Getting engaged is one of the more exciting times that we will experience in life. There may be some apprehension associated with it, typically because we are not fully aware if we are ready to take such a big step or not. When we do finally make the decision to tie the knot, however, we often push forward with determination. At that point, we realize that our entire life is about to change and we want to do everything that we can to make it the best life possible.
The change that is associated with getting engaged and ultimately, getting married is one that affects our entire life. One of the ways in which we may make those changes during this time is to shed some extra weight. To be certain, many people find that falling in love helps them to lose weight naturally without even trying. For John Allaire, however, the decision was one he had to work on and he worked on it very hard. You see, he was engaged to his childhood sweetheart and she loved him wholeheartedly, all 540 pounds of him.
“Even though Caila loved me as I was, and she was ready to commit to marrying me at 540 pounds, I was like, “There is no way that I can, in good conscience, drag this woman through the difficulties that I am going to go through the rest of my life if I don’t lose weight.”
Looking back on his life, John realizes that overeating was something he used to deal with the stresses of life. His parents were divorced when he was only a child and when his father’s health started to decline, he turned to food for comfort. By the time he was 18, he was morbidly obese and it was at that age that his father died.
He was living in Florida two years later and in order to weigh himself, he had to use a commercial scale in a local fish house. It was humiliating and that is when he decided not to weigh himself any longer. The weight didn’t stop coming on, however, just because he wasn’t checking it.
When he popped the question and Caila said yes, he realized that he had to do something about the weight. It was no longer only his problem, it was now her problem as well so he put his best foot forward.
He dropped 20 pounds over a few weeks by juicing and walking. That was when they got married. They moved to San Diego because his wife is in the Navy and he decided to join Camp Transformation Center, a weight loss boot camp.
He was committed to following a healthier lifestyle and in only 15 months, he dropped 300 pounds.
“It has been a long and grinding process. For the last year and a half, I have put in work every single day towards losing the weight. Even when I chose to take rest days, nothing was done without clear intention to succeed. The results of this laser focus? Losing 297.4 pounds since August 2016. Overall, 317 pounds since my heaviest.”
We can’t even imagine how much willpower it took to accomplish this amazing feat.
Since he was so heavy when he started, his skin did not spring back into place. He had 13 pounds of excess skin that was surgically removed. In order to pay for the surgery, he started a GoFundMe and they did so before they moved to Japan.
A few days before the surgery, they talked about how much skin there was and that it was more than they had expected. They also talked about the psychological and emotional impact it was having on him.
“I think his loose skin affects him in a lot of different ways. Definitely self image. The surgery is just going to improve his overall quality of life. He’s finally going to feel completely free, like there’s not going to be any baggage from his obesity.
“It is a blessing to be able to move freely,” John said after the surgery. “There are just so many constant little things throughout the day that I think most people take for granted.”