I Was an Unhappy Fat Boy, Today I’m a Joyful Thin Man

After losing 130 pounds and gaining it back…twice, on his 34th birthday, Michael Prager had reached 365 pounds.  He was often miserable and isolated and alienated people in his life while feeling the shame of his body size.   After many years of dieting, he finally learned that he has an addictive, biochemical reaction to sugar, flour, and highly processed foods and decided to “get out of the driver’s seat” and surrender his will.  He wrote the book Fat Boy, Thin Man in which he describes his journey from childhood through recovery from food addiction and reached and sustains a healthy body weight.  Michael attended a 5-day food addiction treatment program, Shift, Recovery by Acorn. He now offers the service of getting the message out about food addiction, emphasizing that this disease is not our fault.  While he resisted any persuasion to accept a God or Higher Power, he finally succumbed to his version, which helped him release the powerlessness over his food and his weight, and how he had been eating, realizing he had no control once he began to eat certain foods.  Michael is highly intelligent and had to learn how to approach life not only with his keen mind but learned the value of feeling his emotions.  Michael Prager is an author and journalist in Arlington, Massachusetts, and is an incredibly inspiring guest on the podcast.