Client’s background
Client A was 30 years old, happily married, working full time, who needed help to lose weight. He was a 6’2” tall man and weighed just over 25 stone. He was clinically obese, and was experiencing breathlessness on mild exertion.
He was a little bit red in the face and breathless after walking up a slight incline to my office. He did not appear particularly anxious, but I thought this may be a front. He did admit that he believed that he could not feel any worse about himself at that time. He often suffered from indigestion and heartburn, had cold sweats at night and hot sweats during the day which caused him embarrassment. He also suffered from severe chafing in the folds of his skin where it had been rubbing together.
He was referred to me by the hospital after being admitted with severe chest pains at 1am on a Monday morning. He told me that as he was taken away in the ambulance his wife and children were crying stood on the doorstep of their home, they thought it would be the last time they would see him.
He appeared to be friendly and easy to get along with. He said that he now felt very embarrassed about how his body looked and at how he had let his weight spiral out of control. He said that his friends were constantly telling him: –
- “You’re not yourself, not smiling as much, things seem to be getting you down”
- “We’re worried about you, your skin is yellow and we can’t even see your eyes anymore, they’re that puffy”.
He told me that on a daily basis he tended to avoid breakfast saying he was too busy, he ate fast generally and always cleared his plate. He said he was trying hard and was only eating around 1,000 calories per day but could not lose weight. He told me that this had been going on for months and the weight was still increasing. This could simply not be true.
He never returned.
The patient was Rick Wilson, Co Founder of Be Strong.
