Mason W.
So here's my weight loss story. I love to share because I feel if I can help inspire one person to better themselves, then this has all been worth it.
My name is Mason and I feel like my story starts out like most everyone else. I like to joke that I popped out of my mom at 275lbs, but the truth is I was a normal sized baby at 7lbs 8oz...however, it didn't take long for me to start ballooning up and I was over 80lbs going into kindergarten. I remember when I was around 15 or so and while visiting my grandparents, they had a bathroom scale (a commodity my dad never put in for at my own house) and when I stepped on it, I remember seeing that I weighed 220lbs...I knew this was not a good weight for someone my age, but I quickly brushed it off.
I struggled with my weight all throughout high school and then into my adulthood. I would start a diet, not lose much, become discouraged, and then I'd give up...it was a vicious cycle I fell into many, many times.
I continued that unhealthy routine until I hit my late 20's when my family was hit with tragedy. My oldest sister was walking on a beach in Daytona when a drunk driver went through a barricade and hit her, killing her instantly. Later that year I realized that I had to do something to change my life and that I had to make sure I was around for a really long time because my family barely picked up the pieces after my sister's accident, I would never want another early death in my family.
That year (in late 2014) I went to my first consultation for bariatric surgery. They wanted money that day and at the time I wasn't financially stable enough to pay it...so I sadly left.
In February of 2015 my cousin challenged me that if I lost 75lbs he would take me on a trip to San Francisco...I was in the gym the next day. For 4 straight months I was in the gym every day and I was actually starting to lose weight. I dropped down and I was feeling so awesome. One day while I was in the gym I got a call that my dad was at the hospital and he had suffered a stroke...that was the last day I ever went back to the gym. For 2 months after that, my every day life was driving an hour plus from my home in SC to Asheville, NC...I didn't have time for the gym and I didn't have time for my diet. I was exhausted and found myself once again eating nothing but fast food. On July 30th 2015, my dad passed away.
A week later I got a call that my mother was sent to the hospital because she had also suffered a stroke. I couldn't catch a break and with no one else in the area to help me, I had to get back into the same routine of going from my house in SC to visit her in NC...to fast forward a bit, my mom passed away on Nov 4th, 2015.
In a little less than a year and a half, I had lost both my parents and my sister.
I became the person that I never understood and started eating a lot. More than I ever had. I would eat 2 or 3 value meals at a time or meals meant for entire families...my weight kept going up and up and up.
A year later in Oct. 2016 I realized yet again that enough was enough and I had to do this. I had to get gastric bypass. This time in my life I was a lot more financially stable and I knew I had to do this. After months and months of working hard to get approved and get my classes completed and do everything that I needed....I was finally able to have surgery on August 3rd, 2017.
It feels so good to know that I will have a life and will be around for my family for a lot longer than I would have.
Sorry for this really long email...but this is my story.
In this photo i'm at my highest weight in April 2017 of 437lbs...and in October 2017 at 341lbs