GETTING OFF THE
WEIGHT CYCLE R SURGERY HELPS A MAN TAKE CONTROL OF HIS HEALTH.
Healthy Together
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ichard Episcopo is the first to admit that he was never a skinny person. He struggled with his weight all through his school years and well into adulthood. At his 1991 wedding when he was 24, he weighed 217 pounds. By the time he was 52, he weighed 354 pounds. While his weight never RAGUI SADEK, MD caused him to be
bedridden or prevented him from being an active father to his two children, Richie and Gina, it was starting to affect his life in alarming ways. “I’d be falling asleep at work at 2 p.m. or while I was driving,” he says. “I was always sore or hurting, and sleep apnea kept me from getting more than three hours of shut-eye a night.” He had tried a variety of diets and programs, but each attempt became part of a vicious cycle that led to even more weight gain. “I would lose 10, gain 15; lose 20, gain 30; lose 40, gain
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