Al Roker, 68, looks very different from his current image in flashback shots from 20 years before his gastric bypass and 100-pound weight loss journey.
Al Roker looked like a completely different person in a snapshot of flashback footage broadcast by his longtime home, the Today show.
The pre-Al, 68, had a gastric bypass in 2002 and then quickly dropped more than 100 lbs.
In the throwback video he shared today’s showNot only was Al carrying all of his pre-op weight, but he still had hair, too.
Footage of Al aired today as part of a montage looking back on the show’s seven decades, featuring instantly recognizable faces like Katie Couric, the late Barbara Walters, and the disgraced Matt Lauer.
Last year in an Instagram post marking the 20th anniversary of the surgery, Al revealed that he weighed 340 pounds before undergoing the surgery.
AMAZING: Al Roker weighed over 300 pounds in 1999 (left) during the early days of his stardom before his gastric bypass. Pictured last month (right) arriving at the Today Gallery
Wow: Al looked like a completely different person in one of the flashback footage his longtime home, Today Show, aired.
Al has been the Today show’s darling weatherman since 1996, when he became famous for his megawatt charm and sheer size.
Before he embarked on his weight loss journey, he could eat six Krispy Kreme donuts at a time and had a tendency to cover two pounds for one meal.
Eventually in March 2002 he underwent a gastric bypass and saw immediate results the people Pounds began to “fall off like water.”
Eight months later, he’d lost so much weight that his wife, Deborah Roberts, admitted she “passed by the TV set and didn’t recognize my husband.”
Share: “Someone at the gym had said to me, ‘Hey, you don’t want to lose a lot of weight, because that’s what you are – you funny, fat weather guy!'” “
He: No, it’s not me. I think I’m funny. I know I’m fat. But I don’t think I’m funny because I’m fat. The two are mutually exclusive.
At the time, in the immediate aftermath of the bypass, his strategy for maintaining the weight, however, was to eat smaller portions of the same food he liked.
However, over the past two decades he has experimented with other methods, including in recent years the trendy keto diet.
Throwback: Al has been the Today show’s darling weatherman since 1996, when he became famous for his megawatt charm and sheer size; In the photo 2001
Foodie: Al is pictured in 2001 at the Stage Deli in New York City, attending a party to present their new sandwiches named after him
The go-to for it: Before he embarked on his weight-loss journey, he could eat six Krispy Kreme donuts at a time and had a tendency to cover two pounds for one meal.
He said last year today That with exercise plus a low-carb diet, I’ve lost about 45 pounds in the past several months. I eat about 100 grams of carbs a day and walk.
He celebrated the 20th anniversary of his gastric bypass by posting a picture of himself in the cavernous jeans he wore to the hospital.
Al climbed back into the pants for the camera to visually demonstrate how many inches he’s taken off his waistline since then.
“Hard to believe it was 20 years ago today,” he proudly wrote, “I wore these jeans to the #gastricbypass at 340lbs, and here I am today.” Still a struggle but I will never go back. I may have setbacks but I will work on them one day.
Triumph: Eventually, in March 2002, he underwent gastric bypass surgery and saw immediate results, telling people the pounds started “dropping off like water”; Pictured last month
‘Here I am today’: He celebrated the 20th anniversary of his gastric bypass surgery by posting a photo of himself in the cavernous jeans he wore to the hospital
