Santiago Lopez, 32, doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t struggling with his weight. “I think I tried my first SlimFast when I was nine years old,” he tells TODAY.com. “I tried intermittent fasting, I tried keto, I tried one meal a day. They weren’t sustainable. I got results for a month or so, and then I didn’t like the way I felt, so I would fall off.”
The highest weight he saw on the scale was 365 pounds, but he guesses it climbed to 380 — he didn’t want to check.
Lopez knew he had to make a change. His weight was impacting his relationships. For example, when he and his wife went to an amusement park to celebrate her birthday, he couldn’t fit on a ride. “I felt so embarrassed,” he says.
His weight impacted his social life, too. “There were definitely times when I skipped out on events with my friends because I didn’t like the way my clothes were fitting or the way I looked in the mirror,” he says.
“And I would want to go to a sporting event, but I knew the seats were small. I didn’t want to be the guy spilling over on someone else’s seat. I felt the same way about flying — it’s embarrassing to be the person who needs the seatbelt extender.”
Lopez had high blood pressure, back and knee pain and trouble sleeping, and he expected his health would get worse as he got older. He also anticipated health problems down the road due to his weight.
“My dad had a mini-stroke, and I thought, ‘I have a 5-year-old daughter. If I go down this route, I’m going to miss out on moments with her.’ That’s what really motivated me,” he says.
Weight-loss medication Mounjaro taught him these important lessons about food
Lopez realized he needed help meeting his
Read the full article here
