Intro

Hey everyone, my name is Rico after losing over 210 pounds I am here to offer my advice and help for anyone interested in doing the same. I have seen the community come together to achieve amazing goals and I would like to play my part by helping as many people as I can!

I wanted to share the first part of my story here to see if I could help anyone who is having a struggle but wants to make a change for the new year.

As of 11/13 I completed my surgery and will share pictures along with the story of the surgery next.

For ease of reading I have separated this into the following sections:

Background Story
Wake-up Call
Surgery
Today
Too long; didn’t read (TL;DR) and Conclusion.

Background Story

As long as I can remember I was overweight, even since childhood. The older I got the more I ate and the worse shape I found myself in. I played a lot of video games and ate everything I could. Like most people, I tried multiple times to lose weight, dieting for a few weeks here and there, but I was never really committed. I started to accept that my life style couldn’t change. That I was just the fat friend everyone had, and I would be like that for the rest of my life.

I wish I could say there was a big AHA! moment that made me choose to lose the weight, but there wasn't. It was many small moments that slowly built up and wore on me. It got to the point where I didn’t like myself. I hated so many things about me that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I hated that I was the fat friend that everyone had a joke about. It was beyond frustrating to try to find clothing that fit. I became tired of always wondering if a chair could hold me. It got to the point I was so heavy that I developed sleep apnea. Not only did I hate myself for being fat, I was so tired that I hated everything. I was completely miserable.

My only option was to make a change. I saw people like Swifty , a youtuber who could manage playing games and remaining healthy. I started to believe I could do it too. I started working out and dieting, AGAIN. I told myself that I would stick with it. I had gym partners come and go. Later, my best friend committed to working out with me regularly, and it was going GREAT! I was down 50lbs, gained a bunch of muscle, and felt like I could stick with it this time.

Then my life took a drastic change in the blink of an eye. My main support and gym partner was involved in a tragic accident that left him partially paralyzed. Seeing this happen to my best friend made me a complete mess. I stopped going to the gym and quit my diet. Eventually I gained more weight than I had lost and found myself in a worse situation. I was back to hating myself and having all of the same problems again.

I can’t explain to you how negative my thoughts and outlook were at that time. “Very dark” sums it up well. I finally decided I needed medical help, between being so tired, hating myself, and hating everything in general.

Wake-Up Call/Doctor Visit

A doctor told me the Sleep Apnea needed to be resolved, and I needed a sleep study first. It would take time to get approved for the sleep study. The doctor recommended I lose weight in the meantime, which would improve my sleep. I did everything I could to get the sleep study approved/scheduled, but met with no success.

It was at this point that realized the only way I could improve my life was to depend on myself, and make serious lifestyle changes. I read everything I could regarding diets. I set goals. I shared those goals with everyone I cared about, to keep myself accountable. I used any doubt from others as motivation.

Today

It has been 2 years and I have still not received approval for the sleep study. That’s ok, because I fixed the sleep apnea through weight loss and healthy eating instead. I found that in doing that, I also improved MANY other aspects of life!

I have lost a total of 213 lbs. I have lost the weight on my own without shortcuts. I didn’t elect for surgery to lose the weight, buy any weight loss products, gadgets or pills. I worked hard to change who I am and how I do things, through eating right and being active. I learned what was necessary and adapted my lifestyle to reflect what I wanted, to lose weight. I’ve now found the one thing I need help with, getting this surgery, to finish this journey to health and happiness.

Today, my goals have shifted to helping others realize that their goals can be accomplished. You alone can make the changes to improve your life. There are some of you out there who, like me, needed to be shown it can be done. Those who need someone to go before and lead the way. Those who have felt alone, helpless, depressed, or lost and can now use some guidance. If you are one of those people, I want you to know I am here for you. If you are thinking no one believes in you… you are wrong. I know you can do it, because if I can, YOU CAN!

Surgery

The Doctor calls it a lower body lift. Essentially it will fix the extra skin on my Stomach, Legs and Butt.

The Surgery cost $14k in total. A brief breakdown of what that would cover is 5+ hours of surgery, the anesthesia and someone to properly administer it, an overnight stay at a facility with nurses carefully monitoring me, helping me walk, and get through the first hours properly The surgery will aide in many things from appearance to being able to run without having to physically tie down my skin. My belly wont sag on the floor when I do pushups. I will be able to tuck in my shirt without my excess skin showing. Fitting into tailored suit is one of my major goals that I can complete with this surgery. I will finally be able to properly wear my pants where they should be! I just want to look as good as I feel and this will help me get there.

TL;DR - Conclusion

TLDR: Was fat, now I am not. I Improved my life through hard work, dedication and discipline. No shortcuts. Ask me ANYTHING, and I promise to help others accomplish their similar, life changing goals.

If you are reading this and want to start a process like this yourself. DO IT! I’m begging you just do it! Fight every day and just keep winning, you are worth it. I want you to remember; you don’t have to like it, you just have to do it! Complain, moan, cry; do whatever it takes, every day, until you are where you want to be.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate it. If you know anyone that this may help, please share it with them.

You can follow me HERE on Facebook for updates!

If you have any questions or need any help email me at

AFatFriend@gmail.com