415 to under 235 I had to do this twice so Never again and Never forget!

About 8 years ago i found myself over 400 lbs. I wont put blame but I do have to say I was in an abusive relationship with a women that drank.. So I ate and ate and ate some more. I Decided one January morning that everything was going to change. I advised her unless she stopped drinking it was over. SImple as that and i walked out the door of my home in NH and started walking.. Every day i walked and walked a little longer every week i would increase my walking . Well come May I had done away with her and it was all about me at that point. I ended up getting to about 250 lbs on my own. No surgery this time.. I was happy but had a ton of excess skin. I did my legwork and found a plastic surgeon who did 2 seperate surgeries. My Upper body and my lower body. I will say the upper body surgery was not to bad to remove the "man boobs". The Lower Body the Pandectomy procedure was something I would never do again and glad I dont have to.. Very painful procedure and a scar all the way around my body. Im glad I had it done and im glad the second time around my tummy went back to being flat as a board.

So back to my story.. I had both surgeries feeling good no issues and then one day out of the blue, and ill never forget it was a couple of days before Thanksgiving I stopped going to the gym.. Dont ask me why I have no clue why i did this. I was invisible. I was working out 6-7 days per week and felt good and i just stopped! The weight started going back on. You all know the struggles of a YOYO person. Up and down and up and down. Well soon after that my father passed away. Very very mixed emotions and a heavy heart. I balooned back up to 415lbs + or -.. I stayed that way for the last couple of years.. At almost 45 years old I didnt know what to do. I knew I needed help. I didnt think i could do it on my own again. I found Dr Jiser the chief bariatric surgeon at Lowell general Hospital in Ma. He advised me I was a great candidate for the "Sleeve". he said i would see amazing results and the sleeve was slowly catching up to the bypass as far as results go, So I went for it. I started in April at 415lbs. I got down to 372 on Surgery date June 24th 2013. I kissed my wife and my mom and said lets do this. i was dedicated. I worked out and walked and walked and walked and then started lifting weights again. Well here we are Jan 11th 2014 9 months after taking the initial step in April.. I weighed in just the other day at 232lbs. Thats -183lbs in 9 months. Amazing. Even Dr Jiser said i was so far ahead of schedule. i went from a 52inch waist to a 34. I went from a 4x shirt to a large. I am off all medications!!! I will never ever go back. I am happy. all the frightening stupid things that "NORMAL" people can do I can now do. We all know how frightful it was to get on an airplane or go to a show. Nothing worse then needing an extended seat belt or wondering if you would fit in the movie theater seat. Well No More. never ever again will i be worried about having to get an aisle seat so i wouldnt bother the person next to me. i recently went back to Aruba. We go everyyear and the reactions were funny and amazing. Hardly anyone knew who I was. It was funny but it showed me i was such a different person. The weight loss has also opened my eyes to the discrimination we all face or faced. We all know that people looked at us "heavy" people differently.. I have noticed so many people have a different attitude towards me. It is for the better now but it also shows me how my weight before made people discriminate against me. Well here I am about 20lbs from my high school weight. I want so badly to be able to take this and help others. Id love to start a support group.. Id love to be a counselor at say a weight watchers but amazingly enough to do that I would have to weigh about 180lbs. Yes that is not happening. I have never been that low and will never get that low. I would look unhealthy. Im trying to break through and figure out ways to reach out to people in similiar situations and help. This weight loss has changed my whole life. I will never look back but I will never forget!!

Christian Zaccone

Zacconechris@yahoo.com