My name is Rocky and I have battled obesity for many years and went public with it at 15, in a radio story I produced called “My Struggle with Obesity”.  The night before my radio story aired I was afraid everyone was going to respond like my family and say I was a fat-sad-complainer who really didn’t want to lose weight. However the response was different. People from all over the United States wrote in. Those emails were full of people who understood the complexity of obesity and my emotional attachment to food. Now 21 and after losing 340 pounds with hard work and exercise I feel amazing.  People went from calling me “Fat Albert” to “Sexy Boy” overnight. Dealing with all this quick change is a true challenge. It hurts to know how bad I was mistreated throughout my childhood and teenage years simply because I was fat. I hope in telling my story it saves at least one young child. I honestly feel if they know how hard life is as a fat person they wouldn’t take another bite.