[DianeB]

Hi Kathy, welcome to the group! I think you'll find alot of support and wonderful people here on this site. Congrats on your weight loss--your doing wonderful. Sure wish you luck in finding your Prince Charming!! LOL

[Bellamia123]

Hi everyone. My name is Ronda and I live in Midlothian, VA 5 miles west of Richmond, VA. I'm married 24 years this October. I just turned 46 years physically but 29 mentally. I have 2 beautiful, wonderful, fabulous boys. 16 and 15. My DH is my best friend. We meet when I was 15 and was seeing a friend of his. And we kept running into each other for 5 years and different places, parties, beaches, clubs so we decided to date and we fell in love and married when I was 22 and he 25.

Any how, we both grew up in Miami, FL but moved to Virginia 25 years ago to begin new careers and a safer place to raise a family.

I was the tall, skinny girl that everyone made fun of in school. I was physically fit and active. After having my 2nd son, I slowly put on a couple of pounds each year, and then in 2004 I was diagnoised with hypo-thyroidism, which made it harder to loose any weight.
When my weight hit 250, I knew it was time for some serious action. I didn't have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. I did have sleep apena.
I was approved for surgery on 9/8/08. I had Open Gastric Bypass Surgery. At my 2 week examine my doctor said I could return back to work. I'm have such a easy job. I work for a Investment Developer. I basically sit at a desk all day. Like I'm doing now, because it's slow and boss man is at a seminar.
I've had no complitcations and am thrilled to have found this site and the support you all have shown me. Thank you to everyone.

[GinaGurl]

hi my name is sue (ginagurl) i am married three kids 20,17 and 13 i have been married for 21yrs i live in new jersey my surgery date is oct 22nd. i am 49 yrs old . my son who is 17 plays high school football my daughter gina who is 13 cheers for midget football and my 20 year old is working and is planning on college inthe spring i am a phlebotomisttake blood .my husband is great he just got laid off from his job but god willing everything will be fine.i am really glad i found this web site you guys are all great and give the best advice i thank you all may god bless you all keep me in your prayers thanks

[PhAtKaTz8]

Hi all! My name is Sandi. I am a proud mother of 8 children (3 are step). Their ages range from 7 to 23.5. (Yes! I said 8!!!) To this day I am still trying to figure out how I ended up with so many being that I was an only child. I reside in the High Desert of California with my wonderful-supportive husband of 20+ years, my loving mother, and 5 of my children. I have worked in the aerospace industry as an electrical mechanic for the past 25 yrs.

I have battled obesity all of my life. I have 38 years experience in dieting. Finally, on Oct. 29, 2008 I had my long awaited WLS. The morning of my surgery I topped the scales at 320 pounds. I am so excited of the journey that lies ahead of me. My surgery was performed by Dr. Nishi at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. I am 1wk out and amazed at my recovery. I have no pain or discomfort and in the process of implementing a walking regime. I can not imagine what I am going to look like and how great I will feel even 6 months out...

[Christy0283]

WElcome Sandy. Glad you joined us. Congratulations on your success so far. And just let me say, WOW, on 8 children. You must be one heck of a woman.

Here's to wishing you continued success. Hope you decide to stick around for a while.

[dixieladybug]

Hello, My name is Dixie. I live in Ms. I have a wonderful husband and 3 kids and 5 grand kids. Before WLS I was almost home bound. I had arthritis so bad in my knees that I could barley move. I spent most of my time sitting in a chair or in bed. I had type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, fibromyalgia , and many more health problems. I had made my mind up to get my life back. I knew that i would not live long if I did not do something. Eight weeks before I had WLS I had total knee replacement on my left knee. On Sept. 30, 08 I had RNY. This has changed my life. I have lost almost 40 pounds and I feel so much better. I can move now and can walk without so much pain. My clothes are begining to hang and I love it. Everyone has been so helpful and supportive here and with my family at home. This site has been a God sent for me. I have learned so much and I feel so at home here. Thank you all for your help and kind words. I still have a long way to go but I am working really hard to get to onederland then to my goal and I feel that I will make it one day. hugs to you all.. dixie

[Christy0283]

Dixie, what part of MS are you from? I'm from just north of Mobile, AL.

