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!

Hello, this is a long story for me. So to keep it short. I was sleeved on 9-2. Weight 450. Single grandparent raising two grandchildren becuase my daughter died of cancer at 29. I work full time and so difficult to do that at this weight. I am glad I did this even though right now I don't feel it. glad to have found this forum.

Hi, you can call me Uncle Buck, and I'm a fat guy. The scales really don't support that statement these days, thus my screen name. However, once a fat guy, always a fat guy. I'm a bit more than two year out from surgery. I came within 15 pounds of my goal weight, which is good news-bad news. I'm content where I am, but I'd really like to get that last 15 pounds off to say I made it. To do that, I need to get my head back in the right place, which is why I'm here.

I was born a dirt poor fat guy. Men in my family fall into one of two categories: skinny as a rail or ginormous. I was one of the genetic lottery winners who fell into the ginormous category. I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't fat. There have a been few times when I was able to lower the tonnage a bit, but it never lasted. Sound familiar to anyone?

I'm probably also not telling anyone any secrets by saying that fat kids aren't generally treated very well by the little monsters known as children. I was not the exception to that rule. My childhood could not be called enjoyable. The best I can say about it is that it ended. I did learn a couple of fairly valuable lessons. The first was that if one gives a damn about what others think of them, it makes for a long childhood. I got over that. I also came to the realization that there was a lot bigger world than the podunk town where I grew up, I just needed to get there. Finally,I learned that I don't like kids and certainly didn't want any of my own. Little quasi-clones of me running around? The horror, the horror!

I mentioned earlier that I didn't exactly hit the genetic lottery in the gravity category. I did do fairly well in the brains category. Life got better for while when I hit college. I coasted through four years to my first bachelor's degree. I graduated out of the largest college at a pretty big school. Order of walking was by ranking, and I was the fifth out of about 500 people of walked that day. Not too shabby. However, I also found that I still didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life. At that point I made the biggest mistake of my life: I decided to go to law school.

Not to say that I didn't do well there. The genetic brains came in handy again, at least on paper. I graduated in the top 10 percent of a somewhat prestigious state school. However, I didn't really consider the reality that intelligence and ability usually don't mean squat, particularly in a highly competitive field. I didn't have any of the big three going for me: lots of money and high level contacts, a father/grandfather/uncle with a legal practice that I could move into, and I wasn't a hot female. About that time I started going through a process which became a recurring theme: everything looks good until the interviewer sees me, and at that point I may as well just leave. So I found myself with student loan debt that rivaled the trade deficit and no career prospects (remember the dirt poor bit from earlier?)

I chased a legal career for about 8 years with no success whatsoever. I don't want to sound as though I'm whining, but I think the primary reason for that was my weight. Okay maybe I'm whining, this is my spiel, I'm allowed. I had to come to grips with the fact that my window of opportunity had closed, and I had to come up with plan B. I remembered good advice I read once: if you want to get rich, do something that has to be done and no one else wants to do. I cast about for that job, and came across the occupational health and safety racket. Job that is needed: check. Job no one wants to do: check. Once can make pretty good money at it: check. Sign me up. A couple of years pursuing college degree number three in safety, and I actually found a job where they wanted me and didn't seem to care about my weight. Score!

Another unexpected consequence of changing my career was meeting my wife. I had given up on the concept of female congress, as a rule they don't care for ginormous guys. My wife didn't mind, and she actually got my sense of humor. Life was definitely looking up.

As most do, I wanted to advance my career. I did all the usual stuff, completed professional certifications, got college degree number four, a masters, yada yada yada. All I need now to bat the academic cycle is a PhD. Then that problematic interview game started again. Straight back to having outstanding phone interviews, and just watching the consternation on their faces when they actually saw me. You'd think I had a booger on my face or something.

This is where weight loss surgery comes in. I knew about it of course, but my basic idea was not just no, but hell no. I had been a bit of a curiosity in that I hadn't had any serious health problems associated with the ginormousness. However, my wife couldn't say that. She had weight loss surgery, and did fantastic. About the time she was at the peak of her fantasticness, I poured my copious arse into a plane seat and flew to yet another interview, to know within five minutes that I didn't have a hot dog's chance at a fat guys' convention of getting that job. I decided enough was enough and scheduled my initial consultation with my bariatric doc.

There's really not much to say about the process. The insurance company approved immediately, my surgery happened 90 days after my initial visit. The surgery went great, no complications. I was back to work in a week. The weight came off exactly as it was supposed to. I dropped about 140 in a year. One thing I did find interesting was that fact that my doc told me my stomach was 50 percent longer than an average, non-ginormous person. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but it did make feel a little bit less like an unmotivated slug.

