again recently. If I row for too long, I start getting carpal tunnel-like pain in my forearm. It’s annoying that if I want to lose weight, I need to move, but moving could lead to injury and pain, so I take breaks and regain the weight.

I know I’ll struggle with this for the rest of my life. Everyone has a different relationship with food and exercise; mine has been complicated. I know what I ought to do but don’t do it. I don’t want to because it’s hard and uncomfortable. But I have been there before; I know I can do it. I just need to begin again.

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Before you go

I have some questions for you.

1. Have you had a dramatic weight loss? How was it?

2. What’s your favorite health food?

3. Have you run a 5K/10K/half/full marathon?

4. If you could only have one piece of equipment for your garage gym. What would it be?

5. Will Walther drop to 113 kg (250 lbs) by December?