[Gabbielolo]

Hello everyone. My name is Lori and I live in northern Ca. I am 36 years old. I have been married for 18 years and have four beautiful children ages 17, 15, 12 and 10. I was a stay at home mom for 15 years. I now work as an R.N. at a level 4 prison. I love my job and the people I work with. I had WLS, RNY 3 weeks ago on October 27, 08! My start weight was 275#. I lost 15 lbs. before my surgery taking me to 260#. One week out from surgery I weighed 242#. I am now three weeks out and am about the same weight. It is a bit frustrating, but the surgeon said to stay on track and it will come off. I just started going back to the gym for the treadmill and crosstrainer a dew days ago. I am sure I will notice a bigger diffrence by exercizing more. I gained the weight after having my kids. I think my biggest problem was not getting the weight off in between children. Therefore, I added more weight with each pregnancy equalling obesity. I am 5'8" tall and always weighed between 145-150lbs. That's what I would like to get back down to. The surgery went well and I haven't had any complications. The first day of my pre-op diet I was having a hard time and second guessing my decision for WLS. I came on here and got the support and encouragement I needed to get through it. The first week after surgery was hard due to the liquid diet. The thought of broth or sugar free jello made me want to vomit, lol. My husband got mesome isopurand that did the trick. i had been feeling so fatiqued and geting just a little protien in me helped alot. I am doing good and enjoy getting on here for great support. Drop me a line, looking forward to meeting everyone! Lori

[Alilclassy]

Hello everyone! I just found this thread and just spent the last 30 minutes or so reading all 15 pages of replies.....lol.... and wanted to add my 5 cents worth.

My name is Tina-Marie and I live in Las Vegas, NV. I've been married for just over a year (we did the 07/07/07 thing!) but we've been together for 7 years. We had met in an AOL chat room in 1999 shortly after my mother had passed away and things just clicked. He came out to Vegas several times over the next 2 years before shocking me totally by calling from a truckstop in TN to say he was on his way to Vegas with a U-haul attached to his car. He decided to take a chance and come be with me and my daughter, who was 6 at the time. Lucky us! My daughter is now 13 and 2 weeks ago, his adoption of her was finalized so things are good.

I've always been overweight and have done the yo-yo diet dance for years with various programs - always losing but then always gaining back what was lost along with lots of extra. Similar to another thread I read about meeting their mate over the Internet, I, too, had sent pictures to my Atlanta man and, of course, he knew how I was when he came on his many visits, but to his credit, he never said a word to me. However, once he had moved in, both of our weights went haywire. Call it happiness, familiarity or being comfortable, the word "stupidity" is probably a much better fit to describe it! We talked about losing weight together, but could never get motivated.

When I developed some female plumbing issues in Dec '06, the ER doctor put me on a blood pressure medication and that, ironically, was a wakeup call for me. I found an MD and decided then and there to seriously address my weight issue. My DH and I started Medifast together in Jan 07 and I had lost about 60 lbs before we got married on 07/07/07. Call it the honeymoon syndrome, but we fell off the weight-loss track after it. Then, between Oct-Dec, my DH (who was only 38 at the time) had 4 angioplasties - FOUR - to correct some massive blockages he had in his heart that our doctor found (I had persuaded my DH to go to my doctor, as well). He has a horrible family history of cardiac issues and diabetes and was well on his way to becoming another statistic. His first trek in the hospital put the requisite fear into me and I told my MD I wanted WLS. She was totally behind me, but she made me jump through her own set of hoops in addition to those of my insurance company. I did not care, I didn't argue with her at all, did what I was told to do every time and my efforts paid off.

My surgery was on March 31st and on that date, I weighed 420lbs and was borderline diabetic. Fortunately, I didn't have more serious issues as others have had, but was unhealthy just the same. To date, I've had absolutely no complications. The only thing I regret is not doing it years ago! My DH is considering the lapband, but has yet to definitively decide on it. His health is better considering his status a year ago, but he takes a truckload of meds and needs to lose about 80lbs. Our MD is very happy with my progress, I'm almost completely off the blood pressure med and my energy level is wonderful! I've now passed my DH's weight (to his dismay and our doctor's delight), so maybe he will now get more serious about improving his own condition.

I was thankful to find this website several months ago and have learned alot from reading about so many wonderful people and their stories. I look forward to sharing many more experiences.

[Perfesser]

Welcome, Tina-Marie! This is literally the start of new life for you. You'll find all the support and care here you can handle as you progress on your journey of renewal. Make yourself at home - you're among family now!

CT