Surely you are someone outside of your surgery and struggles with our weight. You have interests and dislikes and families- jobs and hobbies. And honestly- yes it is exciting to have this stool and to be on the journey- but hasn't there been enough focus all our lives on just our weight?

I know VST is dedicated to our VSG stories, but I sort of think that who we are makes our VSG surgeries that much more meaningful.

So I'll go first...

I'm Danielle. I'm 27 and I have three sisters and one nephew. I am unmarried and have no children. I work full time running the office for a respiratory company. This semester I am also attending college full time via online classes. I'm now also trying to squeeze in going to the gym three times a week.

I suffer from PCOS and had this surgery to help increase my chances of having a family of my own one day.

I am a TOTAL girly girl! I love the color pink, I like Hello Kitty the way others like Betty Boop or Tinkerbell, and I HATE HATE HATE spiders! I'm not much of an outdoorsie person- my idea of roughing it is five girls and one bathroom. That being said I do love to garden and can't wait for spring.

I love anything to do with 16th century european history and am a total fanatical nut when it comes to Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. My favorite movie and book of allllllllll time is Gone With the Wind. I love watching old movies with my mom- our favorites are Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, anything with Doris Day and the Tammy movies. We also make a point of watching A League of Their Own together whenever it is on tv. I'm close with my Dad but sometimes I feel like we don't have anything in common.

Prior to surgery I loved home cooked food! (Along with chinese and pizza hut haha) I still enjoy cooking for my family (One sister, my parents and I all live together for economic reasons) and resumed cooking them meals within a few days of coming home from the hospital. I have a dog, she is a chihuahua/yorkie mix. Her name is Gypsy and well... she is sort of a monster!! I <3 her tho!

Now it's your turn!! Tell us who you are!

Hi there. I've just found this site & I thought I'd introduce myself.

My name is Alex, I'm 43 & come from Staffordshire in England. I've had a weight problem since I was 19-20 that has steadily got worse. After trying different ways of losing weight & prompting by my GP & the nurse that runs the Obesity Clinic at the GPs surgery I was referred for bariatic surgery.

I has my VSG surgery on the 21st May this year at Walsall Manor Hospital & so far things have being going pretty good.

When I was accepted for surgery on 23rd March this year, I weighed 38 stone & 6 pounds (538 pounds).

At my weekly weigh-in yesterday, I was down to 21 stone & 7 pounds (301 pounds).

(I'm 6' 4" tall BTW).

I'm still a little way off my ultimate target weight but I'm getting close & estimate I should hit it in Feb.

So, hi to you all!

Hello everyone, it's been a few weeks since I've been own here while I had my foot surgery a week ago so I haven't been able to do much walking. So I found my old ab lounge xl. So for the last 3 days I've been able to do two hundred sit ups a day.i could never be able to do that but it feels so good I've lost 7 more pounds. Which is good but I want to do better. Had my 6weeks check up and my doctor says I'm doing great. So I want see him for the next 3months so I want to no what see how much I can lose between than I'm 279 now so I would like to be at least 240 by the time I go back we will see pray for me. But my foot is stoping me from getting in the gym for the next month so have to just workout at home. But I think I can do it. So good luck to everyone. We will talk soon love Andrea

Hello everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. I got serious about gastric sleeve surgery back in July after talking with someone that was very satisfied with the results. I've been lurking around the board for about the past month, trying to learn as much as possible on what to expect pre and post surgery.

I am on a "fast track" for surgery and in the past 2 weeks had my initial doctor visit, psych eval, 1st nut counciling, EEG, chest x-ray, ultrasounds and blood work. I got notice today that my insurance has approved my surgery. I am scheduled for Dec 27th. I go into the doc's office this Sat. for my pre-op diet counciling. Next stop surgery.

Since I have to have my surgery in Houston, TX (the only insurance approved hospitals near me) it is a 2 hour drive 1 way and I am looking for support groups in the Beaumont area. I found a thread that is about 4 months old talking about a Beaumont support group.

Does anyone have more current info about any groups in the Beaumont area?

Thanks for everything you guys have shared, it has really helped me prepare.

My name is Gillian. I stumbled across this forum. It seems pretty active, it's hard to find a active( current) online forum. Glad I found you. I started my two week pre-op diet today. My surgery is scheduled for 12/26/12. I've moved from fear to total excitement , can't wait to begin my journey and to interact with the members on this forum????

Hi! My name is Lauren and I'm newly 20 years old. I do not have any children and I'm currently in college. I will probably be one of the youngest ones to post here, as I am one of my doctor's youngest patients. Both of my parents are average weight, along with the rest of my family. I believe that I just picked up the horrible habit of eating when I'm stressed, happy, or sad. Growing up I was always dieting and It's finally my turn to be happy. My surgery date is January 4th, 2013 and I'm beyond ready to escape this body.

My name is Lisa and i am 47. I am newly married to a wonderful man He is 9 years younger than me so that puts me into "Couger Status." I have two children: Ashley 21..thank god she has first husand's genes and JT (20) who has non verbal Autism. He is my heart. I am a volleyball addict. I play 4-5 times a week depending on the season. I formed a women's team this year and we came first in the tournament and second in the league. I play alright for a 47 year old 240 pound chick. However I never played in High School and I developed Asthma when I moved to Virginia. I am hoping my athleticism will improve. Interestingly enough, during my surgery the doctor discovered I had a Hiatal Hernia which I suspect made things worse. I am two weeks out. Today is my first post appointment. ps I thought I was pretty good with computers but I can't add my picture or edit my profile. So I guess not so much. It is nice to read your stories. Thank you for sharing.

