Al Roker Says Final Promise to Dad That Led to His Gastric Bypass

It has been more than 20 years since then Al Roker he had gastric bypass surgery, but he still remembers what his father told him that inspired his weight loss journey.

“To be honest, I struggled with my weight for most of my adult life,” says Roker, 70. People in an interview published on Monday, January 6. “And my father had become very ill, and at one point towards the end, he made me promise that I was going to get in shape.”

The promise and the blunt words of his father changed the Today show the life of a reporter forever.

“He said, point blank, ‘Look, we both know I won’t be here to help you raise your children. You have to be here for your kids,’” Roker recalled of his father’s final warning. “And that really stuck with me, and that led me to do a gastric bypass.”

Roker underwent gastric bypass surgery in March 2002, at the time weighs 340 lbs. By the end of that year, he had lost 100 pounds.

The beloved Today A co-host revealed in his 2013 memoir, Never Go Back: Win the Weight Loss Battle for Goodthat he gained 40 pounds after the death of his mother in 2011. However, he managed to slim down to 205 pounds by 2012.

“I used to use travel as an excuse to eat badly. Now I don’t go anywhere without my scale; I literally pack it with me,” Roker said Parade in December 2012. “It gives me permission to have a bad day, or even just a bad moment. In the old days it was, ‘Well, I’ve blown it; I can also go wild.’ Now it’s (like), ‘OK, I made a mistake, let’s get back on the wagon.'”

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Al Roker has no opinion for people who use medications like Ozempic for weight loss. “I’m not going to judge anybody,” the Today show host, 70, told the Daily Mail in an interview published on Saturday, November 9, while promoting his new cookbook Al Roker’s Recipes to Live By: Easy, Memory- Making Family Dishes for All Occasions. “Listen, (…)

Twenty years after the operation, Roker is still celebrating his health journey. She shared a photo of her size 54 Levi’s jeans she was wearing when she arrived at the hospital, write via Instagram in March 2022, “It’s still a struggle but I’m never going back.”

The weatherman, who says he’s now trying to stay around the 190-pound mark, revealed, “I have setbacks and struggles every day, but I never forget how far I’ve come.”

Roker’s fitness journey has also been being blocked at times due to other health struggles. In September 2020, it was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After undergoing surgery to remove his prostate, lymph nodes and some surrounding tissue, Roker was deemed cancer free. His Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) levels dropped below 1 as a result of the surgery, making him technically undetectable.

Two years later, Roker had another health scare which resulted in him missing three weeks of work on the Today show He explained in November 2022 that he admitted to hospital for a blood clot in his leg. According to a social media post shared by Roker at the time, “some clots” were sent to his lungs.

Roker eventually required surgery to repair the blood clots and was readmitted to hospital several days later as a result of complications. He later shared that the surgeons found two bleeding ulcers and removed his gallbladder.

He remained at home, recovering through the end of 2022. Roker returned to the NBC broadcast in January 2023.

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“Al being in hospital recently was very scary. (He) counts himself so lucky to get quick treatment and knows he’s lucky to be alive in the end,” source is reported only Us Weekly at the time. “He’s been so brave throughout this, never complaining or feeling too sorry for himself, always wanting to know how others are doing even when he’s at his lowest. At the moment, he is following all the doctors’ advice. “

Since his latest health scare, Roker has refocused on his health journey. This month he became Chief Motivation Officer for the Start Today fitness appproduced by the Today show

The app allows followers to get meal plans, daily motivation tips, fitness challenges and more wellness support in one place.