Rock

Just a few bonus pics...

 

Me in the hospital, at my worst just recovering from the sepsis infection:

 

Two IVs in the arm!

 

WTF ARE YOU LOOKING AT

 

After 3 months in the hospital, looking a tad better.

Okay, so here are very old pics of me when I was at my worst, topping 460 at one point.

 

 

Here's a pic that I took like a week before my surgery:

 

 

And here is me now, wearing something similar but a few sizes down:

 

 

Now keep in mind, I still have about 65-75lbs to go, so I'm still far away so go easy on me.

 

Keep in mind, that last pic has lots of heavy clothing on, all too big! I don't think I look that bad as I do in this picture lol.

You all have no idea how much I don't want to do this now that I've found the fat pics.

The main criticism I get is that I took "the easy way out." It's the biggest lie there is. If anything, I just leveled the playing field. I'm still overweight, I still have to work, but it's not so overwhelming and all-encompassing anymore.

Whoever gave you this criticism can go f*ck themselves. The surgery isn't a cure, it's a tool. My drastic weight loss was an exception to the norm because I nearly died of sepsis, but I still have 70lbs to go and having a smaller stomach pouch won't do it. People can drink a gallon of sweet tea in a sitting and it'll flow right down, ingesting 1000 calories right there. You can eat multiple krispy creme donuts with that tea that'll slide right down, ingesting another 1000 calories - and that's a breakfast right there of 2000 calories, more than anyone losing weight should take in the whole damn day. It all comes down to choices no matter what methods you use.

 

 

p.s. I'm still gathering pics, haven't flaked out.

when I was in the military

So.... do you still have combat boots????

I have to ask this question. There are some people at the gym who are always 'I love working out. I would do it even if I didn't have to' Well, I think they are lying. I'm sorry, I workout because I have to. I don't enjoy it. I think it sucks. I cuss out my spinning instructor in my mind everytime. Weight training is okay, but I still don't consider it fun.

 

So I have to ask...am I the only one?

 

If you were told you never had to work out again if you didn't want to and you would still remain fit and healthy would you do it or would you sit on a sofa?

I've always hated "working out". I would play full-court basketball for 8 hours on a Sunday, running my ass off, prolly burn 2000 calories and loved every second. Get me on a treadmill for 30 minutes and I'll curse you straight to hell.

 

But given my health and my commitment to reverse heart disease, I'll have to at least hop on the stationary bike until I lose enough weight to get more back surgery.

For all of you who are struggling with your weight, I'd like to know how it happened. Was it eating habits you were brought up with, a life event that made you stop caring about what you ate, or just an affinity for unhealthy foods?

TEX - Good to hear from you again. I think you sent me a text when i was in the hospital - much appreciated mi amigo!

 

I've always been a heavy guy/kid, but I was an athlete from kid to 18 so I carried myself well. Ate horribly, but worked it off. I had an accident after HS where I injured my spine and was nearly paralyzed, even bed-ridden for about 6 months. So exercise (which was always sports for me) became nearly impossible. But I ate the same, if not worse because I was also horribly depressed about that time in my life. So more intake, ****tier foods and not burning it off - catastrophe.

 

OK - finding old photos. It's harder than I thought because I was so ashamed, I wouldn't pose for pics. But I promise you guys I'm not flaking out.

It's sounds like it, yeah... but the same surgery can cost anywhere from 12-25k in the U.S.

My great GOOD 'OLE USA SURGERY and subsequent botchment surgeries cost Aetna $226,000 That's NOT a typo, yo.

 

holy ****. what surgeries did you have? I did a butt-ton of research before having mine because I had to basically pick it myself-- but I always wonder which one(s) actual doctors are recommending these days.

Well, it started out simple enough with a $30k gastric sleeve with a lap-band removal. I had a lap-band installed years ago, but it was unsuccessful. So when they went in to do the sleeve, they had to take it out, which had slipped some and gave the doctor problems. Was supposed to take an hour, wound up 4.5 hours. Not sure if you read my FINALLY thread, lots of details there, but in short I got sepsis infection, abscess growths on stomachs, more on livers, gall bladder removal, endoscopes (multiple) other procedures where they shoved extraction needles into my liver and guts, etc and I'm leaving out all kinds of ****. And I was in the hospital for nearly 3 months and you know how those costs add up. $266k

Alright, Rock, time to throw down!

