A Normal Life
Kevin Gendreau had a pretty normal life. He had loving parents and an amazing sister. He was doing well in high school and had already decided what he wanted to do in the future: become a doctor.
He was pretty athletic and never had any problems with his weight - that was until tragedy struck his family. When he was 17, his whole world changed for the worse, and food was his only comfort.
Heartbreaking News
When Kevin was 17, his father was diagnosed with cancer. He was in a very serious stage and there was not much that doctors could do for him.
Kevin did not have enough time to say goodbye to his dad and had to see him succumb to terminal cancer in a matter of months. This completely destroyed his world, and his only refuge was food.
Eating His Feelings
Kevin was devastated and only found comfort in food. Food was always there for him to make him feel better, and so he started eating more and more in hopes that the pain would fade away.
"I basically began to eat my feelings in sugar and processed carbohydrates and use food as an anti-depressant," he told Best Life in an interview. But... did this help at all?
Not Helping
Food gave Kevin an instant gratification and the illusion of comfort, but all the real problems that he had were still there. Food wasn't going to bring his father back, and he had to work out his issues some other way.
But this 'escape' from reality slowly turned into a full-blown addiction. He could not go one day without eating lots and lots of junk food, and he ended up gaining a lot of weight in a matter of months.
Addicted
Kevin studied medicine and went on to become a doctor. He learned about the dangers of food addiction during his studies, but he couldn't manage to stop himself. He knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he could not bring himself to do anything about it.
Kevin even acknowledged that he had an addiction by saying: "When you eat junk food, your brain releases dopamine and increases serotonin—both 'feel-good' hormones—so it's kind of like a hit of a drug."
Lack Of Motivation
Looking back, Kevin says that he should have gotten professional help, but at that time, he just could not do it. He used food as an anti-depressant but it only made things worse.
Now, he not only had to deal with the loss of his father, but he also had to deal with low self esteem, self-hatred, and several health problems caused by his food addiction.
300 Pounds
By the time Kevin became a primary care doctor, he had surpassed the 300-pound mark. In relation to his height, this was extremely worrisome and, as a doctor, he knew it: he was clinically obese.
The fact that he was a doctor made this situation even worse for him because he knew exactly what was going on with his body and hated himself for not doing anything about it. He was destructing himself one bite at a time.
Bad News
Not only was his mental health bad, but his physical health quickly deteriorated as well. When he went to get a routine checkup done by another doctor, the results were alarming.
"I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, hypertension, high cholesterol, fatty liver disease, and sleep apnea, among other things," he said.
Not A Surprise
Hearing these things about his health did not come as a surprise to Kevin. Deep inside, he knew exactly what was going on inside his head and in his body.
"I knew they were all because of my eating habits, but I just couldn't stop." he said in the same interview. His heaviest was 306 pounds.
Feeling Hypocritical
Because of his profession, Kevin felt extremely hypocritical and embarrassed. He had to tell his patients to be healthy and exercise while he wasn't doing any of that himself!
"I felt like such a hypocrite telling patients to eat clean and then going home and having an entire box of cookies and a carton of milk," he said.
Lack Of Confidence
Kevin became an accomplished doctor and was extremely good at what he did. While everything was fine in his work life, his love life suffered terribly. He was not confident and did not want anyone to see him without clothes, so he just didn't date.
"I kind of just built a wall around myself," he said. "I didn't have my first boyfriend until I lost weight because I just didn't want to face the dating world. It was really harsh to be single and so uncomfortable in my own skin."
Lonely
Kevin was happy on the outside and always had a smile on his face. All his friends, family, colleagues and patients adored him and thought of him as a happy, bubbly person, but inside, that wasn't the truth.
The truth was that Kevin was lonely and sad, and the worst part was that he held it all in and did not let people see that. He just covered all these feelings with more and more food, until tragedy struck again in 2016.
Another Blow
In 2016, Kevin's whole world came crashing down again when he found out that his sister Rachel, who was 32, had a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer.
It was the same story again: a beloved member of his family is suddenly diagnosed with cancer, and all he can do is eat to numb the pain. He tried to be there for his sister, so he just suffered in silence.
Worse And Worse
As time went by, his sister got worse and worse. She needed Kevin's support, so he was there for her every step of the way.
He had to watch her go through intense treatment, even though her cancer was terminal. Her cancer was metastatic, just like her father's was, and she didn't have much time left.
A Realization
"I knew she was going through all of this just to buy more time with her two children," Kevin said. Seeing his sister's body go through so much pain and aggressive treatments made him realize what he was doing to himself.
"What she was going through wasn't her choice. What I was doing to myself was." Why was he hurting himself this way? He was doing this to his own body, and he was the only one with the power to stop it.
Making A Change
As his sister's cancer worsened and worsened, Kevin came to a decision: he was going to change his life. He was not going to take his health for granted anymore, because he had seen the people who he loved the most lose it all in a short time.
He vividly remembers that he made this decision on August 1st, 2016. "I woke up and decided that this was going to be the day that I changed my whole life."
The Journey Begins
Kevin knew exactly what he had to do to change his life, and although it seemed like a such a simple change, it was extremely hard for him to quit his addiction. The only thing he did to lose weight at the beginning was cutting junk food out of his diet.
This already made a huge change in his life. The weight started coming off quickly, and his health improved drastically.
A Tragic Event
Sadly, Kevin's sister Rachel lost her battle against cancer on June 1, 2017. This left Kevin devastated but this time around, he didn't let food become his emotional support.
Instead, he used this horrible situation to motivate himself even more. If he became healthy, then that would mean he would be there for Rachel's children, who were six and two years old at the time.
A Good Uncle
Kevin tried to be there to raise Rachel's children and lost a lot of weight for them. After he lost 70 pounds just by cutting junk food out of his diet, he started exercising, and now, he was able to run around and play outside with the kids, something he couldn't do before.
His new diet included lots of vegetables, fruits, and protein, and of course, zero fats. He also kept tracks of how many calories he consumed, which is a key part of weight loss.
Healthy Weight
Now, Kevin is at a healthy weight and it is very happy with all his hard work. He lost 125 pounds and works every day not to gain all the weight back.
"The best advice that I can give is to find a motivation to change. For me, it was my sister getting sick and needing to be there for her kids, but it could be anything. Once you find that reason and commit to it, you're good to go," he said.