I decided to try the job market again. If nothing else, it's a great way to see the inside of airports and meet new and boring people. Three job interviews. Three job offers. I talked my wife into letting me take number three.

The good news: I was finally making the money I should have been making 15 years ago. The bad news: people don't pay you a lot of money for taking over programs with no problems and in which everything is running smoothly. My stress level over the last year and a half has been quite high. Stress is not good for trying to get the last 15 pounds off. I don't think my diet could have been a lot worse. Every day I get on the scales expecting the weight to be coming back. Every day it stays right around 240. Having only 15 percent of a stomach can be a very good thing. I've had to remind myself that my life is not going to get less stressful, and the surgery isn't going to let me get away with being a sluggard for long. It's time to get back to business. Thus, this process of getting my head in the right place.

As an aside, you remember when I said my family produces either stick men or ginormousness? One of the reasons I never wanted children was an assumption that they would be ginormous like dad. Thus, me taking a dip in the gene pool was not a good idea. My brother was one of the stick figures. One of my nephews hit the ginormous gene lottery. People assume that he's my get. Remember my comment about the horror? He's 14 and already approaching 300. I really wish I could spare him the years that my weight cost me. At the same time, I guess he needs to find his own path. I suppose the cycle continues.

I really didn't plan on posting this, I just wanted to spew it out and then delete it. On second thought, I think I will post it. Anyone who has made it through to the end of this diatribe, my hat is tipped to you.

@@formerfatguy, hilarious and heartfelt. You should add author to your list of careers. seriously! Good luck with the last 15.

Hi i am candi single mother of three 20 year old daughter, 18 year old son and 11 year old. I am currently a social worker for the city of NY. I just had my sleeve surgery 7/6/2015. This year have been a year of completion. The surgery, completing my master's and the baby starting middle school. I hope 2016 will be a year of travel and promotion.

I am now a little worried because, well for one i have to find a new doctor because the one that did the surgery almos killed me... my surgery was a little drastic since the doctor perforated my mesenteric artery and i had to be rushed to another hospital to find out 10 hours later after the oroginal anesthesia that a cut had to be made almost through my whole abdomen so my life can actually be saved!! Now I've lost since may 22nd up to today september 14th 2015 "98" pounds !!!!! Anyone here lost that much??? Please share im kind of worried since this doctor obviously i cant see him again for personal reasons but i was told i would loose 100 pounds within a year and it has been 3 months and a half!!! Super worried here !!

Another newbie -- finally approved for surgery, and the date is set... 10/21. I've thought about it on and off for years, and made the decision to do it.

I live just outside Atlanta, GA, with my bf, dog and 2 cats. I keep promising my pup that I will start running with her, but haven't managed to be able to do that yet. Hopefully within the next year I will be able to keep that promise to her

The bf is very anxious about the surgery, mainly because me going under the knife scares him. But he is being very supportive, he's just a worrier. He's got planned time off already.

I've managed to lose about 30 lbs in the months leading up to surgery, so that is exciting. Im a little disappointed its not for another month -- but work and already planned vacation are pushing it out a bit.

Hi All,

I'm Monica, I'm 45 today. My surgery date is 10/13/15 and I'm super excited. I live south of Atlanta, GA (nice to see other Georgian's here!) in a golf cart community. I am married to a wonderful man and together we have 4 amazing kids... my daughter is (23), a step-daughter (29), step-son (21) and our little miracle is (4).

I was never overweight as a child, but I do recall always being aware of my weight and self-concscious of my appearance. I didn't start putting the weight on until after I had my daughter. I was in a bad relationship and looking back now I can see how I turned to food for comfort. Fast forward 23yrs and 135lbs and I find myself scared to death about leaving this earth while my children still need me, especially my baby boy.

I have been blessed with the ability to stay home with our little guy and I want to enjoy every single minute of it! I have read countless posts, viewed hundreds of videos and have spoken with numerous professionals. I am confident in my decision to have this surgery and I can't wait to get to the "other side".

I'm always open to new friends and connections, so feel free to add me if you'd like!

Hi all, I'm Dawn and just turned 40. I am brand new to this forum and have already found it to contain so much information. I have been reading pretty much non-stop for the past two days.

