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!

I am a 41 year old Mom from NJ. My wonderful daughter is 11 years old. I had my VSG done at Monmouth Medical in 2014. I lost about 50 lbs and since then I have put on about 30 pounds. I foolishly though that there was no way I would put weight back on after the sleeve, I have been in therapy and have discovered how much of my weight problem has almost nothing to do with my physical need or desire for food. For me, food is my emotional frenemy. I seek food for comfort, I eat when I'm bored, to Celebrate, and when I'm feeling sad. I'm embarrassed that I've regained this much weight back and I'm physically uncomfortable. I am going through a divorce, selling my house and starting a new job, the stress of both major events doesn't exactly help matters! I am looking for my spark, my motivation to get back on track somehow. If anyone has experienced weight gain and was able to get back on track I would love to hear your story.

My name is Ann, I'm a 44 year old single mom from NY. I have 4 children ages 12-22. I was in an abusive marriage that took me 20 years to get out of.

I finally got divorced in 2014, took the kids to Myrtle Beach for our fresh start.....

God must have had other plans.....my ex disappeared as did all my child support, I had a major seizure causing traumatic brain injury and a brain cyst .....

So now I'm back living in freezing NY so my family and friends can help me since I can't drive and cant work.....praying that disability will be approved for us ....I guess I will never see a dime of child support

Going through the steps to get approved for my surgery , HW 365 high blood pressure , deciding on the sleeve or the DS ......

As for my interests , country music, Disney, camping, the beach , scrapbooking .....I used to be s homeschool soccer mom before I got sick ????

Sent from my N9132 using the BariatricPal App

I am 42 years old and still married to my high school sweetheart (25 years next month). We have 2 grown children (Ash 23 and Garrett 20) that we are very proud of. Garrett is in the national guard and at college on full scholarship. Ash married her childhood sweetheart and they have a 3 year old. Ash also works for me in our family owned business.

I enjoy spending time with my family more than anything in this world. I also love hiking, traveling and watching movies.

I'm 44 years old and I am a former fraud analyst - I have been disabled for many years, but still manage to freelance as a web designer from time to time. I have 2 children (Ayla is 25 and Michael is 8). I also have a husband who is 35 years old and a former law enforcement officer. We have 5 cats (Midnight, Nala, Stache, Severe and Tiger Lily), 2 sugar gliders (Scout is 9 and Soluna is 8) and 2 dogs (Claude the Labrador is 10 and Pixie the long haired chihuahua is 6). We also have 5 grandsons (Trysten is 9, Dayton is 7, KJ is 5, Nathyn is 4 and Jason is 2).

I live in North Central Florida - right in the middle between Gainesville and Jacksonville, essentially. I was born in Michigan but was an Air Force brat so we moved a lot when I was a kid - Maine, Alabama, the Panama Canal Zone in Central America, etc. - until dad retired to Florida in 1982. I lost my dad in 2014 but mom still lives in the same house they bought when dad retired. Since then I have lived all over the place myself - New York, South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, all over Florida, etc.

Despite living in the sunshine state I hate the heat, prefer cool weather, miss the snow and hate the idea of getting into the ocean and lakes (I had no problem with that in my youth... as I aged I realized there were hungry things in there and I was likely delicious LOL) I do love scrapbooking, crafts, reading, music and movies.

My weight has been an issue for me pretty much my whole life and I am very glad to have started my weight loss journey - I am determined to look in the mirror one day and see myself and I was "supposed" to look from the start!

My surgery is scheduled for May 9th. It has been a long journey, and I am over the moon.

I am 48 and married to my wonderful husband for 20 years (June 27). I have never been thin but was always healthy and athletic. My body was beautiful, and I never had any issues. My husband has loved me and supported me at every size I've been.

I have two amazing sons. One who is heading off to college this fall, he is 17. My other son is 15 and a sophomore. My husband is active duty USARMY and like both my sons, wrestled when he was young. All three of my "guys," actually four (my 90-year-old father lives with us after my Mom's death last summer) guys are in great shape. I am tired of being the fat one on all of our family photos. I do avoid photos, but every once in a while one sneaks in.

After menopause, my weight gain has increased, and I have not had success losing weight using the tools that worked for me in the past. I have other health issues that are impacted by my weight gain. My Mom passed away on May 11th of last year. She was only 72 but did not take good care of her health. As I sat with her in her hospital room after all life support was removed, just talking to her and telling her how much I loved her, I promised her that I would take care of my dad. I promised I would take care of myself better and that I would lose the weight. She could not talk, but I know that she heard me.

