so here I am! In Oct. 2012 I went to see my PCP for a follow up appointment after having his help for over a year in trying to drop this weight I had gained almost instantly! I guess I really should begin before this point. While growing up my whole family was "big boned" I have many family members well over the 300# mark, I was one of the smaller ones at age 14 I recall being 180# and 5'7". When I got married at age 19 I wore a size 20, I had my first child at age 20, while I was pregnant I only gained 9#! While breast feeding I had lost a considerable amount of weight! I don't know how heavy I was but I know I got into a size 12! I regained after my son got older, he is autistic and I stayed home with him, I spent most of my "free time" caring for him... very little on myself. It wasn't long before I was a size 24! I went to the doctor and was put on a diet and some medications ect. I lost a huge amount of weight, got down to a size 16, only a month in the new clothes and I found out im having TWINS! I gained 19# with my twins, I lost very little from that point, I maintained around 230# for about 3 or 4 years. I wasn't unhappy there. I went through a divorce and got remarried, had another baby, this time I went from 231# to 252# during and lost next to nothing after! I stayed at 252# for about a year, and then in a two month stretch I went to 279#! at which point I went to the doctor for help! He tried everything he could and I did the same, I was living on rabbit food, my bloodwork always came back great. A year later he said I was a perfect case for WLS. I was shocked and scared, also slightly excited? After much research I have chosen to do the VSG, just got my date last week. I will be having my surgery on July 10th. 2013. Since I began this whole thing I have quit smoking which added weight ... and my heaviest point was 306#. I have been working on some weight loss on my own. I am not taking any prescription meds for it anymore, I am going on counting calories and making good choices of foods. So far, in approximately a week and a half I am currently at 300# I never thought I would say this but I can not wait to see that 299 mark again! My self worth went through the FLOOR when I crossed over 300#, it made me so depressed because I was and AM trying to make good choices for me and my family, I give up smoking and gain almost 30# it seemed all the good choices ive been trying to make have been leaving me so miserable! I sure hope this is my turning point! I am going to make a video journal starting this week, I want to capture this whole thing so I can show my children and so if I ever fall off the right path (start smoking again, gain weight ect) I can look back at how far Ive come!

Congratulations on making this big decision! I had my last child two years ago and I still weigh the same as I did when I left the hospital! In the past, my weight loss attempts got me down to 192 but I could never move the scale further than that no matter what I tried. Which is why I decided to do the sleeve last spring. My surgery is on May 06. I'm nervous but looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing your story, I think you're going to do great.

thanks Kelsa! Good luck with you surgery keep us posted on how you do... thank you for the words of encouragement. I really need that right now, I have been having a lot of doubts about myself and a very hard time making up my mind about things. I know my so called support is tired of hearing me go over and over it with them! I was doing great with my choices until the day before yesterday when I shared my surgery news with a friend who has had the lapband. Her response to me was "my friend had the vsg and only lost 30#" which almost sent me into a panic attack! can you imagine going through all of that only to lose 30#!? so I have been reading about failures ever since, I don't know if this is helping me or making it worse?!

Thanks for sharing. Follow the guides and practice thoughtfulness and the weight will go bye bye...