I have been over 230 pounds since 2002. I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2005 and have not been able to get it under control. I did lose about 35 lbs after I had my first child. I ran a half marathon, started yoga, and got down to my lowest weight (in a long time!) of 206. Then I got pregnant with my second and just let myself pile the weight back on. I've been at about 250 since 2013. Despite my weight woes, I stay active and go to boxing 3x a week, walk, and go to yoga when I can fit it in. I also do Beachbody Body Pump and other at-home workout dvds. It's the eating that is just not under control!

I went for a free seminar with a local surgeon a few months ago but didn't continue after that visit. He wanted $700 at my first consultation to cover the nutrition classes and his consult which I thought was a little strange. I'm moving forward tomorrow and calling a couple of other places based on recommendations here.

I have two little girls who are 4 1/2 and almost 2. My 4 year old has made innocent comments such as "is there a baby in your belly?" and "why is your tummy so big?" and I have had to fight to stay composed and not break down in front of her. I don't want her to think I am ashamed. I don't say the word fat around her...but the reality is that I am miserable and unhealthy and not a good example for my own daughters. The other night at bedtime, she called me a heifer/heffer. She has no idea what it means and I have no idea where she learned that word - but I started thinking "did one of her friends at daycare call me that?" I am doing this for ME but I do not want my children to suffer teasing or be embarrassed because they have a fat mom.

I work full time from home as a government contracts program manager. I work for a wonderful company that is flexible so now is the right time to get this started. I discussed with my husband and he fully supports me. He has loved me at every weight and I couldn't do it without his support!

Thank you all for sharing your stories and experiences so freely here. I hope to add to the knowledge and conversation as my journey moves forward. <3

I'm Amy. I am a mom and a real estate agent. Both jobs I love. My daughter is a senior in high school (17), my son is a Freshman (15) and my other son is in sixth grade (11). They keep me so busy, but I love being their mom. We are a very active family. My husband is a doctor and that is a blessing and curse:) He suggested lap band to me 10 years ago and I shrugged it off until about a year ago. At that point, I felt like I actually HAD tried every diet there is! I'm scared of failing again even with my sleeve. I went to meet with my surgeon originally about lap band, but between her and a friend who was sleeved a year ago, I thought this was a better fit. I'm looking forward to enjoying our active life without high blood pressure, joint pain and being tired all the time. We love to travel, ride horses, go to the lake and attend sporting events, theater, opera and concerts. You name it and we will likely try it!

I'm happy to have found a support system here that can fit into my busy life.

Being brand new to this forum, I love that I stumbled upon this today!

My name is Karyn Hott, I'm 47, soon to be 48! I'm from Chandler, Arizona. I'm married to a wonderful man and have an amazing son, Kris and daughter-in-law, Amanda who are expecting their first child in late March 2016. Tests show they are having a baby girl and I can't wait to be a nana!

We have 3 crazy dogs at home, 2 pit bull mixes and a Chihuahua who runs the house. I also have a beautiful paint mare who is amazing! Horses have always been important to my soul and I can't wait to ride again!

Right now, I'm fighting an ankle injury that won't heal along with being newly diagnosed with Diabetes, having RA for since 2002, Asthma, HBP, Hypothyroidism, GERD, blah, blah, blah....

I weighted about 227 back in 2010, lost weight with WW and running; ended up trashing my back. Had a spinal fusion and another injury laid me up, no more running and 90 pounds later, I realized I needed to do something, so I looked into the lapband procedure however when I met with my bariatric surgeon, I was told it really wasn't an option due to my RA...The sleeve is the procedure he is most comfortable with. I left there last week wondering about whether or not I should do the sleeve...

Have to be honest...still not sure but so very thankful to find this forum as I think the more I read about the sleeve, the better educated I'll be to make that final decision come the end of March. Because my grand daughter is due at the end of March, the surgery may have to wait a month...but I think I may go for it...I just keep reading about the maintaining of weight and how much better it is for my overall health to be at a healthy weight...

Anyway...thanks for letting me share a bit of my story and read yours!

Hi I'm Dede and I'm new to this forum. I have just finished my six month medically montoritored weight loss program for insurance purposes. My paperwork is with dictation and will be submitted by the end of th is week. Then I have to wait another 1-2 weeks to get my approval and be scheduled. I'm still hoping for early November.

