A MAN who shed an incredible 310 lbs after becoming morbidly obese has had 13 lbs of loose skin removed in a life-changing procedure. At one point, John Allaire was so morbidly obese he wore 8XL shirts and had to be weighed on a commercial scale at a fish market, as standard scales would not hold his weight. But after joining a fitness programme and dropping from 540 pounds to a lean 230 lbs, the 27-year-old was left with severe excess skin. John underwent skin removal surgery in March which saw the bulk of the loose skin on his torso and arms removed – but will require further surgery in the future to remove the skin on his lower body.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 When I was about 20 years old,
00:04 the doctor couldn't weigh me,
00:06 and I had to go get weighed on a commercial scale
00:08 on the back of a fish market,
00:09 and I was 540 pounds.
00:11 And that now, I'm having way more loose skin
00:14 than I ever expected.
00:15 (upbeat music)
00:18 It's one thing to be obese,
00:22 and it's another thing when you reach morbid obesity.
00:27 I mean, I remember figuring out my BMI,
00:30 at heaviest recorded was like right around 70.
00:33 So there's no category for that.
00:34 It's beyond the category of morbid obesity.
00:36 My name is John Allaire.
00:39 I am 27 years old.
00:41 And at my heaviest, I weighed 540 pounds.
00:45 And today I am sitting at 237 pounds
00:50 before skin removal surgery.
00:52 My whole family really struggles with weight,
00:56 weight management.
00:57 We were all obese.
00:58 I was about 380 pounds or so when my dad got sick.
01:02 I was 18 when he passed away from cancer.
01:07 Between the time he got sick
01:11 and a few months after he died,
01:14 I had shot up to over 500 pounds.
01:17 I remember just looking at myself in the mirror,
01:22 and I remember just seeing how big I had gotten.
01:26 I was over 540 pounds at this time, I assume.
01:30 And just thinking that I didn't even look human anymore.
01:34 Maybe it would be just better if I was dead
01:36 instead of trying to have this back and forth fight
01:40 for the rest of my life,
01:40 'cause I'm never gonna lose the weight,
01:42 and I'm always gonna be huge,
01:43 and it's just gonna lead to an early death
01:45 and a painful funeral for my family anyway.
01:47 Come on, guys, let's go.
01:51 Begin.
01:52 Two, one, rotate.
01:55 I would join a gym, go for a couple weeks,
01:58 pay for the gym for six months,
01:59 but never use it again, you know?
02:01 And I bounced from diet to diet.
02:04 It was just years of trying and failing
02:06 before something clicked for me.
02:09 Come on, guys, let's go, let's go, let's go.
02:10 Next station.
02:11 The day that I really, truly committed on a deep level
02:16 to losing the weight and making changes
02:19 was the day that I got engaged to Kayla.
02:25 I had known Kayla since we were 12.
02:27 I've been in love with her since I was 15.
02:29 We dated all through high school.
02:31 Even though she loved me as I was,
02:33 and she was ready to commit to marrying me at 540 pounds,
02:37 which is mind-blowing, really,
02:38 I was like, there is no way that I can, in good conscience,
02:42 drag this woman through the difficulties
02:45 that I'm gonna have for the rest of my life
02:46 if I don't lose this weight.
02:48 - I think a lot of people were surprised how close we were,
02:54 especially when we started dating,
02:56 because there was an obvious difference in weight.
02:59 So a lot of people asked, you know, how did you get her?
03:03 - I was scrolling Facebook, and I saw an advertisement.
03:11 It was like a local gym that was like,
03:12 come into our gym, and you'll lose 20 pounds in six weeks.
03:16 - John came to our camp 10 challenges ago.
03:20 It was just amazing the way he actually introduced himself,
03:23 and he created this amazing video
03:26 getting rid of all the food
03:28 that he wasn't supposed to be eating.
03:30 So it's like he was determined from the beginning
03:33 to get, you know, like his weight goal.
03:36 - I'm sorry if that's kind of a long video,
03:39 but I figured this would be the only way
03:43 to push myself to get rid of that crap,
03:47 and also to actually introduce myself to the group
03:52 and not be shy.
03:53 - Two, one, rotate!
03:55 Three, two, one, switch!
04:04 Three, two, one, switch!
04:12 - Honestly didn't think he was gonna stick with it.
04:19 I didn't expect him to get all the way down
04:22 to like a healthy average person BMI.
04:25 - Quick, quick, quick, breathe!
04:31 Come on guys, let's go, let's go, let's go, next station!
04:38 - I had hit the 20 pound mark I think in week three or four.
04:43 So then it was just like, okay, well,
04:46 I'll see what else I can lose like, you know,
04:47 in the six weeks, and I ended up losing just over 30 pounds.
04:51 - Ah!
04:52 - Rotate!
04:55 - He lost 297 pounds on the program itself
05:02 for over a year and a half, is incredible.
05:05 A lot of people will lose half that weight
05:08 and just be like, you know, I'm okay, I'm fine,
05:11 I feel great.
05:12 So he has that willpower for sure.
05:16 - All right guys, awesome work, can't stop, won't stop!
05:19 One, two, three!
05:21 - Can't stop, won't stop!
05:23 - So before I ever actually started losing weight,
05:27 we always knew that there was a good chance
05:29 that I would have loose skin.
05:31 And my wife and I had talked about that
05:33 before we even got married, you know, like,
05:35 okay, but would you still love me
05:37 if I had no ton of loose skin?
05:38 It ended up being a lot more than I expected.
05:49 I think his loose skin affects him in a lot of different ways.
05:52 Definitely self-image.
05:54 The surgery's just gonna improve his overall quality of life.
05:58 I think he's finally gonna feel like completely free,
06:03 like there's not gonna be any baggage from his obesity.
06:07 - It's, I think, three days away, so it's coming up quick.
06:12 So I'm simultaneously very excited and very nervous
06:16 about the surgery.
06:18 As far as the amount of excess skin that I have currently,
06:22 I have been told all different estimates.
06:25 As low as 10 pounds of skin,
06:29 as high as 20 or more.
06:33 I've been told that they think that there's gonna amount
06:35 to like nine feet of skin.
06:37 All right.
06:46 At least 99% of it would be gone.
06:48 As far as like self-confidence and looking like a man
06:52 and moving like a person should,
06:54 that's all gonna be taken care of.
06:55 - Going into the surgery was all kind of a blur.
06:59 I just remember that I had to stand like a statue
07:03 for like 20 minutes with my arms out
07:05 while they marked all over your body
07:07 and drew all the lines they were gonna cut.
07:09 (upbeat music)
07:11 - I've been really impressed with seeing him
07:21 from day one to where he is now.
07:24 John is a great example of coming in
07:27 and learning everything from the ground up
07:30 and being able to push through whatever obstacles
07:33 someone might face.
07:34 And I think that a lot of people are very inspired by this.
07:39 (indistinct)
07:41 - I still have a lot of swelling.
07:43 They say that 90% of that should be gone
07:47 by about six months.
07:49 And that that last 10% might take up to a year to go away.
07:52 Just gotta be patient.
07:57 - It's kind of like the last piece of feeling
08:00 like I really transformed my body.
08:02 And I really don't have any specific, you know,
08:05 cards that were dealt to me that are conducive
08:07 to losing weight or being a good healthy weight.
08:11 And so I 100% can say like, if I can do it,
08:15 anybody can do it.
08:17 (upbeat music)
08:19 (upbeat music)
08:22 (wind blowing)