JOHN ALLAIRE: When I was about 20 years old, the doctor couldn’t weigh me and I had to go get weighed on
a commercial scale in the back of a fish market and I was 540 lbs and that now I am having way more
loose skin than I ever expected.
JOHN ALLAIRE: It’s one thing to be obese, it’s another thing when you reach you know, morbid obesity.
I mean I remember figuring out my BMI at heaviest recorded was like, right around 70. So there is no
category for that, it’s beyond the category of morbid obesity.
My name is John Allaire. I am 27 years old and at my heaviest, I weighed 540 lbs and today I am sitting at
237 lbs before skin removal surgery.
JOHN ALLAIRE: My whole family really struggles with weight, weight management. We were all obese
you know, I was about 380 lbs or so when my dad got sick. I was 18 when he passed away from cancer.
Between the time he got sick and a few months after he died, I had shot up to over 500 lbs.
JOHN ALLAIRE: I remember just looking at myself in the mirror and I remember just seeing how big I had gotten.
I was over 540 lbs at this time I assume and just thinking that I didn’t even look human anymore and maybe it
would be just better if I was dead instead of trying to have this back and forth fight for the rest of my life
cause I’m never going to lose the weight and I am always going to be huge and it’s just going to lead to an
early death and a painful funeral for my family anyway.
JOHN ALLAIRE: So I would join a gym, go for a couple of weeks, pay for the gym for six months but never use it
again you know, and I bounced from diet to diet.
It was just years of trying and failing before something clicked for me.
JOHN ALLAIRE: The day that I really, truly committed on a deep level to losing the weight and making changes
was the day that I got engaged to Caila. I had known Caila since we were 12.
I have been in love with her since I was 15, we dated all through high school. Even though she loved me as I was
and she was ready to commit to marrying me at 540 lbs which is mind blowing, really, I was like there is no way
that I can in good conscious drag this woman through the difficulties that I am going to have
for the rest of my life if I don’t lose this weight.
CAILA ALLAIRE: I think a lot of people were surprised how close we were especially when we started dating
because there was an obvious difference in weight. So a lot of people asked you know, "How did you get her?"
JOHN ALLAIRE: I was scrolling Facebook and I saw an advertisement. It was like a local gym that was like,
‘Come into our gym and you will lose 20 lbs in six weeks.’
ALEJANDRA CARRERA: John came to our camp ten challenges ago. It was just amazing the way he actually
introduced himself and he created this amazing video getting rid of all the food that he wasn’t supposed to be
eating. So it’s like he was determined from the beginning to get you know, like his weight goal.
JOHN ALLAIRE: I am sorry if that was kind of a long video. But I figured this must be the only way to push
myself to get rid of that crap and also to actually introduce myself to the group and not be shy.
CAILA ALLAIRE: Honestly, I didn’t think he was going to stick with it. I didn’t expect him to get all the way down
to like, a healthy average person BMI.
JOHN ALLAIRE: I hit the 20 lbs mark in week three or four. So then it was just like,
‘Okay. Well, I will see what else I can lose like, you know, in the six weeks,’ and I ended up losing just over 30 lbs.
TANYA SITES: He lost 297 lbs on the program itself, you know, over a year and a half is incredible. A lot of people
will lose, you know, half that weight and just be like you know, ‘I am okay. I am fine. I feel great.’
So he has that willpower for sure.
JOHN ALLAIRE: So before I ever actually started losing weight, we always knew that there was a good chance
that I would have loose skin and my wife and I talked about that before we even got married you know, like,
‘Okay, but would you still love me if I had, you know, a ton of loose skin?’
JOHN ALLAIRE: It ended up being a lot more than I expected.
CAILA ALLAIRE: I think his loose skin affects him in a lot of different ways, definitely self-image.
The surgery is just going to improve his overall quality of life. I think he is finally going to feel like completely free
like, there is not going to be any baggage from his obesity.
JOHN ALLAIRE: It’s, I think, three days away. So it’s coming up quick. So I am simultaneously very excited
and very nervous about the surgery. As far as the amount of excess skin that I have currently, I have been
told all different estimates; as low as 10 lbs of skin, as high as 20 or more.
I have been told that they think that there’s going to amount to like 9 feet of skin.
CAILA ALLAIRE: At least 99% of it would be gone. As far as like, self-confidence, looking like a man and moving
like a person should, that’s all going to be taken care of.
JOHN ALLAIRE: Going into the surgery was all kind of, a blur. I just remember that I had to stand like a statue for
like, twenty minutes with my arms out while they like, marked all over your body and drew all the lines
that they were going to cut.
ANDREW NESMITH: I have been really impressed with seeing him from day one to where he is now.
John is a great example of coming in and learning everything from the ground up and being able to push
through whatever obstacles someone might face and I think that a lot of people are very inspired by this.
JOHN ALLAIRE: I still have a lot of swelling. They say that 90% of that should be gone by about six months and
that last 10% might take up to a year to go away.
JOHN ALLAIRE: Just got to be patient. And it’s kind of like, the last piece of feeling like I really transformed my
body and I really don’t have any specific you know, cards that were dealt to me that are conducive to losing weight
or being a good healthy weight and so I 100% can say like, ‘If I can do it, anybody can do it.’