Former NFL QB Jared Lorenzen Dead At (Only) 38

Wow. This is a really sad story. Lorenzen, despite his unusual size for a quarterback (260 or so lbs.), had a record-setting career in college football and later went on to play for a couple of NFL teams. After time, his weight started going higher and higher until he had reached about 500 lbs, in part b/c of hypothyroidism. Realizing he had to do something and fast, he began the "Jared Lorenzen Project" -- using the services of a personal trainer and a nutritionist in a concentrated effort to lose the excess weight. He documented the beginnings of his journey in a series of videos online. Despite those efforts he recently suffered an infection and, after having been in the hospital for same, passed away. I'm just stunned as to why he did not opt to have WLS instead. Given his age and being a former top athlete, it seems he would have been an ideal candidate for same. If he had gone with WLS, he might still be alive today.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/07/03/former-kentucky- qb-jared-lorenzen-dies-at-38/23762593/

Wow so sad. I never heard of him but I am going to check out his videos.

What a heartbreaking story. As we all know, there could be a million reasons why he chose not to have WLS, be they medical, spiritual, fear, and/or he just didn't WANT to. A very, very PERSONAL decision. Not our business. Not like, in today's world, people don't know WLS is available.

Feel so badly for his children/other family/friends/fans

Interesting. I'm left-handed, too. I wonder if there is any correlation between handedness and obesity? I read a study recently that found a correlation between handedness and depression, with us lefties suffering it in higher numbers, proportionately, within the general population vs. righties. The study opined this may be either due to (1) bio-chemical differences within the brain (2) the fact that lefties are forced to basically live in and conform to a "right-handed world" (i.e. so many things in our daily lives are designed for right-handers) and thereby suffer stress caused by same, or both. Given the correlation between depression and obesity (i.e. depression can lead to overeating, with the overeating resulting in increased weight, thereby augmenting the depression - a vicious circle) it wouldn't surprise me that a correlation might in fact be found between handedness and obesity.

I never heard of the left hand thing...interesting...

I hate to imagine how depressed I'd be, or how fat I could have gotten if I had been left handed ...being right handed was rough enough :)

I can't get to the original data, but this paper (source) says "We have also shown that nonright-handedness was predictive of a higher incidence of obesity."

I know, Gina. And it's been debated on here for many years as what to do if you have a family member or close friend who could benefit from WLS -- do you proactively recommend it to them, or remain silent, hoping they know/hear about it and consider it just from general public knowledge? Personally, I still believe that the best approach - and I have done this before - is to just share with that person that I had WLS and mention what it did for me (well, the positive parts of it ) and kinda just plant the idea in their mind passively. I figure if they are indeed interested in pursuing it, then they will make further inquiry.

His nickname was the "Hefty Lefty"..he was a really good QB but played on terrible teams..

Maybe the most important lesson I've learned @5 years post wls - Whatever baggage I carried into the hospital came home with me. Obesity was likely one of very many issues Jared dealt with and the wls would not solve most of them.

Why does everyone think WLS is the only way to lose weight?