Every morning just like a lot of people across the country I start getting ready with the Today show on in the background. Every once in a while a story will catch my attention and I will perk up when the local news cuts in so I can hear the weather but really it’s just background noise. However, with that daily ritual comes familiarity with the hosts and that includes weatherman Al Roker. I didn’t know much about him other than what I saw on the show but I did know about his weight struggles and seeing as I have an interesting journey in the health department as well, I picked up his new book “New Going Back…”
I found Roker to be very frank and honest about his weight which is refreshing for a public figure and especially to someone like me who is looking to know that someone else out there gets how I feel. His weight issues started at a very young age growing up with parents who cooked “hearty” meals as he described them. Food was his way of dealing with stress, emotions, and just flat out boredom. In high school the Cosby show debuted 'Fat Albert' which only added to his emotional and psychological pain. He makes no mistake that he loves food and loves to eat. Throughout his adult life he would yo-yo forty, sometimes sixty pounds on a somewhat regular basis. He tried every diet in the books and just could not break the mental and emotional battle of his health. At the side of his father’s deathbed he was made to swear by his father that he would lose the weight finally and be healthy to care for his family. He made the decision to get gastric bypass surgery and other than the forty pounds he gained when his mother passed, has has kept off over 100 pounds for over 15 years.
I found Roker to be very frank and honest about his weight which is refreshing for a public figure and especially to someone like me who is looking to know that someone else out there gets how I feel. His weight issues started at a very young age growing up with parents who cooked “hearty” meals as he described them. Food was his way of dealing with stress, emotions, and just flat out boredom. In high school the Cosby show debuted 'Fat Albert' which only added to his emotional and psychological pain. He makes no mistake that he loves food and loves to eat. Throughout his adult life he would yo-yo forty, sometimes sixty pounds on a somewhat regular basis. He tried every diet in the books and just could not break the mental and emotional battle of his health. At the side of his father’s deathbed he was made to swear by his father that he would lose the weight finally and be healthy to care for his family. He made the decision to get gastric bypass surgery and other than the forty pounds he gained when his mother passed, has has kept off over 100 pounds for over 15 years.
Roker tells of how he his weight affected his relationships and his marriage saying it was and is a point of contention and discord between husband and wife. He now lives a healthy lifestyle with a regimented diet that has worked for him. He fully admits to still hating exercising and working out but he realizes it is the only way to not go to the even more hateful morbidly obese past that is just in his life's rear view.
If you struggle with your weight this a relate able account to a kindred spirit in the battle of the bulge. If you are like my father, brother or youngest sister however and can fall asleep with bowls of ice cream on your chest the size of a child's basketball and not gain a pound then this will probably not resonate with you. I found Al Roker to be an incredibly likable and honest figure who probably won't tell you what you don't already know about healthful living (eat less, move more) but you will see glimpses of your struggles in his and be encouraged to re assess and evaluate your own standing.
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