I'm 60 years old new, married mom of five and career woman. Four of my kids are grown and married and I have one late in lifer still at home. I love to read, am a woman of faith, sing on our praise team when I can and enjoy my grandkids. My mom had gastric bypass surgery almost 20 years ago and although she has multiple problems with low blood sugar and dumping (becasue she makes bad choices) she has never regretted it. I lost my weight between child 2-3 but after two more pregnacies one on top of the other, I never lost weight and have steadily climbed. I can't take wieght loss drugs due to minimal cardiac disease. I also have fibromyalgia, spondolosis in my lower back which make some exercise difficult. I am pre-diabetic and had gestational diabetes with my last baby. I also have sleep apnea.

I've decided to go with the sleeve procedure. I don't want to mess around with malabsorption and I've seen that was a problem with my mom getting older. I have just about 100lbs to lose.

I'm wondering if anyone reaches a 100% goal and how fast they move between clothing sizes so I can be prepared to have something to wear to work. LOL

Glad to have found the forumn.

DeDe

I am Amber. I am married to my wonderful husband and have a 14 year old daughter. I am a nurse on a surgical unit in Lakeland, FL. I have been heavy since I was in 4th grade. I am the only heavy person in my family, I mean the ONLY one.

I feel like my weight has always held me back from life. I didn't go to my senior prom because I felt like I was to heavy to look good in a dress, and have always steered clear of family events because I didn't want my skinny family whispering about how much weight I have gained.

I had a lap band place in 2008 and lost about 40lbs. After I got married I gained it all back plus another 20lbs. I had the lap band removed in May and had the sleeve 2 days ago. I am on Clear liquids for another day and pretty miserable. I have had quite a bit of pain, especially gas pains. Hoping it will get better soon. I am excited to start my journey.

Hi Karen

I'm Heidi. I live in East Bay from San Francisco

I've been married to my Alan for 32 years! I'm a Christian and I love Jesus.

I have a grown and married 28 year old daughter named Corinne who is pregnant with our first grand child, a girl. And a grown 26 year old son named Winston, who is still living with us.

I am an Executive with a company called NuSkin. Which was brought to my family when I was pregnant with my son!

I'm extremely creative. I draw, paint, and crochet.

I also sing and play the harp.

I have two beautiful big white fluffy Samoyed dogs.

I love my family

We are living with and taking care of my 89 year old Father in law named Archie.

My mom lives in Reno. She is up and down emotionally and is very hard on us and emotionally abusive very frequently.

I have not had surgery yet, but going to orientation in 2 weeks and meeting with dietician and surgeon same day

This is my weight issues story:

I'm just beginning my journey.

My story is that like most I've been on so many diets.

Last year (July 2014) I was at my lowest in a long time (201 lbs) and even won a weight loss challenge contest.

But since, I've again gained much, not all back.. Today I am 241.

I'm so tired of the up and down.

My problem is a little food just doesn't satisfy me.. I'm still hungry..

So I want the sleeve surgery.

I went to weight loss class

In 2 weeks (Oct 29th) I go to Orientation and then meet with the Surgeon and the Dietician.

I want to try and drop some weight before so that maybe the surgeon will give me my surgery date

I have issues with my mother (actually my brothers, and many other people do as well... Not just me) which is tied to my inheritance from my father..

One of my motivations is to be emotionally and financially free from my mom

Heidi

I'm Michelle...I'm Steve's wife and Gaby's mom. I work full time outside the home and have an active family life, due primarily to the fact that my 11 year-old is into EVERYTHING. Soccer...band...the school play...school government...accelerated learning program....you get the picture. And...I forgot to mention that Gaby and I both play roller derby too.

I've been "heavy" all my life. I use the quotation marks because when I was young, I wasn't fat, but I sure thought I was! Because of the way I carry my weight (mostly in my boobs and belly), I was made to think my body wasn't right. Oh what I would give to be that "fat" today!

Like many of us here, I have tried every diet in the book, with varied levels of success. One common theme is that I've NEVER hit my goal weight...EVER!!! That and the weight and a little more always finds its way back onto my person. I haven't been under 200 pounds since I was in my 20's (almost 20 years ago). After my mom was sleeved last year, I didn't think this would be the thing for me. As I struggled more and more, and saw her successes...I started to think maybe it was the right tool for me.

I went to the overview class and then asked my doctor for a referral. With my long history of obesity and newly diagnosed sleep apnea, she agreed that a referral was warranted. I've now been to my orientation class and seen the Nurse Practitioner...I meet the surgeon and take a lifestyle and nutrition class next week. My psych eval is scheduled for November 20th. I'm hoping for surgery by the end of the year, but I know that it will happen in due time.

I'm looking forward to interacting with this forum more and the start of my new, healthier, more active life!