It is so fitting that my surgery will be almost one year to the anniversary of her death. I know she will be with me.

My name is Charlene. I am 45yrs old, never married, no children (I blame my weight for both if these, since it causes me to have NO confidance) I work with 2 yr olds ft. I have been overweight (morbidly obese) since I was about 10yrs old and put on massive doses of steroids for a hormonal imbalance, which I later found out I never had. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and back,knee and shoulder arthritis. I have always loved softball, and hope to play again some day. I am having my sleeve done in June, and I am scared. I am not scared of the life changes, I am more afraid of complications. I am having the surgery not only for my health, but also so I can START living my life!

I'm Angi. Hello. I'm 41. I am a mother of two teenagers 18 and 14, who are pretty independent of me. I think I may have empty nest syndrome already, even though the 14 y.o is still living at home. My husband is a driver and it takes him away from the house up to 6 days a week. I work. I'm a preschool teacher in an infant and toddler program. I am pretty active all day, but I love to eat. I love sweets and breads. Food is always available at my job, all day long. And I think I have very little self control, which is how I ended up being the size I am. Heaviest weight was 284. I'm 5'5
I started my journey with weight loss surgery inquiry in October of 2016. My classes began in November 2016 and I finished them at the end of February 2017. I finally met with my surgeon and I have a date for surgery on August 3rd 2017. I'm going through Kaiser Permenente of S.Ca.
I am excited and nervous... I have lost a little bit of weight in preparation but it's been very slow going. I can't wait to get the ball rolling.

Hello my name is Kim!

I am a wife to my wonderful husband and a mother to my amazing kids, 3 & 2 years old, phew! I am starting on my journey to gastric sleeve surgery. My endoscopy is tomorrow so I'm nervous! Im 4'10 and 181 and would love to get down to 105 or 100 since Im so short. Looking forward to having support here!

Hello my name is Denise. I live in California. I'm on a journey to have the Bariatric sleeve. I currently weigh 211 & I'm 5' 1/2". I have struggled with trying to lose weight for about 36 yrs now. That the age of my youngest child.[emoji38] Even though I have been going to the gym for 2 yrs it wasn't until I learned that excercise is only 20% of losing weight.[emoji34] so i joined a Healthy Balance class offered by my Kaiser Ins. That's when I really started to lose the weight. The surgery is so that I can get rid of the diabetes medz and be a more healthy 62yrs old.

Sent from my SM-T530NU using BariatricPal mobile app

Good idea, thanks!

I’m 42, married to my high school sweetheart. Our only son just graduated high school. I enjoy our horses and dogs, walking and swimming. My hobby is barrel racing, which I hope to get to do more and easier, after my surgery. (May 31st).

After dieting for as long as I can remember, this past year I just felt as though this was me. I’m always going to have to fight my weight. The older I get, the heavier I will get. But, over the past few years I feel like I’ve lost the person I used to be. The person I want to be. At times I no longer felt the desire to ride my horse that I trained myself to run barrels. Sometimes I didn’t even want to go do things with our friends. As my weight would go up, then down some, then back up more, I slowly quit taking my horse to competitions because I couldn’t shake the fact that I had been told I was too big for him. The past couple years I’ve just kind of floated through life. It wasn’t until bariatric surgery was brought to my attention that I felt that maybe I could reset my body, become healthy, and hopefully, reset my life.

So here I am. This is just the beginning of my journey.

Blessings to you all!

Hi everyone! My name is Tim, I'm 40yo and single. As of this time, I was released from the hospital 7hrs ago after my VSG. This has been a 2yr process for me. I had my surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Philip Schauer was my surgeon. Because of my thick neck, they had to put the airway tube in before I was put under. This was quite the traumatizing experience as I was already regretting my decision. I'm still suffering from the usual issues, bloating from the gas and pain. My brother had the RNY done about 10yrs ago and has done wonderful. I decided I've wasted too much of my life and missed out on so much being self-conscious about my weight that it was time to do something before it was too late.

I wish everyone the best of luck in their journey.

I have crossed over I am a member now 3 days in. I'm excited for this journey. I feel amazing I was able to get out today for a little bit. One thing I must say is today I had some warm tea and I feel like a new woman. Yesterday I was in discomfort with drinking water. Please keep my lifted thanks

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using BariatricPal mobile app

I am a 48 year old retired vet, married, and working on my second career. My surgery date is tomorrow (5/31/17). I have so many mixed emotions right now, but mostly very excited! Let the journey begin!!! I always thought it was ridiculous when people use the word 'journey.' Anyway..

