One year later I returned to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to complete my plastic surgery operations with a full Lower Body Lift. This was the second major surgery that removed a combined, 40 pounds of excess skin from a total weight loss of 400 pounds. At 23 years I am trying to still create a normal looking body from what was once a huge, ugly person weighing over 560 pounds. With each major plastic surgery operation I am getting closer and closer to appearance I can accept. I have given up on an appearance society can accept, because no matter how hard I try they are always displeased. They stared and laughed at me for being fat, they stared and laughed at me for having excess skin and they look shocked and puzzled at me now for my scars. It’s easy to fall back into a negative cycle of thinking and living alone in my room again. I can look at my scars in two ways, disgust and fear people will freak out when they see it, or as if I am a survivor given a second chance to live. This is my second chance at life, and I am going to live it! We have to help ourselves, kids especially (that’s when my ideal of comfort, living and beauty was distorted) realize that society’s ideal of beauty is unattainable and once a person realizes that beauty truly is how you feel about yourself, the quest will end. Second major surgery a success, excess skin from my chest, arms, back, stomach, inner thighs and rear have been removed. I have a normal looking body now, toned, defined and I have abs on the way. It’s often so unreal for me to comprehend. But the body is a reward for living at peace with my mind. Because when I tried to chase the “beauty” every single diet failed. However when I started living at peace with my mind, the “beauty” came. On the road to recovery now and thinking about life and our purpose as humans to love and respect each other blind from religion, skin color, race, ethnicity, orientation etc. Love you all, and hope we continue to inspire each other to want to live a happy life with one another.
Second Major Plastic Surgery Completed
September 5th, 2011
I’m Alive
June 8th, 2011I want to apologize to all of you and just let you know I am coming back full force to this site soon. I have been very scared about having my lower body lift surgery, which is a long procedure, comes with way more health risks then the upper body and is so far from home. Thank you all for sending your support. I hope you understand, it has been really crazy for me the past couple of months. I am currently working on a Show, with an amazing Life Coach and I can’t begin to say how much I have been through emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually. Lots of tears, yelling, fighting, hating, loving and caring at home we have been through an intense journey. When this show airs on MTV in February it will inspire many people, I PROMISE.
My Upper Body surgery went well. I am still getting use to the scars. I have a flat stomach, amazing chest, back and arms. I have been exercising and I can see abs forming! This is very crazy!
Sending Love To All of You! Thanks for the Support!
-Rocky
Hate We Can Only See
January 30th, 2011It breaks my heart that so many people are being killed because of their religion. Right now as you read this, guns are being pointed at someone head with the intention to take their life as quickly as possible, because they are Jewish or Muslim.
Muslims see Jews as the enemy and Jews see Muslims as the enemy. From Junior high school to High school, I watched my religion (Muslim) go from a get out of jail free card to an airport strip and search cause. It’s still confusing to me.
I’m the youngest of eight siblings from a Middle Eastern family, in Brooklyn New York. My closest relationships have been and are with Jewish people. I have spent my teenage life befriending Jewish families and friends. My mom runs a daycare with all Jewish parents; she is Middle Eastern, as she would like to say Palestinian. The whispers and rumors, you hear on BET, Al-Jazera, cheap ignorant mediums, etc. about Jews and Muslims are not true. They are not crazy, greedy, evil, cult-monsters that hide and want to take over the world. Muslims are not terrorist, women oppressors who use archaic policies to enforce religion.
Jewish people are just like us and in some cases better. I didn’t realize many of my friends were Jewish until I asked them. It’s so funny but my best friends in high school were all Jewish. The girls shared the same life challenges my Muslim relatives face, cultural marriage, religious observance, family pressure and all the challenges of living a religious life in a party hosted by the devil, New York. When my friends and I discovered our religions (Muslim and Jewish) we joked that normally Jews and Muslims should be killing each other. It’s funny to say that in New York, where that sounds extreme. However across the globe hundreds of people are being killed, shot to death, houses misled bombed, stone murdering because of religion. Really? The verses that tell you to love one another and live in harmony cause the deaths of innocent women, men and children.
It’s really sad that on the most holiest land on earth, where all our bibles share a communality, is the most bloodshed and death. We are using religion as a weapon to concur and destroy and it’s disgusting. It’s even more ugly when I hear relatives use ignorant blind hatred to label people as the enemy. I realize the higher education people have the more intellectual and understanding they are. Religion should not determine your friends from enemies. Our time on life is short. We should not spend it fighting and hating each other. Please make an effort to talk to people outside your religion, I’m telling you; you would find so much communality and maybe family.
(So I am working with a Life Coach for an MTV show; that is teaching me to turn my compulsive, emotional eating into something creative. Writing this and getting it off my chest sure does feel better than a pint of ice-cream.)
My two week Stay in Pittsburgh
September 2nd, 2010The most emotional time of my life, it was very overwhelming at times. I finally had my upper body lift. I’m recovering now. I will post a new blog entry about it tonight or tomorrow. so much has happened, so much is happening. Love you all. the support means so much. you all are like my family. i wish I had the resources to bring you all together in a room, so I can meet and hug you all! one day!!! Love Rocky.
It’s Happening in the Next 30 minutes
August 20th, 2010It’s Friday morning 6:15am and my heart is beating through my chest. I am watching the sun slowly rise. Words can’t describe how scared I am. In 45 minutes I will remove excess skin from my chest, arms, and stomach. The blue ink throughout my upper body is smearing and I’m still scared. I couldn’t sleep the surgeon will understand. I want to say right now, I am so thankful hundreds of strangers, friends and loved ones have emailed me and supported me so greatly throughout the years. You’ve been through a lot with me, through morbid obesity weighing 540 at 18, losing 360 pounds, and now removing 40 pounds of excess skin. I am still scared and the sun is further up. Love you all dearly. Wish me luck.
