Hi, I'm Brandon

Hey there, I'm Brandon and this is my story... (kinda long)

I grew up in sports. Started with baseball, a little basketball, but mainly football. In high school I also did a little wrestling in the off seasons, never actually officially having a match since they started after football started back up.

I started off as a skinny little kid, and by 3rd grade started getting husky. Up until the 8th grade. I started 8th grade at about 185lbs. Once I finally hit puperty, I shot up a few inches, lost 30lbs. getting down to 155lbs. and had muscles popping up. By 9th grade (age 15, year 1998) I grew a couple more inches(about 5'9") and was up to 185lbs. Looking back at pictures I looked like a bean pole. lol. I was an inside linebacker in highschool. I played in South Florida in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. They were big into trying to turn us in to monsters. by 10th grade, I was up to 220lbs. 11th grade I was up to 240lbs. While my stomach wasn't defined I still had the linebacker build with good chest, big legs arms shoulders etc.... By my senior year I got in some trouble and was kicked out of school. That's when the "Bad" weight started. I quickly shot up to 260lbs. I eventually moved from South Florida back to a small town in Arkansas just outside of Memphis, Tn. Now dealing with my dreams of college ball dying and going through my first heart break, and not to mention going from Miami to Arkansas. I wasn't in a good place mentally.

About a year or so later I had climbed up to 285lbs. While I was heavy I still had the big chest arms etc...I carried it really well. About that same time I started dating my current fiance. (Dec. 2003)

That's when I quit hanging with the guys all of the time and became really inactive. (if for some reason you are standing and reading this, you may want to have a seat now) I put on so much weight. To be honest, I don't know what my heaviest was, but I can tell you at my heaviest I made a scale that was rated up to 550lbs say "wtf ya'll" ok ok it said "Error" I seriously could have died at that moment and been okay with it. Not realizing it, I had sunk deep into depression and become a recluse. Me and my Fiance and my Family did what we had to to come up with the money for me to have weight loss surgery. I went to Juarez Mexico and had the Gastric Sleeve. (for those of you that don't know what it is. In shirt it is basically the first stage of a gastric bypass. They cut or staple a portion of your stomach, but do not do anything with your intestines. It was created for patience too large to safely do the full bypass, so they did this part. Let tge patient lose enough weight and then do the second half. They discovered a lot of people ended up not needing the second surgery)

All was great for the first few months. I got down to 430lbs. Then the cursed Plateau Monster showed up and as ashamed as I am to admit it, it beat me. I started eating stupidly again, and still hadn't become real active. I ended up climbing back up to 530lbs.

I was starting to get depressed again, and that's when I started looking into the second surgery option I had. Dr. Rodriguez in Juarez did my first surgery so I consulted with him and he agreed that if all of my tests came back clear we could proceed with the 2nd stage. (Mini Bypass)

I had the surgery March 3rd 2014. As of today I am down to 380-387 (I fluctuate). With old man winter leaving finally and warmer weather moving in I am all kinds of motivated. Along with improving my eating habits, I am going to be walking (hopefully jogging and then running eventually) and I am going to be hitting the weights again.

So that's my story in short (ok so it's not that short, I'm sorry lol) If you read everything and made it to this part, then I thank you for taking the time to read my story. I'm pretty friendly, so if you just need a friend or someone else to help you stay accountable and motivated, or just have any questions. Also if you have any tips or advice or anything you would like to share, please feel free to add me as a friend or send me a message.

(Disclaimer: if you're one of the people who think surgery is the "easy way out" I assure you it's not. It's merely a tool. As I am living proof if you don't use the tool right, you can't get the job done. I wasn't proud to have the first surgery and I definitely am not proud I failed the first time and ended up doing it a second time. But I am proud that I haven't and will not give up. So if you have any negative remarks or comments or opinions, I suggest you just keep it moving, because you will not be well recieved.)