Hello everyone, I am Ricky and I'm new to all of this. Recently I made the decision to look in to weight loss surgery. For a long time, I looked at WLS as something extremely obese people did and never thought in a million years I could qualify for something so radical. I have struggled with be a big girl for most of my life. I've never thought I'd want to be rail thin, because I think curves should be on a woman. i do, however think I should be smaller than I am today. At my "thinnest" , I was very healthy and I worked out 4-6 times a week, depending on the week. Eash session, I worked out 2-3 hours and I was dedicated. i got into bodybuilding and lifted/trained with some of the best in the world. My former trainer is going for Mr. Olympia and the other one was Ms. Fitness. I wasn't light, but I was lean. Most of my weight was muscle mass and I was comfortably fitting in size 6/8. Several years ago, I became injured through my job and I'm still, to this day, not back to my old self. I have struggle through 2 foot surgeries, which have prevented me from exercise. During that time i managed to pack on 80lbs. Yes, I let it all go. I will say that I never altered my diet, while working out and that is the main reason I wasn't able to maintain all these years. I at big macs and whoppers because I could. i was maxing15-20 hours a week in the gym! had I eaten cleaner, I would have probably minimize the damage. As the years have gone by, i would lose 20lbs here, 30lbs there and then stop and gain it all back and recently I gained more after struggling with severe depression and taking anti-depressents to combat it. For some, they're lucky enough to lose weight on them, for me it was the opposite. This year, Jan 2012, I maxed out at 278 pounds. The highest I've ever been in life. I can say I am happier now, but still down about my weight. Also, in January I had my second foot surgery. It's been tough. I've also been diagnosed with severe food allergies, which I suffer with, because I haven't really modified my diet. Through all of this, I attended culinary school and learned how to be a chef, i recently completed in August. It was around that time that i decided I really needed to do something about my weight. I'm tired of buying bigger clothes every few months and I'm tired of being uncomfortable in my own skin. I vowed not to have anothe "fat-faced" picture taken of me. But, as I tried in the past to lose weight, I discovered it wasn't as easy as it used to be. I didn't know what was happening. I never had a problem losing weight. Now, i'm armed with an arsenal of information about exercise and diet and I couldn't lose a thing. I was used to being able to shed 50-60lbs in 5-6 months. i was lucky to lose 2lbs in 2 months. It was around August that I talked to a friend of mine, who had had gastric bypass, a few years back and she mentioned her sister getting lap-band surgery. I never viewed her sister as being out of control obese, infact, I never saw her as being big. How was that possible? As I asked a whole bunch of questions, I started looking into it for myself and discovered that I, too, could qualify for WLS and actively persued it. So here I am today. I've teetered on the fence between lap-band and gastric sleeve. I once was very gung ho about the lap band and decided it was just not for me. I have firmly planted my feet in the land of gastric sleeve. I am currently going into month 2 of my 3 month supervised weight loss. I am currently 264 pounds and hope to shed another 5-6 pounds before the new year. It seems onece I stopped stressing about everything and made a few modifications, ie drinking more water, the weight is slowly coming off. I was intinally discouraged about the Supervised weight loss, but soon realized some things happen for a reason. This time, i want to do things right. I am mentally and physically preparing myself for my future. Gastric Sleeve surgery is no joke and requires a complete lifestyle overhaul. I am still planning to mave forward with my surgery. WLS is a tool that can be used to help maintain any loss that I woould acheive. I've come to this forum to learn from others and I also feel that I have information that may be beneficial to others. I look forward to meeting everyone and losing weight.

Welcome and good luck with your journey. This is an awesome support group.

You will love the sleeve lifestyle.......no deprivation!