Thursday, July 08, 2010

This morning, I overheard one of the guys I swim with, having a conversation with one of the gym employees. Usually I make it my business not to eavesdrop on their conversations, because I'm in a hurry to get home and eventually get to work. But this morning I just so happened to get wind of two things that intrigued me a great deal.

One, this guy had Al Roker surgery last year (aka gastric bypass). I think I starting swimming at the gym right after he had it done, and I just noticed that for someone who seemed like a swimmer, he had a lot of saggy skin. But because a) I'm not ghey and b) I'm not nosy, and I didn't delve deeper into this subject with him, but I'm glad he confirmed it this morning. I heard him say that he's lost plenty of weight, but he's struggling to tighten things up, and he worries that at his age (43) it may not ever happen. I wanted to tell him to run, lift weights and to do more than just swim, but again, that's not really my business.

This guy is the third person I know who has gotten the Al Roker surgery, and I have so many questions. When someone gets this type of surgery, and they drop 100+ pounds, do they still view themselves as a great big fat person? Or do they instantly turn a switch on in their mind, and obtain an arrogant, fly (sorry for using that word) personality? And when they date, do they still feel like they have to corner the overweight market, or do they "graduate" to slimmer, more fit folks or does it even matter. And is the money that saved on food, now go to buying an entire new wardrobe? So many questions I want to ask, I just don't really know anyone well enough to probe like this..you see these are the types of subjects the Today show needs to cover, instead of beating me over the head with Lindsay Lohan, missing white girls and LeBron James. I digress..

The second topic this guy brought up at the gym, was the fact that he was not going to be back at the gym the rest of the month. He mentioned that starting tomorrow morning, he was headed to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. He explained that a vacation was long overdue, and he was really looking forward to some relaxation.

As I walked away, I did the math in my head, and I realized that this man was going to spend a little more than three weeks on vacation. THREE WEEKS SON! My honeymoon will be 10 days at the most..in fact I've never taken more than 10 days off, let alone 21 or more. This made me feel like a)I'm working in the wrong place b)I'm not living life the way it should be and c)I need to a little bolder with my leave. If I had three weeks of vacation, I'd hit up the Las Vegas Summer League to see the Washington Wizards play, then I'd travel to South African to watch Spain and the Netherlands play in the World Cup final, then I'd finish it off with a trip to Scotland to watch Tiger play in the British Open . Again, I'm rambling..but last I checked, I had 132 hours of vacation time, so I need to do something.

Again, please boycott LeBron's announcement tonight..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a man, but I've had gastric bypass so I'll answer some of your Hard to say how someone views themselves after surgery. Some gain confidence they never had before and "forget" they were ever fat. Most it seems, suffer from some form of body dysmorphic disorder (basically your eyes and mind can't/won't/don't acknowledge the current version of your body that the rest of the world sees.) and still see themselves at their largest.

Money saved on food? Kind of a myth, unless you go out all the time and can no be satisfied with an appetizer instead of an entree and dessert. I actually spend more because of all the fresh fruits and veggies, organic meats, etc. The need to purchase new clothes is just additional.

"And when they date, do they still feel like they have to corner the overweight market, or do they "graduate" to slimmer, more fit folks or does it even matter" Seems almost as if you're saying that fat people only date other fat people. **crickets** Please clarify.

Sorry for the long response. I would have emailed you, but I didn't see an addy on your home page.

rashad said...

I had to delete my initial comment because bad spelling. let me try again:

Well look at that, I had no clue I had a gastric bypass success story in my small readership. Thank you mrstdj.

I wouldnt say fat people only date fat people, because I know that's not a fair generalization. But I know sometimes overweight folks sell themselves short, in terms of who they think they can attract, because of their weight, and they opt for someone who looks like them or bigger. I know folks in that category. It doesn't sound you're one of them.

Did you have a problem tightening your body?