spacejunkie84119

Howdy y'all. Lets see....I'm a 51 year old father of 3, married 27 years to my sweetheart that I met immediately after getting out of the Navy back in 1987 and been in love with ever since. I've always been a big guy, well stocky & short, which played hell with my BMI and weight in the service. Went in 1983 at 17 years old weighing 210, which was the absolute highest weight they would take. struggled through boot camp but made it. by the time it was over, i could push out 250 pushups and 100 situps in one session. but still came out of boot camp at 198. by the end of my enlistment, I was running 5 & 10 k races, biking 25k and leading the "fatboy" company of remedial PT. and still was hovering at 200lbs when i was finally discharged. fast forward 4 years and I'm a volunteer firefighter for a year and half, working out, doing the job and then threw out my back playing golf of all things After that, it was all sedentary office jobs and stress eating. Lost my 1st born at 8 months old after he was born at 24 weeks and that really through me for a loop, eating, not being active in anything at all, now 24 years later I've been hovering at 305 with a high of 320. I thought about WLS 15 years ago, but our insurance wouldn't cover it, so it was back burnered, but always been in the back of my mind. after all the years of of dealing with the continuous side effects of of morbid obesity, asthma, high bp, hi cholesterol, diabetes, depression, anxiety, etc, etc.....i bit the bullet and I'm taking the plunge and having the VGS done in Tijuana on June 24th. I've cut out sodas completely after being a "2 44oz Coke a day" drinker for 20 years. and working on my preop diet now. A couple of reasons why now, first and foremost I want to be around for my kids and hopefully grandkids, second, purely selfish reason, I want to ride roller coasters again. I've taken that walk of shame a few times and have quit even trying a long time ago. third, I want to skydive once. to be able to say I've done it. fourth, I'm tired of seeing myself in pictures, in the mirror and reaffirming my disdain for myself. people think I'm a happy go lucky guy, and i guess i feed that impression, but inside is another story. Check out my picture below for a laugh Yeah, I cosplay, Barf from Spaceballs, Fat bastard from Austin Powers, The penguin from Batman. they're about the only things that make me forget myself. Anyway, I'll be scoping out the site for hints and tips and hopefully can make some friends along the way. Thanks for reading. you're a brave soul.