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Gregory Jantz
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Founder, Out of Darkness Project

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Tollie Schmidt : Hope for Childhood Obesity


CBN.com

ON HIS WAY TO 500

Tollie grew up in Tulsa, OK and started putting weight on in 3rd grade.  The problems started when he was 11 and his mom went back to work.  “I had HBO and no one to hang out with.  So I would stay home and just eat,” says Tollie.  In 6th grade, he hit 200 pounds  and had to switch schools because the teasing was so relentless.  “It was so harsh that I told my parents I couldn’t go back to that school anymore.  I just kept getting bigger,” says Tollie.  

His parents sympathized and got him transferred.  Tollie loved his new school because he was treated totally different.  Unfortunately, Tollie started smoking at 14.  “I just didn’t care,” he says.  And the weight continued to pile on.

Things got out of control when he attended the University of Oklahoma.  “I was in a fraternity and I kind of ‘lost’ Christ,” says Tollie, who met the Lord at Christian summer camp when he was 14.  The reckless lifestyle took its toll.  Late night eating included eating Mexican fast food and consuming entire pizza pies.  By the end of his junior year, Tollie exploded to 400 pounds.  “My weight and partying affected me so much that I couldn’t even go back to school.  I left after my junior year,” says Tollie. 

Meanwhile, Tollie’s parents moved to Orlando and Tollie did the same.  He joined Disney’s college program but that was short-lived.  His life was chaotic.  “I got to the point where I wasn’t going to work anymore.  I just sat in the house eating.  It was all fattening stuff.  I never ate good stuff,” he says.  Tollie says he was taking water pills because his feet were swelling.  He had high blood pressure.  “I was miserable and hated myself,” says Tollie.  “I wanted to die.  There was nothing worth living for.” 

One day he saw a TV ad for gastric bypass.  It was risky but Tollie wanted to take the chance. Before the surgery, Tollie went on an eating binge.  When he checked into the hospital, the scale only reached 500 pounds.  “I was above that,” says Tollie.  After the surgery, Tollie experienced complications and it took four months for Tollie to hold down any food.  “I couldn’t hold anything down.  Even water.  I threw up every day,” says Tollie.  “I thought I’d never eat again.” 

PRAYER WORKS

When the side effects subsided, Tollie felt like his body was healing.  One day a pest-control guy who was a strong Christian came in and asked Tollie if he could pray for him.  “He gave one of the most incredible prayers I ever heard.  Things changed after that.  I learned that prayer works,” says Tollie.  “Ever since then, I’ve been closer and growing so much more in the Lord.” 

Physically Tollie began eating better and exercising but it wasn’t enough.  So Tollie started learning about nutrition.  He threw himself into learning about nutrition education.  A year after the surgery Tollie was down to 300 pounds (he had lost 200) but he stalled.  Tollie visited another doctor who said he could do another gastric bypass.  “I said to myself, Wrong answer!” So Tollie hit the gym and hired a personal trainer.  Within another year, Tollie was down to 190 pounds, which is where he is today.

Tollie says his life, both physically and spiritually, has never been better.  “I think the biggest thing I’ve learned throughout all of this is that God never leaves you,” says Tollie.  Recently, Tollie started a comprehensive program of training, education and lectures to help obese children.  His ministry, Out of the Darkness Project, is named because Tollie says he lived in darkness for so long as an obese child.  “Bad habits are ingrained in kids because that’s all they know,” he says.  “They haven’t been taught about healthy food.” 

He says parents need to teach their kids not to sit at home watching TV or playing video games.  Parents need to take their kids out and do things.  “When you finally get someone to realize that they’re worth something, then they’ll stop the harm they’re doing and start to change….that’s what I want to be a part of,” says Tollie.  He says with real solutions he can show kids there is hope.
           

      

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