There are everyday activities that pose a challenge for people who are severely overweight. Things like tying your shoelaces, breathing heavily while simply standing or walking
These are all challenges Julie Dahlin decided she no longer wanted to tackle.
"I was a preemie, yup," said Dahlin, who was born weighing four pounds.
She was so tiny that her mother dressed her in baby doll clothes. Things took a gradual turn over the years when food became a crutch.
“Was food a big part of your family growing up?” asked Keitha Nelson, First Coast News anchor.
“I think yea it was because every time you celebrated something everyone was coming together to do that," Dahlin said. "I think that's just what we did. We did it even growing up. 'Oh it’s been a bad day, let's go have ice cream everybody has ice cream.' We rode our bikes and played in the streets back when you could play in the streets. Rode our bikes to school and roller-skated and did stuff but I was always heavier than everybody else."
Her weight became a problem as an adult as she experienced a series of eye-opening moments.
"Going to concerts or theaters or things like that starting to be uncomfortable in seats,” Dahlin said. “Or like when you go to restaurants or functions you start to pick out places that have chairs without arms, or you get there early so that you don't have to be in a booth. Things like that slowly started to happen. Not everyone thinks about those kinds of things. I was thinking about those kinds of things all of the time."
By the time she was in her 20s, Dahlin weighed 525 pounds.
"I knew I needed to do something to change my life," Dahlin said.
She researched lap band surgery and went under the knife. Dahlin lost 100 pounds and then slowly gained it all back.
“So what happened, how did the weight come back?” asked Nelson.
“Life,” Dahlin replied. "I was finishing my MBA at the time. I was studying all of the time and working full time and I just got out of my routines."
We met with Dahlin three days before her sleeve gastrectomy at Memorial Hospital in November of 2019 to remove up to 80% of her stomach.
She made a promise that day, “I promise to use everything I have in my power to make this work this time. To make it a lifestyle not just a task."
Wednesday on Good Morning Jacksonville you’ll see Dahlin post-surgery as she modifies her diet.
Throughout the week you'll see her struggles and triumphs as Dahlin chooses life and encourages others struggling with obesity to do the same.