Lucio Tomich’s initial 170-pound weight loss after gastric bypass surgery was one of the reasons I had the same operation two years later.
As a reporter covering Framingham, I saw Lucio on several occasions and knew, like me, he was losing his battle with morbid obesity.
My weight affected virtually every aspect of my life, including my health, my work, my marriage and my self-image.
And, like millions of obese Americans, I struggled ineffectively to change a condition that threatened my professional and personal future.
During a 9-year period starting in 1994, my weight ballooned from a manageable 230 to nearly 400 pounds for reasons I only somewhat understand. According to the standard Body Mass Index, my weight placed me in the upper 1 percent of obese people worldwide.