Rocky Tayeh
Hampton Inn University Center/ Pittsburgh Oakland
3315 Hamlet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Room 718 (my area code in Brooklyn, crazy!)
Again Love you all!
If you don’t know how much this skin bothers me watch the first MTV Truelife Show
On Friday the 13 my life will change
August 9th, 2010I’m having my first full-body tuck operation in Pittsburg this coming Friday, 2010. I have lost 370 pounds thanks to the Lap Band Surgery with Doctor George Fielding of NYU. I was left with over 20 pounds of excess skin throughout my body. In five days I will have the first of two operations. This surgery will remove excess skin from my stomach, arms, chest and back. It will reshape my entire upper body, which will trade skin for scars. I’m being filmed for an MTV show, and I must say I like the emotional support and comfort from the producers more than the cameras. I am so scared, wish me luck cyber friends and FAMILY AND NO MORE BAGGY SHIRTS!!
Rocky 2010
ROCKY on MTV True Life I’m Uncomfortable with my New Body
May 23rd, 2010The MTV show Truelife “I’m uncomfortable with my new body” has inspired so many young people it makes me so happy. All I want from telling my story on all these shows is to help make life a bit easier for a different or awkward kid growing up. We live in a world that puts beauty and normality on levels unreachable and makes idolized-beauty and positive self-esteem unattainable. At 15 I produced and recorded an award winning radio documentary for NPR called “My Struggle with Obesity.” Since then I have been on many television shows (Tyra Banks, Food Network [a first for this network], PBS, etc.) they where all amazing and seemed to have impacted an older audience of adults. For the first time it seems this MTV documentary managed to get into the lives of so many young kids and introduce them to topics beyond the world of Pop Culture and People Magazine. So many KIDS, have emailed me or even stopped me on the street to commend me and encourage me to go forward with my plastic surgery. I’m talking about skateboarders, jump-ropers, bubble-gum poppers, all the little monsters that threw things at me or made fun of me when I was obese, calling me names like “Fat Albert or Barney the Dinosaur” are now nice to me. These kids now hug me and scream “your so inspirational dude!” I cried the first couple of times wishing these same kids grew up with me instead of the monsters that made my life a living hell, teasing me and making fun of me almost everyday. That’s why I am still speaking at schools across New York about childhood obesity, teasing, health, radio production and of course being on television. I am so glad young people are getting a glimpse into what it means to be different and struggle with body image. I really think this show is helping to create a more comfortable environment at schools and in playgrounds. Because these kids now think the fat kid or the different kid is cool!
Lastly the MTV show was amazing. I felt really comfortable with the producers Elyse, Kelley, Mark and Brian. When being filming and interviewed I always feel like I’m making a friend and finding someone who really cares. It breaks my heart when the show ends, because they are gone. Now 23, I understand how that works. The show was still a blast and it felt like a big therapy session to spill my guts out. Finally, here is the MTV show (Link below) it was about me losing over 380 pounds with the help of the Lap Band Surgery and exercise. It focused on my excess skin after massive weight-loss. I still haven’t had the two operations needed to remove all the excess skin. I am planning to have it this summer. Please be nice and don’t say hurtful things. A lot of people are facing post weight loss issues and this is something I am still going through.
Fat Happy?
September 24th, 2009Fat Happy?
My sadness and lack of self-esteem as a fat person comes from my dysfunctional family interactions. There was defiantly no couch time for emotional talk at home nor was their an explanation for being called a fat pig by my mom or dad. Although I understand now, that is was their archaic sense of humor. Theirs still a huge sadness that takes over my body when I see fat people. I just feel so sad for them. I recall how much I hated myself when I was fat and think they must feel the same way. I recall all the ugly faces, rude comments and insults I went through. I watch them carefully on the street as if I am observing a painting. I look for any indications to prove my assumptions correct; they must be sad. But they smile at me as if everything is fine. As if being huge is normal. Was I the victim of a fat-people-picked-on-fad that vanished? Maybe now, maybe today people are cool with it. Maybe it’s okay to be fat. Maybe you can be fat happy. Maybe the world looks beyond the fat and at who people really are. But is that ever the case? How many relationships are initiated by how good we look? How many good mornings are passed your way? It’s sad to say I’m meeting beautiful people now that wouldn’t have given me a second of their time if I were fat. We walk together on the street and as we pass a big person they whisper in my ear “Hey Rocky look at that fat cow!” My facial expression indicates that I find them funny.
HELLO WORLD!
September 6th, 2009I have been reading all the emails I get. I am so happy I can offer inspiration to people all over the world (even schools in Germany, WOW!). I’m sad to say for some reason my mailbox deleted all my webhosting emails, which means I can’t personally reply to those emails you sent in the past. However I just want to say they all touched me, from a guy battling cancer, to a woman finding herself again, I wish you all the best of luck. If anything I just want people to see life as a mission to leave inspiration. Because in the end, your money, your houses, your jewels are all meaningless. It’s the influence and impact you had on people that mean everything. Love you all so much! And remember let each day be a new day. –Rocky
(also, I’m finally starting to put my book together, it is about overcoming obesity and all the luggage that came with it.) Follow my progress and life on this blog.)
