At rock bottom—which was his heaviest, and just about six years ago—Robert Klein weighed 475 pounds.
He wasn't an emotional roller coaster. Rather, he was an emotional roller coaster that had lost control and its railings collapsed. He was distraught, without confidence, happiness or friends. Every day he would just go through the motions and look forward to it ending so he could go back to sleep and not have to deal with anything. Specifically, dealing with myself.
Depression was his primary emotion. When he wasn't feeling depressed, he thought something was amiss. Happiness was nowhere to be found, just simply filled with anger, sadness, regret and self-loathing.
It was like a dark cloud hung over him, every day.
"Life at 475 pounds was incredibly difficult," Klein said. "It was painful, embarrassing and, frankly, expensive. It cost a lot of money to live with 475 pounds. I would have to go to out of the way to find stores that actually had my size clothes and they were very expensive. My parents would be spending tons of money just helping me buy clothes. It was awful. I felt guilty."
Klein, in early 2009, was a college student and, admittedly, "at my lowest point."
"I figured, what's the point of anything? I didn't know how to actually go through life anymore," he said.
His attitude, more so, his life changed when he met his three new roommates.
"They were a game-changer, so to speak," Klein said. "They showed me kindness that I had never experienced, or at least not in a really long time. It was like a breath of fresh air meeting them. They helped me get away from my dark cloud and start living. Before I knew it, we were all hanging out, going on adventures, laughing together, sharing experiences and getting to know one another very well.
"They became my first real group of friends.
"And for the first time in a long time, I felt happy. I didn't even think it was possible for me to feel like this, or that I deserved it. They saved me from myself and gave me the courage to keep moving forward. Without them even knowing, they were unofficially encouraging and supporting me. I decided after meeting them that I deserved better for myself and that's when I started to change my life and lose weight."
Klein's weight-loss journey truly started in August 2009, and he opted against setting a goal, not wanting more disappointment if he failed to hit his goal.
"I realized if I'm going to do this I can't think about what I want. I have to just do what I can right now and take each day as it comes, [that] there would be no turning back. It had to work," he said.
Klein used the knowledge he had from past resources and kept only the parts that he liked and that worked for him. He wasn't going to go on a diet.
"I had to do it my own way, add my own flavor or style," he said. "I created a main theme: 'It's not about what you eat; it's about how much you eat.'
"Following that message was the key to my success. I would continue to eat all the foods I would normally eat, just not as much. And it was working. I started losing weight, slowly but surely. I did that for the first year and lost 50 pounds."
In the second year of his weight-loss plan, he added only a little bit of exercise to his lifestyle change. "I didn't want to overdo it, like I did in the past," he said.
So Klein walked everywhere he went and always used the stairs. Plus, he incorporated some fun in his exercise. His dad, for instance, gave him a 'Dance, Dance, Revolution' Dance Pad, and that led to another 50-pound weight loss.
The third year of his weight-loss included a personal trainer, focusing on getting stronger and improving his cardio level. He lost another 40 pounds that year and gained muscle mass.
"[In] my fourth year, I kept up with my workouts and eating habits, [but] felt restless and needed a new outlet. I was getting bored with the same routine. It was at this time that my confidence was at a really great point because of my friends and my hard work, so I took a chance and joined the [predominantly gay] Chicago Dragons rugby team in the spring of 2013," Klein said. "Joining the Dragons opened up an entire new world for me. They helped me learn about teamwork and gave me structure, a purpose. They became a second family to me. I never played intense contact sports such as rugby before, but I didn't care. I wanted to do this—to prove to myself that I'm capable of anything I set my mind to."
He lost 40 more pounds in 2013.
In his fifth year, he pumped up his workout regimen, and thus, lost another 45 pounds.
In total, Klein has lost 225 pounds.
"Losing over 200 pounds is, for right now, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life," he said. "The first few months were extremely difficult due to my withdrawal symptoms. I couldn't sleep; my stomach would hurt like crazy, and I would get these uncontrollable shakes. I guess it was my version of drug withdrawal, which makes sense because I really did have an addiction to food, sugar and fat.
"During the 5-year journey of losing weight I had my fair share of frustration. I had my ups and my downs, and the progress seemed really slow sometimes. It took a lot of discipline. The ups, though, made it worth it and gave me strength to keep going. I had to, because I knew I never wanted to go back to being the unhappy person that I had been. As long I had two good legs I was going to keep moving forward."
Now 24 and living in Oak Park, Klein weighs about 250 pounds. He is gay and works as a temp, primarily focusing on hospitality and administration.
Klein launched a GoFundMe page in late March in hopes to raising needed money for surgeries to remove his excess skin. He is hoping to raise $50,000.
"I'm planning on starting the surgeries this coming June, and hopefully, if the funds are raised, be finished by June 2016," Klein said.
Klein is truly hoping the LGBT community steps up to help him.
"Before I met and joined the Chicago Dragons my experience with the LGBT community in general was very little. I was unfamiliar with it. After being with the Dragons and getting involved in their endeavors I discovered the Chicago LGBT community to be an inspiring and very strong community. We really care for one another," he said.
Why do the surgeries?
"Because I have to," he said without hesitation. "It's not even a question for me at this point. Maybe that makes me sound stubborn and foolish, but my five-year journey taught me many things. I know without a doubt that this is what I have to do to finally reach my goal. I'm at a point now where no matter what I do on my own it's either get the surgeries, or live with 25 pounds of ugly, wrinkly, extra skin flapping around my arms, legs, chest and stomach. It's very hard to admit that."
Klein, who has dropped from a size 64 to 36-inch waist pants and can now run a mile in less than 10 minutes, pauses when looking at self-pics from five years ago. "I don't even know that person," he said. "That's not who I am anymore. My life now is mine; I'm in control and I feel good. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming."
To support Klein, go to: www.gofundme.com/RRKSkinRemoval .