I started this journey (dang, there I go again!) about a year ago but got delayed due to a lil bit of cancer. But, had it not been for that, I would be months post-op by now. The process was easy, as was dealing with Tricare. The only delay was that stupid cancer! Once I was cleared for WLS surgery by all my docs my surgeon's staff sent off to Tricare and I was approved and scheduled for surgery within the week!

So, here I am now. I am concerned about how I will be feeling post-op, but focus how I will be feeling once I get rid of this extra person I've been dragging around. I want to lose 108 pounds. I look forward to doing things I used to do like...tying my own damned shoes!

My husband of seven years is super supportive and is looking forward to my surgery as well...since we have been married, he has put on a little bit of weight; I am a dang good cook. He's one of 'those' people who can drop weight just thinking about it! But, he looks forward to me not cooking as I normally do so he can drop his extra weight. I LOVE food and enjoy cooking; which is also one of the things I will miss. I think I will still cook; I will miss eating it. I just need to focus on cooking the healthy crap...I mean, food! .

I am confident in my ability to lose this person (we'll call her Shelly) and can't wait until 0530, 5/31/17!!!

Edited May 30, 20179 yr by HD Girl

Well, here goes. (huuuuuge breath)

I'm a 48 year old, twice-denied VGS candidate. I was finally approved by Ins 2 weeks ago, and have my all-day clinical (labs, etc.) on June 22, when We'll set Sx date. Until then, I'm putting my voracious research since 2003 to good use! I'm a poster child for antidepressants, and gained 200 lbs in about 3 years. My Max was 365 in 2003, and I've been floating between 330-345 for the last 2 years.

I have been actively incorporating the diet plan that I've been recommended for post-op, solid foods. Protein first, then veg, then a tiny amount of carb - and seeing positives in just 2 weeks. WHEW!! This means I truly AM ready to do this!!!

I can't thank ALL of you enough for sharing the good, bad, and downright nitty-gritty! All information is appreciated! I will continue to feed my head in the meantime, as I cultivate this new relationship with myself, body and soul. And, of course, update!!!

Catt >^,,^

Sent from my SM-G935P using BariatricPal mobile app

Howdy y'all. Lets see....I'm a 51 year old father of 3, married 27 years to my sweetheart that I met immediately after getting out of the Navy back in 1987 and been in love with ever since. I've always been a big guy, well stocky & short, which played hell with my BMI and weight in the service. Went in 1983 at 17 years old weighing 210, which was the absolute highest weight they would take. struggled through boot camp but made it. by the time it was over, i could push out 250 pushups and 100 situps in one session. but still came out of boot camp at 198. by the end of my enlistment, I was running 5 & 10 k races, biking 25k and leading the "fatboy" company of remedial PT. and still was hovering at 200lbs when i was finally discharged. fast forward 4 years and I'm a volunteer firefighter for a year and half, working out, doing the job and then threw out my back playing golf of all things After that, it was all sedentary office jobs and stress eating. Lost my 1st born at 8 months old after he was born at 24 weeks and that really through me for a loop, eating, not being active in anything at all, now 24 years later I've been hovering at 305 with a high of 320. I thought about WLS 15 years ago, but our insurance wouldn't cover it, so it was back burnered, but always been in the back of my mind. after all the years of of dealing with the continuous side effects of of morbid obesity, asthma, high bp, hi cholesterol, diabetes, depression, anxiety, etc, etc.....i bit the bullet and I'm taking the plunge and having the VGS done in Tijuana on June 24th. I've cut out sodas completely after being a "2 44oz Coke a day" drinker for 20 years. and working on my preop diet now. A couple of reasons why now, first and foremost I want to be around for my kids and hopefully grandkids, second, purely selfish reason, I want to ride roller coasters again. I've taken that walk of shame a few times and have quit even trying a long time ago. third, I want to skydive once. to be able to say I've done it. fourth, I'm tired of seeing myself in pictures, in the mirror and reaffirming my disdain for myself. people think I'm a happy go lucky guy, and i guess i feed that impression, but inside is another story. Check out my picture below for a laugh Yeah, I cosplay, Barf from Spaceballs, Fat bastard from Austin Powers, The penguin from Batman. they're about the only things that make me forget myself. Anyway, I'll be scoping out the site for hints and tips and hopefully can make some friends along the way. Thanks for reading. you're a brave soul.