Al Roker's Story
|
Here's
The Story! |
November
4, 2002 |
Well,
friends, here's the story.
Last March I had a gastric bypass
operation. You may know it as "stomach stapling", although it's much
more than that. This is something that I had been contemplating for a long,
long time. After my Dad died, I decided it was right for me to do.
I had ballooned up to 320lbs. I was unhappy about the way I looked and felt. I
knew that I was a heart attack or a stroke waiting to happen. It wasn't
"if", it was "when". So after doing much research, I chose
Dr. Marina Kurian of Lenox Hill Hospital to perform the surgery.
It was done laproscopically and it went off without a hitch. In the last nine
months, many people have speculated and guessed at what I had done to lose the
weight.
The National Enquirer had a hospital employee violate my privacy and break
several laws in providing them with my surgical and hospital information. Good
for them. I'm sure they're proud.
US Weekly magazine stated I had a "Lap-Band" procedure performed.
Ebony magazine (Equal Opportunity Sleaze) stated I had the operation and quoted
the price. Many radio talk show hosts speculated about it as well. And some of
you e-mailed me as well. Some were really upset that I wasn't talking about how
I was losing the weight.
What I was telling people, "In the end, it comes down to working out more
and eating way less." Which was true. Of course, the eating less came
courtesy of the surgery.
There's an article in USA Today about it, as well as a People Magazine cover
story this Friday. And for those of you who are really interested in this, Jane
Pauley hosts an hour long Dateline on NBC on Tuesday, November 12th at 10pm.
I appreciate the interest people have in an overweight weatherman. I really
thought nobody would care and I would lose the weight and call it a day. I was
wrong. I hope by going public, it helps people. This is not for everyone. You
need to be at least 100lbs. overweight, the more the better candidate you are.
I was 320lbs. I've lost almost 100lbs. with another 20 to go, which would put me
at 200lbs. Actually, I'd like to lose another 21 lbs.. That would put me at 199,
so I could say I'm under 200. Wow!
Until next time,
Al