How Did R' Orlofsky Lose Weight?

Hi, this is David Alowski with our question and answer series. Anonymous writes, "As someone who has struggled with weight since childhood, what is the best way to deal with this? In addition, I've noticed the RV has lost weight and kept it off. What does the RV advise for successful weight loss? I never believed that I would ever be asked about this." So my weight loss uh journey uh has mostly been a story of weight gain [laughter] and uh until fourth grade I should really say until fifth grade I was very thin and to the point where my mother was nervous about me um because I come from a family where most people are not thin [laughter] some but not many. Anyway, uh but I uh I I didn't eat much and then we went cross country with my family and my father had an old station wagon and he kept stopping for gas and every time he stopped for gas, he'd say, "Let's get something to eat." And anyway, I came back at that summer and I was already chubby for the first time in my life. And that just grew from chubby to uh plump to uh stout to fat to obese to morbidly obese. Um at my height I was about 310 lbs. It was uh it was really hard. And uh those of us who are fat um you know that uh life is much more difficult for you besides the fact that you're constantly facing judgment of everyone around you who say well you don't have any willpower etc. I remember in the 1980s they did a study and they found that people who are overweight when they start to lose weight their body literally releases an enzyme that tells you you're starving. So someone who can lose the weight and keep it off, it's a their mamish have such gura, such power that they're able to uh keep off that weight. It is not easy. And so my life has been a process of losing weight and gaining it back on with interest because since your body thinks it just went through a period of starvation, it always adds on a few more pounds to protect you against the next famine. And I think if I had never dieted, I would never have been as fat as I was. [laughter] It's uh it's ironic. So, uh what ended up happening, um I'll never forget my good friend Dr. Bright was visiting from America. I don't know how many years ago this was. And uh and he says, "Oh, you lost some weight." And I said, "Yeah, I don't know. I'm not dieting. I'm not doing anything. I just see that I'm losing weight." and he uh got very serious and said, "You better check yourself for diabetes." And sure enough, I had diabetes. That's what was causing me to lose weight, ironically. [laughter] So uh so I lost a certain period of weight there and then I started to actually try to to diet and I lost some more weight and um and I was hovering more or less somewhere between 210 and 220 probably I had gotten down to and uh well I I didn't get down to there right away. I was more like around 230 240 but after my heart attack I lost weight because uh it was hard to eat you know so I lost some more weight and uh but I was hovering somewhere between 210 and and and 220 and that's when I had my next they put in stances and then one of the stances uh became blocked and they had to do another procedure and they managed to clean out one of the vents and uh they managed to clean out one of the stance. I went for the posttop and he says, "Listen, we're out of options. They're not going to open you up again to do a bypass. There's nothing else for me to fix in there." And so, if you want to live, you're going to have to do some lifestyle changes. So, I said, "Okay, I'm in my 60s. I've lived my life. I've eaten most of what I want to eat. I'm going to go on to the diet that I was on for a summer called the Ferman diet where you only eat fruits and vegetables, uh, legumes, uh, nuts and seeds. That's it. There's no oil, there's no salt, there's no dairy, there's no meat, there's no chicken, uh just just fruits and vegetables for the most part, nuts and berries and then seeds. And I began to lose weight in a not normal way. Now, I was on this diet for two months in the summer. I didn't lose that much weight, frankly. But as soon as I went on this diet, I started losing a lot of weight. And I think uh the only explanation I could give is there's a book by this fellow John Gilbert who says that your body decides whether or not to lose the weight or not. So if you don't really care that much, your body doesn't care either. But I think my body was listening closely as the doctor was talking and realized it was in its own best interest for me to lose weight. So my body basically said, "Look, you work with me and I'll work with you." And I went on the diet and I lost weight like in a not normal way. And uh it it was amazing. Now, full disclosure, uh I went off my diet and uh at some point and I put back on some of the weight, not as much as I lost, and I keep starting again. It's it's a hard diet. It's a hard diet. I remember when I first went on it that summer, I I looked it up and and uh it seems scientifically that it is good not only to lose weight, but it also reverses artio sclerosis. They say it actually cleans out your arteries. But there was one comment that stuck with me which said, "You will live longer, but you won't want to." So, I basically said, "Okay, I know this is very hard, but I'm going to do it because I need to because I don't want to die." And I really have to uh kaza over that and get myself and my body back working together to be able to get back and lose off that weight cuz it's I was I was close to my ideal weight. Not not there, but I was very close to the point that it was mugam. people looked at me and I for the for the first time since I was in fourth grade I didn't look fat which was amazing. I doubt I do look fat now. But uh so people say to me, "No, no, no. You you don't look fat." I said, "I don't look morbidly obese anymore, but I'm still fat. I know the difference." Anyway, so uh that's what I I recommend you to find something that's going to work with you. And you have to tell yourself that this is life or death. That's it uh for this question and answer and uh I hope uh that you'll be mats and everybody should uh have good of