Hi, everyone.

I am Ginger, 30 yrs old, and married to my Prince Charming (Donny). He brought 3 children to our marriage- Andrew- 17, Caitlin- 15, and Justin- 7. The two boys live with us. And... September 17, 2012, our bundle of joy was born to a mother who could not keep her, and we brought home our little Brooklyn from the hospital. We have 3 months before the adoption is final. <3 Brooklyn is Korean/American, and my shining star- since I was/am unable to conceive.

I am employed by (don't hate me) one of America's leading health insurance company. I absolutely love working for them. My husband owns his own painting company- has been painting for over 20 years. It was a family owned business that my husband is now taking over.

My life consists of church, church, and more church. We are the youth leaders, and on the praise team at our local assembly. My husband plays the drums, I play the piano, and I also sing.

I have 4 brothers and a sister- and 20 nieces and nephews, 4 great nephews, and a great niece. Whew! Big family!

I am nearly 3 weeks out, and I am 27 lbs down. My biggest thing is learning to stay off the scales!!! I am addicted to them. Sad story.

http://www.facebook....463798890325718

Hi I am new here and just had the sleeve on Dec. 6, 2012

Begaing weight 294 lbs...now i am 274 lbs

I am going on my 3rd week and healing great.

If anyone wants to be friends so we can share our progress please add me

Happy Changing!

Merry Christmas everyone. I am 43 years old and have been married for 25 1/2 years. I have 2 boys, One amazing grandson and 2 on the way. I work for bluecross blueshield insurance. My husband and I have been in the ministry for several years and that is our heart and passion.

I had my surgery done in July in Mexico. I desire to be healthy with more energy is why I had the surgery. Praying I don't fall off the wagon. :-).

Hi everyone!

My name is Angie and I am 38 years old and currently live in Austin, TX with my best friend and husband, Mike and our spirited 4-yr old son. I was born and raised in Minnesota (Twin Cities) and was very thin until about 19, when my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. It seemed to be a "trigger event" for me and I found comfort in food. I've been yo-yo dieting every since with my highest weight being 283.

When I was 23 I moved to Phoenix, AZ where I spent 11 years and met my fabulous husband. We've been married for 11 years this past May.

I lost a grandma to diabetes and while I have been lucky to not exhibit any weight-related issues so far (no co-morbidities and a BMI currently around 35 means I'm self-pay), I feel it's only a matter of time since I have both heart issues and diabetes in my family. I've been able to lose weight many times, but it's always a temporary reprieve and I go back up (I was 159 as recently as June 2011).

I am currently the database coordinator for a large church in Minnesota and am blessed beyond measure to be able to telecommute! Working from home has been a dream come true for me. The only issue is that is keeps me even more sedentary than a desk job at an office would, so I'm going to have to find a way to overcome that and find some motivation to exercise!

I'm a little more than 2 weeks away from being sleeved by Ariel Ortiz in Mexico and I can't wait!!

ooooops

I'm 54 years old. I'm married to a most wonderful man for 36 years. No children. I have battled my weight throughout my adult life. Getting past 30 pounds of weight loss has been tough, that seems to be my plateau that I have never been able to beat. I have even confounded doctors. I told my surgeon that I dieted my way up to 230lbs.

I had my sleeve done December 31st and came home yesterday. I did what my doctor and his staff asked of me so I did so well I got to come home! I'm looking forward to the new me!

My name is Paula and I am 1 month post-op. I am 44 years old and divorced for 6 years. I have two children (boys) ages 16 (17 in a month) and 13. We live in St. Augusta, MN. I work in St. Cloud MN as a Property Manager, Accountant. I really love my job and love being where I am in my life right now. I have a wonderful man that has been my rock and savior since the divorce. My hobbies are old movies, reading, riding motorcycle and camping. We have a permanent camper up North that we visit as much as possible in the summer and try to get there a couple times a month in the winter.

My weight has yo-yoed all my life. I came to the conclusion that I could not go on trying myself when I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. This was on top of my high cholestral and high blood pressure. I was talking to my mother one night and she said "well you are just destined to be fat like the rest of us." (the women on her side are rather heavy) I then decided that "NO I'M NOT" I was going to do something about it. I started looking into the WLS and found that the Sleeve procedure was what i felt was the best fit for me. My goal is to loose 60 lbs but I am really hopping to loose more like 90. I hope to never have to go back to the weight I was and to live a healthier and happy lifestyle.

I was reading through the posts and noticed that someone else liked old movies - I love Gone with the Wind, and also anything with Doris Day in. I could sit and watch old movies for ages!

Hello All,

First my name is Corey and I think this is a great idea for people to introduce themselves. I'm married to a wonderful woman and I'm also the proud father of two beautiful girls. My surgery date is Jan 30th 2013 and I'm looking forward to a new lease on life. My current weight is 320 lbs and I'm hoping to reach my target weight of 225 lbs. I'm looking to meet some great people here to share stories and hopefully answer some questions I may have while I embark on this Journey. Good luck to all.

Hi everyone,

I'm JT (No...JT doesn't stand for Jive Turkey) married with 4 kids ages 4 to 24. I work in the pharmaceutical industry, however, I stay quite busy with various charitable organizations with the goal of impacting the lives of others. Needless to say I seemed to have neglected myself over the years, but I'm choosing to do something about that by focusing on this tool (VGS) to help me with my health and my family. My current weight is 330 lb my goal is to get back to my college football playing weight of 230 lb , so I can give my self a chance at seeing my youngest child go to college. I'm hoping to use this platform as a resource to help me during my journey to live a healthier life style.

JT