Hi all. I thought I'd share my story.

I'm a guy, 38, 5'7", and I was up to about 255 (I stopped weighing myself at that point, so I was probably heavier). I come from a long line of short, fat Italians, so I knew early on that I'd struggle with my weight all my life. This turned out to be quite true. My only saving grace was that I had a "large" frame for my height (according to the doctors' charts). And I was able to gain muscle quite easily as well, which is a trait I share with most of my family.

I was skinny until puberty, which is when I became "husky", or "stocky", or as my evil sister would say, "fleshy". If I dieted, I would lose weight, but I found dieting extraordinarily difficult because I loved to eat.

Went I went to college, I discovered weightlifting. I was able to put on muscle rather easily, so I concentrated on doing that rather than "dieting". I followed the bodybuilding diet as close as I could, but that too was unthinkably difficult: tons of lean Protein (mostly chicken), sweet potatoes, and broccoli for just about every meal. Sure, I started to look really good, but I'd injure myself somehow (not always gym-related), and I would have to stop working out for long periods of time. This happened several times over the years. And whenever I stopped working out, my body was used to taking in tons of calories and it would still want them even though I wasn't weightlifting. So I'd end up gaining weight.

Finally, I injured my shoulder very badly and I had to take nearly a year off from the gym. By the time I could go back, I was so burnt out on the gym that the idea of returning literally made my stomach turn. i'd been working out for over 15 years and I was tired of it.

The other reason I was hesitant to return to the gym was because my doctor put me on Effexor. The one really bad side effect that I experienced on that drug was constantly feeling hot and sweating profusely with even the slightest amount of physical activity. I'd go to the gym and would finish looking like I had jumped in a pool. It was embarrassing and impracticable.

However, Effexor is the only antidepressant that has worked for me, and trust me, I've tried them all. I didn't want to go off it since it worked so well, but I knew going to the gym would mean leaving puddles of myself everywhere and needing at least two or three showers a day. Oh, and I dehydrated easily because of that.

Then my doctor put me on Elavil to help me sleep. The bad side effect with that drug is that it made my appetite skyrocket. I ended up eating all day long. No, literally, I was eating ALL DAY LONG. I couldn't stop myself. I ended up gaining about 75 pounds. My doctor took me off it, but I just wasn't able to lose the weight. I just wasn't strong enough to do it on my own anymore and I was still on Effexor.

My doctor is going to reduce the amount of Effexor I'm taking, but I'm still wary of working out heavily again.

So, I met a guy at a party who bragged that he had lost 100 pounds or some ridiculous number like that. I asked him how, and he said he had had a lap band put in. Now, I was only peripherally aware of such a thing, and I had heard of gastric bypass, but I thought those were only for morbidly obese people. I knew about gastric bypass because a famous opera singer had had it done and she went from scary obese to quite svelte (the great soprano Deborah Voigt, if anyone cares).

I had never thought I'd do something as drastic as surgery, but a friend of mine took a picture of me recently and I just about died when I saw myself. I just didn't see how big I'd gotten. I couldn't see it. I guess I fooled myself into thinking I wasn't that fat.

So the party guy gave me the name of his surgeon, Dr. Manish Parikh at Bellevue Hospital, NYC. He explained to me what was involved in all procedures. But I vacillated back and forth between the different procedures--I couldn't decide at first. But then I decided to go with the sleeve.

It was clear that I was on the lower end of the body mass index for the procedure (39 or somewhere around there, <40), but since I had sleep apnea, my insurance ended up approving it. My insurance did make me wait six months, which I found unbearable, but I was patient. I finally had it done on July 9, 2012. I'm at my 7 day mark and I've already lost quite a bit of weight.

I just never want to be fat, "husky", "stocky", or god forbid, "fleshy" ever again!

Is 52974 your birthday? If so, thats my moms birthday day too! You are a year older than me though...lol, sorry just thought that was cool. I'm a dork I know.

Yes, May 29th, 1974. Same birthday as JFK. Gemini

Quite true, Catracks. I know both sides of my family are built the same: we must be descendant from farmer stock. Short bursts of powerful physical strength but not much on endurance, the way short, squat large builds require for such activities.

Incidentally, my mother's side is from the north, so they're blonde and light skinned. My father's side was from the south (but not Sicily), so they're all brunette and darker olive skinned. So my sister and I got dark hair and light skin. Usually people guess that I'm Italian though, or if not, they guess Jewish (I'm not).

I got the dark skin and the brown hair. Sicilian is only a place. There is evidence that my family may have come from Albania to Sicily in the 1400s to escape the Ottoman Turks. For all I know there is some North African blood in there. Who knows?

I got the dark skin and the brown hair. Sicilian is only a place. There is evidence that my family may have come from Albania to Sicily in the 1400s to escape the Ottoman Turks. For all I know there is some North African blood in there. Who knows?

Yes, you're right. I did some research on my last name a few years ago and it turns out that it's an Italianization of a Sephardic Jewish last name. Apparently, my ancestors on my father's side immigrated from Portugal to escape some kind of persecution of the Jews. I don't remember exactly which one now.

That's funny. My dad is Mexican/Spanish and his mom said that the family in Spain were descended from Sephardic Jews forced to convert to Catholicism. I guess it stuck LOL! It could also be hogwash.

I am a tall fat Italian originally from Long Isalnd(Holbrook) now I am in jersey.

I also loved to eat, I miss all my Italian foods.

I was sleeved 5/30, down 40lbs.

Tom

Yo cuz I lived your story too I'm 100% I'm 5"9 350 I go in on Monday for surgery hope all is well wit u

Yo cuz I lived your story too I'm 100% I'm 5"9 350 I go in on Monday for surgery hope all is well wit u

Congrats! I hope everything goes well. Let me/us know how you're doing post-op!

Italian jersey girl here with lots of family from new York and they all love to eat. Was sleeved on 8/1 going to miss all my favorite pasta dishes the most

Another short, fat, Southern Italian weighing in! Everyone in my family has struggled with their weight and I married a northern Italian whose family struggles with their weight. Needless to say my poor kids are doomed! I'm hoping that I will be approved and no longer have to have 10 different sizes of clothes in my closet!

The different sized clothing will help on your way down. I'm only just having to buy clothes as I don't have anything from size 10 down.

Goodwill is also a life saver. I just wear them and give them back to Goodwill when I shrink :-)

That's funny. My dad is Mexican/Spanish and his mom said that the family in Spain were descended from Sephardic Jews forced to convert to Catholicism. I guess it stuck LOL! It could also be hogwash.

Exactly...my ancestors converted to Catholicism. It was quite a surprise to find out that some of them were originally Jewish. One of my Jewish friends seemed to think that Sephardic was appropriate since I have a somewhat dark personality and outlook on life. Go figure.