I promise I will. I'll get current pics this weekend then I'll spend next week finding old fat ones and by next weekend make the post. I swear it will be done.

 

Love you guys, btw. Honest in saying that.

Which team did Danger buy?

It's sounds like it, yeah... but the same surgery can cost anywhere from 12-25k in the U.S.

My great GOOD 'OLE USA SURGERY and subsequent botchment surgeries cost Aetna $226,000 That's NOT a typo, yo.

Agreed with everyone else, Ericka, always thought you were (and still) very beautiful. But $7k is sooooooooooooo worth your physical health. You can't put a high enough price on adding YEARS to your life. Cardiovascular system is a vengeful bitch left neglected...I know this. I've prolly taken a good 10-15 off mine easy, although my cardiologist says that with the weight loss, a healthy diet for the rest of my life, I can reverse some of the damage I've done. Might wind up with a bypass in 15 years or so, which will suck, but they are already so good at it now that in 15 more will be better.

 

Well, there's no going back now, thanks to Ericka. I gotsta post them now. ughhh. I'm going to NC this weekend, and I'll have my friends take plenty of current pictures in my new clothes. I'll find as many fat old ones as possible during next week and present them the following weekend.

Okay. I'll put together some pics (i don't have too many out of shame) and make a lil project out of it.

 

Cool moment today, went in pre-surgery with a pants waist size of 60, bought jean shorts today in 44's.

So which team did Tommy take over?

I've always been ashamed to post pics on here because of my obesity. But I've lost a bunch of weight and continue that trend, so I thought I would monopolize a thread with some personal pics, stories. It's primarily for peer-based encouragement for myself but maybe it can help inspire others to make positive changes in their lives? Thoughts? Dumb? Waste of time? Helpful?

Congrats to the Vikings for the win, and also becoming the very first multi-year champion, as well as first back-to-back champion!

I don't know if you guys will take this seriously or not, but I'd be willing to help out with the weekly commish duties. I'm working a job that allows me to be online throughout the day. I'm currently the commissioner for a league with some people that work with, so I'm familiar with the ESPN set up.

 

Just throwing it out there. Won't hurt my feelings if you guys would rather not do so.

There are really no weekly duties, besides maybe trophies or poll. It's just a matter of responding and resolving issues WHEN something comes up. And we rarely have incidents, so it's easy to overlook them. That being said, Ryan and Sean should be doing thread sweeps; especially on game-day and the day after in regards to scoring woes. And with THAT being said, there's no reason we can't shoot them a PM/Facebook to give them a heads-up.

uhhh.... AP is a beast?

Ryan, no one wants you to step down (as far as I know).

DOWN WITH THE POOF!

Not for me. His future is looking bright!

Tsk, tsk. He's a Seminole, thus his future will never be bright... unless he wants to star in a few Smokey and the Bandit prequels and you just know those will go straight to DVD. Won't even make it to Blu-ray.

Repost: Because of that sack of sh*t Chris Johnson, I'm starting AJ Green this week, thus removing him from being Squad eligible.

 

 

I'm going out with major surgery today. I've already set this week's roster, so I should be fine. However, for full disclosure, I have given full Power-of-Attorney over The Heels to Garrison Carr, who will act as GM in my absence. ...that pretty much means has my ESPN password and can edit my lineup as he wishes If for some reason I don't make it, he'll run the team for the rest of the season and will sell the franchise in the off season. NOT TO CHOC OR TEXASTWAT.

 

 

Because of that sack of sh*t Chris Johnson, I'm starting AJ Green this week, thus removing him from being Squad eligible.

 

All In, people.

Whatever it takes, my friend. Whatever it takes!

LOL, sorry about that, mate! I didn't even know he was a rookie Glad I didn't play him.