When Tim Armstrong says he’s seen it all, he actually means it. “I was traveling 300 days a year. I’ve been around the world a dozen times…pick a god-forsaken place, I’ve been there at least twice. Helicopter, ship, submarine, airplanes -- you name it, I’ve been on it.”

The son of a Navy mechanic, Tim joined the Navy in 1977 and worked with sonar and electronics while serving aboard the U.S.S. Capodanno. After leaving the military in 1987 he worked as a Navy support engineer until he returned home to Raleigh in 1996. Tim went to work for the telecommunication solutions provider Tekelec in RTP, where he and his teammates have worked to make it possible for the rest of us to enjoy modern conveniences such as keeping our mobile phone numbers when we change phone carriers and voting for our favorite contestants on American Idol via text message.

“All my life I’ve been bulletproof,” he says. “And I treated myself that way. I’ve always have lousy eating habits because I was always on the run.” But when he landed at a desk job, his weight climbed to 460 pounds, and soon he was losing his breath just by walking across his office parking lot.

More than a year and a half after weight loss surgery at Duke, Tim is not only back in action -- he’s something of an unstoppable force. Between climbing mountains with his hiking club, volleyball team, and jogs with his black lab, Jack -- who himself lost nearly 20 pounds after Tim’s surgery -- he sat down with Duke to talk about his experience.

On the Desk-Job Effect

I’ve been overweight all my life -- I haven’t been less than 200 pounds since the 8th grade. But I was never obese. I was always just the big guy. After I stopped smoking my weight started to creep up. I was at 280 when I started at Tekelec. There I was working 90 to 95 hours a week -- no travel. All we had was eating…we’d start talking about lunch at 9 a.m. I put on 125 pounds in just over two years.

By 2000 I realized I had to do something, so I tried really hard, counted calories, cut out all the junk food, and I got down to 323. But then from 2002 to 2005 I went up to 460.

On his Relationship with Food

I’m a “see-food” guy: if I see food, I eat it. I never felt full, and I had a horrible sweet tooth. When I was in the Navy I never had a lot of sweets around. But about seven or eight years ago, this table showed up at work during the holidays -- we called it the 12 days of cholesterol -- and it never went away. It was at the end of the row of cubes in my office, and people would bring in all types of treats. Every time I would walk by I’d take something…we’d even send out text messages to tell everybody when there was food.

On his Personal Tipping Point

For my 25th wedding anniversary, I flew my wife and son across the country to spend three weeks in Northern California. We were in the redwood forests, looking at all these great big old trees, and I had to sit down and rest every 200 feet because I hurt so much. It drove me to get my act together: I thought, I’m 46 years old, and I was kidding myself, thinking someday I would lose all this weight.

I went to one of Duke’s informational seminars in November 2005, and Dr. Grant told me that at 460 pounds, I had only about a 65 percent chance of reaching age 65. And I realized that’s pretty lousy odds. My family members live into their 90s, they’re all still kicking, and I who should have a reasonably good chance of living to my late 80s might not even make it past 65.

On his Health before the Surgery

I had high blood pressure -- 150/120 -- and terrible sleep apnea. [My wife] Susan and my family didn’t like to ride in the car with me because they were afraid I would fall asleep and drive off the road. I had a sleep study done before I had the surgery, and in the first three hours they monitored me, I stopped breathing about 147 times. My wife has never been one to push things, but I knew she’d been really worried about me for a long time.

I work with a great bunch of folks who I have considered my friends for the past 10 years, and they told me they all just figured my weight would kill me one of these days. By the end of each workday I could barely walk to my truck, I was hurting so bad. My knees were giving me hell, my back was giving me hell, I lived on pain pills most of the time just so I could move around. I would wake up choking in the middle of the night from a combination of acid reflux and sleep apnea.

I felt like I wasn’t participating in life anymore, like I was always on the sidelines. My whole life I’d always gone at it a thousand percent. I’ve traveled all over the world, and I loved it, because it was always a new challenge. And then suddenly I couldn’t tie my shoes anymore. Sitting [with my legs crossed] would be impossible. I couldn’t fit into a coach seat on a plane, or even a normal office chair. Out of a lifetime of being able to do whatever I wanted and get away with it… Now I couldn’t even walk to my truck without feeling worn out. My life had become an endless list of problems, pains, and pills. I was becoming very depressed that I just couldn’t do anything to turn it around.

On his Relationship to Food Now

My relationship with food is completely different. I used to live for meals, and now food is something that I eat because I need to. There are still things I enjoy eating, but it’s not like it used to be. I used to drink a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi a day, now I don’t drink soda at all.

Every Wednesday for six years [my colleagues and I have] gone to eat Mexican for lunch. I always liked to eat steak fajitas, but now I can’t eat more than about a third of an order so I find other things to eat. I can still eat barbecue, but I just don’t eat a dozen hushpuppies anymore. And now I really love fruit and vegetables and just can’t seem to get enough of them. I have discovered lots of new foods and I feel so much better because I know I am eating right these days instead of living on junk food and my all my deep fried favorites. I also have a trigger to tell me when I have eaten enough -- which is something that I never had before surgery.

Everybody’s response [to foods like sweets after the surgery] is different. I had a cast-iron stomach before the surgery and I still do, but if I eat too much sugar or fried foods I get a headache, my stomach feels lousy, and I feel blah in general for a few hours. But I actually appreciate that; it helps to keep me on the right path.

His Advice to Others

Unlike all those magic weight loss ads and diets this really works -- if you are dedicated to [doing your part]. You have to do the work and follow the [rules of what you can and can’t eat] to be successful long term. I have been successful because I eat right, exercise regularly, and take care of myself.

The surgery is a tool that will help you solve your obesity issues, but it’s not a cure all. It’s not going to solve all of life’s problems for you.

On the Slim Life

Now I’m the size I was when I graduated high school in 1977. It’s like I’ve found a fountain of youth -- I’m doing stuff I haven’t done in years. I play volleyball, hike up mountains, go to the gym, take a walk, or run with my dog -- in the first year after surgery I walked and hiked over 1,000 miles. I never was the kind of person to sit around and do nothing, and now I’m back to living my life again instead of watching it pass me by. I just wish I had did this 10 years ago and saved myself from years of pain and suffering.

Overall life is just so much easier for me now at 220 pounds. My work life has also changed: I have moved to a much more demanding and responsible position as a lead test manager. I believe my weight loss was a big part of the reason I was promoted, because I am much more focused on my work now instead of my health problems. I recently had a wellness test done at work which included a full blood screen, and I was thrilled to see that I was ranked in the most healthy rating group: all my blood test results were in the normal ranges. Even my cholesterol level, which had been 240 for years, was now 168. I living my life again instead of just trying to survive another day.