His story is similar to a lot of peoples'. In his twenties he was in the Marines and in great shape. When he left the Marines, his weight slowly crept up. With each size he gained, he thought of new ways to accept his new size, in his mind. However, he felt depressed and tired all of the time. Nine years ago after he was diagnosed with heart disease and needed a stent put into his artery, he decided to eat better and exercise and he lost weight. But when his mother got ill in 2002, he was under enormous stress and put his new eating habits and exercise to the side and began eating unhealthy food again. His weight increased to it's highest in November 2002 at 262 lbs.