Henning

My name is Henning and I am married 24 years and father of 5 kids (1 college graduate and 3 still in college and an 11 year old).  My journey with food is always been the portion size and knowledge of what to eat.  I grew up in Norway where the access to process food and junk food was not the same as her in the States.  I came her as a teen and was very active in sports and only started my weight gain in my mid 20's.  I sorta settled with food and when I stopped smoking at 30 ( 18 years ago) I added a lot more weight on in mid 30's.  I did do a liquid diet in early 30's and lost 75 lbs but never learned to eat right portions and daily exercise so it all came back when I started to introduce food and added another 20% weight gain.  Before I knew it i was 46 and weighed 431 lbs.  I am 6'7" tall so i carried it better than others and most people was surprised  I weighed that much.  I was always known as big man and as people don't mean harm it does stick with you in your mind.  I got sick with a pituitary tumor in early 2015 and successfully over came the operation and treatment is for life with lots of hormone replacement medication.  That medication really hindered my weight loss as i during that time had to learn to live a healthier lifestyle and have been doing daily exercise routine for 4 years now.  I was not able  loose weight with knowing how to eat and smaller portion sizes and daily exercises because my steroid intake was weight based and was a lot.  This surgery was my way of evening the playing field and give me an opportunity to restart my life at 47 years old.  I walked into this journey 6 month prior to surgery with all my motivation and energy to make a change.  I learned so much during this pre surgery required bariatric consulting with doctor,dietitian,weight loss group sessions and learning how to make a life altering change to myself.  It was time to focus on me.  I have an incredible support system at home with my very talented and knowledge wife. She is extremely healthy and challenges herself all the time by running a marathon  for the first time at 50.  She eats healthy exercises daily and she has been doing that for years and  it took this for me to see it.  I guess like i always say I have never been so healthy as i have been after i got sick.  I believe that God  has been good to me and through this illness have healed me to be a better person and a healthier mind.