Al Roker Says a Final Promise to His Dad Led to His Gastric Bypass inkeinspires

It’s been over 20 years since Al Roker underwent gastric bypass surgery, but he still remembers what his father told him that inspired his weight loss journey.

“To be honest, I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my adult life,” Roker, 70, said. People in an interview published Monday January 6. “And my dad had gotten really sick, and at one point towards the end, he made me promise that I was going to get back into shape.”

His father’s promise and brutal words changed that. Today show the correspondent’s life forever.

“He said bluntly, ‘Look, we both know I’m not going to be there to help you raise your kids. You have to be there for your children,” Roker remembers his father’s final warning. “And that really stuck with me, and it led me to have gastric bypass surgery.”

Roker underwent gastric bypass surgery in March 2002, weighing 340 pounds at the time. By the end of that year, he had lost 100 pounds.

The beloved Today co-host revealed in his 2013 memoir, Never Goin’ Back: Winning the weight loss battle for goodthat he gained 40 pounds after the death of his mother in 2011. However, he managed to lose 205 pounds in 2012.

“I used traveling as an excuse to eat poorly. Now I don’t go anywhere without my scale; I literally take it with me,” Roker said Parade in December 2012. “It gives me permission to have a bad day, or even just a bad time. It used to be, “Well, I blew it; I might as well go wild. Now it is [like]’OK, I made a mistake, let’s get back in the carriage.’

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Al Roker has no judgment on people using medications like Ozempic for weight loss. “I won’t judge anyone,” the Today show host, 70, told the Daily Mail in an interview published on Saturday, November 9, while promoting his new cookbook, Recipes for ‘Al Roker: Easy, Memorable Family Dishes. for every occasion. “Listen, […]

Twenty years after surgery, Roker is still celebrating his health journey. He shared a photo of his size 54 Levi jeans he wore when he arrived at the hospital, writing via Instagram in March 2022: “It’s still a struggle but I’m never going back.”

The weatherman, who says he’s now trying to stay around the 190-pound mark, revealed: “I have setbacks and I struggle every day, but I never forget how far I’ve come.” »

Roker’s fitness journey was also thwarted at times due to other health issues. In September 2020, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After undergoing surgery to remove his prostate, lymph nodes and some surrounding tissue, Roker was considered cancer-free. His prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels fell below 1 following the operation, meaning it is technically undetectable.

Two years later, Roker had another health problem that caused him to miss three weeks of work on the construction site. Today to show. He explained in November 2022 that he had been hospitalized for a blood clot in his leg. According to a social media post shared by Roker at the time, “clots” were sent to his lungs.

Roker ultimately required surgery to repair the blood clots and was readmitted to the hospital several days later due to complications. He then shared that surgeons found two bleeding ulcers and removed his gallbladder.

He remained at home and recovered until the end of 2022. Roker returned to the NBC show in January 2023.

Related: Al Roker thanks his wife for not pulling the plug on his 29th birthday

Al Roker is celebrating nearly three decades of marriage to Deborah Roberts. The Today weather presenter, 70, marked the couple’s 29th wedding anniversary with a sweet but cheeky caption via Instagram on Monday, September 16. “Well, 29 [went] pretty quickly. Not sure @debrobertsabc would agree,” Roker wrote under a carousel of photos of […]

“Al’s recent hospitalization was very frightening. [He] considers himself very lucky to have received prompt treatment and knows that at the end of the day, he is lucky to be alive,” a source exclusively said. Us every week at the time. “He has been so brave throughout this ordeal, never complaining or feeling too sorry for himself, always wanting to know how others are doing, even when he is at his lowest. For now, he is following all doctors’ advice.

Since his latest health scare, Roker has refocused on his wellness journey. This month he became the director of motivation for the Fitness App Start Todayproduced by the Today to show.

The app allows subscribers to get meal plans, daily motivation tips, fitness challenges and more wellness help all in one place.