5 min read Gary Biser, 40, a corporate executive chef from Saint Petersburg, Florida, used food as an unhealthy coping mechanism to deal with his parents’ divorce and later to cope with self-image issues. At his heaviest, his weight reached approximately 500 pounds, and he developed a number of health issues including a prediabetes diagnosis. When his doctor bluntly told him he didn’t have long to live at this rate, Gary made some huge changes that helped him lose 315 pounds. Most importantly, he’s learned to love the man staring back at him in the mirror. Read on to learn more. I STRUGGLED WITH weight most of my life. Looking back, I feel like my weight gain was from a combination of reasons. I definitely had some unhealthy eating habits, but the cause of my weight gain wasn’t really about any food. It was much more about deep struggles I had with my self-esteem. When I was young, my parents went through a very difficult divorce .…