Tracey Edmonds, a 100% disabled Veteran, at one time weighed 440 pounds and had trouble even crossing his legs and tying his shoes.
Tracey Edmonds, a 100% disabled Veteran, at one time weighed 440 pounds and had trouble even crossing his legs and tying his shoes.
Four years ago, the Army E4 Veteran had gastric bypass surgery paid for through the VA in San Antonio which gave him weight relief.
But Edmonds, who resides in Oklahoma City along with his wife Debbie, was still struggling with knee, neck, and arthritis issues and not sleeping much at night.
To cope with his pain, Edmonds began spending his nights writing about his surgery journey and how he approaches life.
The result was his new book titled “Eat Like You Had Gastric Bypass,” which is now available on Amazon.com.
“I have spent many nights dealing with not sleeping so I had to find something
to do so I wouldn’t keep everyone up all night and so I started writing years ago as my therapy,” Edmonds said. “This book has been a gatekeeper to keep me focused so 2 years later this is the product of my work which I received word from Amazon on my birthday (May 31) that it was going live in an eBook version which readers can read for free or paperback.”
Edmonds said his book tells you ways what you can eat and live your life just like somebody who’s had surgery.
“I want people to take away that there’s more out there and be motivated and you can do it,” he said. “Just don’t deny yourself. You can eat the things that you want to eat but just eat them in a smaller proportion. Enjoy your food. Enjoy going out to dinner. Enjoy going out to dinner with your family. Limit yourself when you go out.”
Edmonds, a Phoenix City, Alabama native, said he was fortunate to have the VA pay for his gastric bypass surgery.
He said not everyone is as lucky.
“A lot of times people don’t have good insurance like we did. I had VA, they took care of that. If I didn’t have VA, it wouldn’t have been paid for,” he said. “I was sitting in that office doing a post-op surgery in the doctor’s office in San Antonio. This guy hobbled. He had to be close to 500 pounds. A nurse told him, she was sorry, but your insurance is not going to pay for the procedure. The look on his face, the sadness. I will never forget that moment. Weight loss is not an easy journey. This is one of the other reasons I wanted to put this book out to just give people that second option (of losing weight).”
Edmonds, 59, was raised by his maternal grandmother. He didn’t meet his biological father’s family until seven years ago.
“I found my family at age 52. I found
my father through DNA testing,” he said.
“I have a cousin in Washington DC that encouraged me to go ahead and finish all my many notes and writing projects that I’ve been collecting over the years. I’ve got probably eight hard drives that I use to store stuff on, and so I just started putting it together. And my first book, I published on my birthday.”
Edmonds said, “Eat Like You’ve Had Gastric Bypass,” is published under his nickname Tre Edmonds. He said along with that book, he also has written a book called “Look Here Woman,” which talks about his 36-year marriage to his wife, which is also available on Amazon.
“Look Here Woman, that’s an Alabama term,” he said. “This was the surprise book that I put out a week or two later and it’s about my wife and our 36 years of marriage, funny parts of it. They’ll see that they’re two books. One’s a comedy and one’s health related. This is 36 years of our life.”
Edmonds said he is currently working on a book about his childhood upbringing.
“I have a novel that I’m working on about my upbringing from Phoenix City because my grandmother raised me,” he said. “It’s going to be called “A Grandmother’s Love.” It’s coming out next year. I’m going to finish that.”
Edmonds said didn’t tell his family that he turned his hobby of writing into writing books.
“Sitting up, I started writing, trying to be quiet, and that hobby turned into something I enjoyed doing now, which was writing books,” he said. “So, I was lazy and I didn’t really tell anybody because if I didn’t feel like finishing it, it wouldn’t have bothered anybody except me.” •
Story and photo by Van Mitchell, staff writer
