My story

From a very early age I was a very slim and tall boy. In my family I had a nickname “Dawidek the poor eater”, because it was very difficult to get me to eat. I was allergic, very often I caught infections – doctors were prescribing me plenty of antibiotics. My body’s resistance was getting weaker, so I had to spend a lot of time at home.

Around the age of 13 something changed my life forever. I started to gain weight rapidly. Without making any changes to my current eating habits, I gained almost 20 kg in a very short period of time. As a small child I was already very sensitive and shy and when suddenly from the slim boy I turned into a walking noodle (something that I absolutely did not accept) I totally locked myself in. Since I was often ill and I suffered from a headache frequently, I wasn’t attending to school too often, however, I regularly visited doctors who could not come up with anything else besides antibiotics. As a result of spending the majority of my time at home, I became increasingly isolated from people, running away from problems by the use of the virtual world. I totally did not accept my appearance and no one could help me.

I was growing up in a time when there was no universal access to the Internet, tablets, smartphones, etc. and most of the time children were spending actively in the backyard. Before I put on weight, I was one of those frisky kids, unfortunately, after gaining weight, I was spending most of my time in front of the computer. I was able to play computer games for 12-16 hours a day. I was leading such a lifestyle for many months, with just a few short breaks. Since I have always been a perfectionist and I have engaged in everything I do for a 100%, I was very successful practically in every game I played (I have become the Polish Champion a few times, in several games I was one of the best players in Europe).

That’s how my 4 years fight started, the aim of which was to get rid of fat and return to “normality” both physically and mentally. During these four years I went to various dieticians (e.g. the Nutrition and Food Center in Warsaw), I went over dozens of articles and books related to nutrition and slimming, and despite this, there were no effects.

I tested various diets, from vegetarianism, through balanced diet, to two-days fasting. At the age of 17, in less than 4 months, I have traveled over 6,000 km on a stationary bike and despite being on a constant calorie deficit, my weight for these few years did not change. It is worth mentioning that my appearance was significantly different from the appearance of the average “fatman” (I quote this word on purpose, because that was how I was often called in school). The fatty tissue has been deposited very unequally, e.g. on the chest and lower back (this is typical for estrogen-related hormonal disorders). My chest was my biggest complex – because I had typical female breasts, with the level of fat completely different from the rest of the body.

For 4 years of training, dieting and educating myself how to lose weight – I did not lose even a gram of my weight. As fate would have it, shortly before reaching eighteen years of age, I got sick once again (what a nice change). I went to the clinic as usual, but unfortunately my doctor was on vacation and she was replaced by a young intern doctor. When I entered the office and saw a young girl (in front of whom I had to undress to the waist) I didn’t know if I should cry out of terror or run away from shame. Fortunately, I was too cowardly to do any of them, and as part of the excuse (why I look as I look ), I told her about my struggle with obesity. It was a breakthrough moment in my life, because as the first person she listened to me patiently and without hesitation she recommended a huge number of hormonal tests.

Finally, after 6 years of suffering, I’ve discovered that I suffer from advanced hyperprolactinemia and hyperinsulinemia (about which my former doctor forgot to mention) which, in turn, over the last few years have led to many other hormonal disorders and changes in my body. One of these changes was gynecomastia (the excessive growth of the male mammary glands), causing formation of “female breasts”. Another side effect was the absolute inhibition of my lipolysis (fat tissue breakdown). In other words, if I were in the desert without any food, I would die out of hunger as a fat person because my body would not able to use fat as an energy source.

And in this way suddenly everything became clear …