When his son asked him to coach his basketball team, Corey didn’t expect the question to change his life.
While he could bring his knowledge and experience to the court, Corey couldn’t play alongside the young athletes due to physical limitations.
As we started practicing, I wanted to get out on the basketball court and show the kids different things. I quickly realized that at my size, that was not going to happen,” he said. “I wasn’t able to demonstrate things I needed to in order for them to learn, and I wasn’t able to make it through an entire practice without needing to sit down and feeling completely drained at the end. So that was really my wake up call to make some changes.”
A few months later, in the winter of 2019, Corey found himself reading an article in The Republic about a man who successfully made those changes thanks to the Weight Loss Institute of Columbus Regional Health. Corey ended up skipping two of the institute’s information sessions on weight loss options, but the third time was the charm.
“Once I sat in on that session, that really got the ball rolling for me,” he said. “I had the motivation I needed with coaching and wanting to get healthy again for my family, and I had the tools and support system to go along with it.”
Corey’s treatment began with Medically Supervised Weight Loss in March of 2020. The Weight Loss Institute team guided him through an exercise plan, diet and nutrition classes, and behavior modification. With their help, Corey was more motivated than ever before. Even the emergence of COVID didn’t stop him.
“With gyms shutting down, kids being sent home to continue school through e-learning, and my work sending us all home to work remotely, I found myself extremely nervous about how I was going to pull this off,” he said. “In actuality, it became a blessing in disguise. I was able to make some adjustments at my house to help with dietary changes, and with everyone home, I was able to control my schedule enough to where I could carve out the time needed to get my daily exercise done. Every day I would get up and go somewhere to walk. Then I would come home, and while the kids were doing schoolwork, I would do my work. Then at the end of the day, I would take another walk. Using any free time throughout the day to meal prep allowed me to control my diet.”
By June of 2020, just three months after his journey began, Corey lost the 100 pounds needed to undergo bariatric surgery. In September, the Weight Loss Institute opened back up for surgeries and approved him for a sleeve gastrectomy on the first of October.
“At the time of my surgery, I weighed 431 pounds — 171 pounds less than when I started,” he said. “After the surgery, I followed the recovery steps that the nurses and doctors provided me. A few weeks after surgery, I was cleared to begin walking and doing light exercises again. By then, gyms had opened back, so I joined a gym for the first time in almost seven years and started walking and exercising regularly. By the end of 2020, I had lost around 220 pounds overall — just over 50 pounds since my surgery in October.”
Corey is currently down 320 pounds and no longer on the medication he was taking for high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, depression or anxiety.
“Every aspect of my life has gotten better since this journey began,” he said. “Things like walking up a flight of stairs or even clipping my toenails are no longer the hardest parts of my days. I became a better basketball coach and am not only able to demonstrate moves and drills, but I can actually run up and down the court playing basketball again. I have also become an avid runner. In 2021, I completed two half marathons and logged over 1,555 miles of running for the year. I have found an overall happiness in life that had been missing for so long. This journey not only made me a new man physically but mentally and emotionally as well.”