I was browsing around the net searching for "one month before sleeve diet" and thankfully this site came up, began reading all the wonderful post op and pre -op stories and quickly signed up to share my journey. I was thinking to myself, well since i have no support at home, minus well find some support online from people who are going through the same thing i have gone..

To start off , my name is Fina i am 21 years old and i am currently 236.2 my highest weight ever was 247.. and my lowest weight EVER was 197, which was around Jan-Feb of 2011.. yes i gained all my weight back... like most i have been over weight all my life, even when i was around 2-5, everyone even doctors said " it was just a phase", that i would lose it as i got older, but that never happened.

I don't want to blame my parents for my fatness, but when your growing up in a house filled with Dominican people its pretty hard to be on a diet, and what the heck! what does a 9 year old knows about counting calories, or exercising?..

Well to make things short, i never was a big fan of playing sports, i was more of the science nerd, chess playing, novelist writer and Godly reader, it was around middles school that i really came out and started playing basket ball and volley ball, we even won district undefeated and went to the finals, but we lost the second round and went home.. but it was the best time ever, i played 7Th and 8TH grade.. i was around 176, and in nine grade without sports, my weight went uuuuuup!!! bouncing every summer from 205-220... n then never really weighing myself 237-247...

My family, my father is very tall 6'5 n my brother was blessed with height, as well as my sister whom i should say stuck to my dad side, she is 14 and is taller than me 21.... she is around 5'6 and i am 5'4... she is around 135-140.. she is tall and thin.. flat belly.. i cant compare to her, so here comes mommy!!!... 5'4, weighing in guess what around my same weight shes probably less, 230-237, i feel shame every time we go out people think we are twins, she even looks younger than me!!!!

Point, i am tired of being fat, not wearing pretty clothes, having hugeee "fat handles", and two big roles of fat on my sides, and omg my thighs are like big o elephant legs!! with fat arms.. i have tried everything, hcg, cabbage diet, grape fruit, diet n exercise, slim fat, special k, n loads of pills, fruta planta, jillian, omg a lot of weird eBay pills, i lost weight yes, but did not kept it off..

co-workers, and friends... i would kept this a secret from them because people are so judge mental, especially at my job whom i can say either ur fat or u just had a baby lol.. and then stayed with the baby weight n gained some more.. the minute i was losing weight last summer, everyone was on top of me, oh ur Hispanic u should be proud of being fat y are u trying to be someone else.. hello are u for reallll!!! lol.. just because i want to improve my health, not have high blood pressure, no diabetes, no cholesterol, you think i am trying to be someone else, that i don't like my own skin, or self?... oh Ur losing weight too fast, Ur too skinny 197 u were fine the way u were, wow 197 too skinny? imagine when i get down to my goal weight 130 Ur going to think i have some type of disease!..

So guess what, for my future, my future children, i am going to use the aid of the gastric sleeve to lose the weight for ever, and totally change my lifestyle for the better!!! my mother still eeffy about it, just talks about it like its the most nastiest thing ever... and always adds negatives for me to change my mind, my dad thinks i am Crazy!!!... and i pray to God that he approves it!... my best friends tottally support me.. everyone else its still a secret..

what will i do and tell them when i start losing the weight... well right now i was on the lemonade diet, brought it to work shared it with everyone, did 3 weeks lost 11 pounds got some butt, lol.. loads of exercise.. so they see i am losing.. i talk about about p90x n how good it is, they know it works since i did it last time around i lost weight..

so this time around, i dont want any drama, my goal my dream.. i don't want to be obese and pregnant!! with loads of health conditions.. i want to have abs and show off my sexy thighs lol..

for the last 5 month i have been struggling to lose the weight, gaining instead of losing, last check in with the nutritionist is on Jan 19, got my scans done, hoping everything will go fine, cant wait for this summer, i got my goal jeans ready size 8 hoping to wear them before April.. i would love to be a size 6.. right now i am a size 16-- lowest being a 10.. so ugh i have been bad this year.. everyone deserves a new start!!!

Well this is it for now,, Blessings to all!!!!

ooh, january goal weight is 220.. i am 236.2 right now so i am hoping to lose 5 pounds a week by 1200 cal n burning between 800-1000 cal... a day!!,... got my elliptical machine and my Zumba PS3 move game!!!.. awesome!

I completely get what you are saying! I have always been big growing up and was at around 160 at my lowest when I was 16. Then I met my husband when I was 17. He is mexican and the weight piled on! lol I am now at my highest at 248. I loooove latin foods and will sorely miss them for a while. When I am able to make new versions of the foods I will be soooo happy. There is a dish that I think we make called rajas. We use poblano peppers, queso fresco, onion, hamburger meat, and a tomato based sauce. Its kinda like chile relleno but not fried and soup like. It is soooo gooood!! I think that would be something I could eat when I get far enough along...minus the cheese. lol I think I will be chatting with my therapist about food for the first couple of months! lol Good Luck and welcome!!