Tell about yourself, especially new members

Hello, all!

I'm almost 57 (in March) and live in the Bay Area, where I've lived all my life. Closing in on 28 years married to my wonderful husband, who works for a design firm. We moved to our current house a year ago, fulfilling a dream of mine to be by the water--and it's right outside our back door. We bought a small OLD aluminum fishing boat, and we love tooling around on the water.

I'm pretty much retired from work outside the home. I have an MBA in Marketing and worked for many years in the high tech sector. When my daughter (now 20) was 2, I started a marketing consulting business (still in high tech) and did that pretty much full time for many years. Cut back when my daughter was in high school and I wanted to be around and then it just sort of petered out, lol. She's now away at college, so it's just hubby and me and two dogs and a cat.

I'm kind of in a floaty place (literally, hah!), waiting to see what will happen next!

Lizanne

Hi my name is Linda im 47, moved to America in 2000, and married a Guy in the Military..
so since being in America i have lived in San Diego, Washington State, Hawaii, New Hamphire,
 Im remarried my sons live in New Zealand, my Daughter in WA. all the kids left home now so its just my husband and dog.

Since having surgery, my husband retired from the military and with the economy he was unemployed for 8 monts until he took a postion with VA as a police officer, So until we can get back to the west coast im here in New Hampshire... but the snow is new for me and pretty.

Coming to New Hampshire was a huge change for me, we packed what we could fit into the car and left the rest in our house, which i would like to get back to, In the mean time my step daughter and her boyfriend are living there.

They may just be starting to do the sleeve here, until now there has been no one here that does the sleeve at all. so OH has been my only support group for almost a year now..

OK, I'll take a turn :)

My name is Jean and I'm from Southern CA, born and raised here. I'll be 40 in June (eeek!) and I'm a natural brunette - LOL, I've been married to my high school sweetheart, Jason, 21 years in May and I have 2 sons, Joel & Jacob, who are 18 and 19 - they're only 13 months apart. We have 4 cats & 1 dog that keep us busy and always laughing! My MIL also lives with us but I'm hopeful that will change in the coming months.

ETA:
I forgot to include my employment! Anyway, I work for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department as the station clerk for the Auto Theft Task Force. The office isn't too stressful and the people I work with are all terrific, I'm very blessed. Before this I worked at Kohl's and before that I had homeschooled my sons. I hope to finish my AA in the next few years. I still haven't decided on a major but I thoroughly enjoy history so we'll see where that leads me.

I've been overweight (obese) since I was very young, 4 or 5 years old. There has only been one time when I was a normal BMI and that was the end of my senior year of high school after doing 8 months of Nutrisystem. Because of doing Nutrisystem, I developed severe gallstones and had my gall bladder out at age 18. I was the youngest cholecystectomy patient my doctor had ever operated on; that hardly made me proud!

After my sons were born is when I really was on the fast track to gaining weight. I look back now and realize I was pretty depressed and definitely used food, sweets specifically, to cope. My weight went up to about 280 by the time I was 23 or 24 and then I would go to Weigh****chers and lose 30 or 40 pounds only to quit and start things all over again. We all know how the story goes.

In 2006 I really started to consider WLS and at that time I was going to look into a RNY because that was what my MIL was going to have. She had her's done in January 2007 but had many complications right away which really scared me away from countinuing my WLS investigation at that time. I swear, I've never seen one person throw up so much! 

Finally, in June of 2008, I was referred by my neurologist to Kaiser's Options program and began my classes January 6th, 2009. I was blown away when I stepped on the scale and it read 315 lbs. I knew I was heavy but I honestly didn't think that I had gone over 300!!! That was certainly a turning point for me and I knew that if I didn't have some sort of WLS, I wouldn't be on this earth for many more years.

After completing the required 24 classes I graduated on June 16th and waited for my referral to the surgeon to be processed. By this time I had learned about all the WLS procedures and had decided on the VSG. I met with Dr. Casillas on July 9th and had my surgery August 5th, 2009. This has been the best thing I could have ever done for myself and I'm so thankful that I found out about the VSG and that I have been complication free.

I'm not at goal but I'm determined to get there and lose the final 30 lbs that are sticking like glue. I've never kept weight off like this pre-op so it's amazing that even though I'm not done losing, I'm holding steady and not gaining.

Well, thanks for reading and I do hope that everyone has a great day!!! You are all a huge inspiration to me :)

Hi There,

-  I am 45 years old
-  Happily married to my best friend
-  No children, two adorable little yorkeis
-  Hubby and I retired at the ripe old ages of 38 and 43
-  Sold everything we owned and bought a motorhome
-  Travelled Mexico for 14 months, went to every state and district, except one
-  Travelled to Belize, lived in Northern Belize for 14 months, in our motorhome, beside the sea, while we set up our residency
-  Finished our travels of Mexico
-  Took the MH back to Canada, sold it and everything we sitll owned
-   Did suitcase traveling for 5 months in Guatemala
-   Investments tanked
-  Discovered the tropical island of Caye Caulker in Belize
-  Set up our own Real Estate Company
-  Live in a little cabin right on the beach
-  The Belize Barrier Reef is 1 mile off shore
-  No cars just golf carts
-  No pavement, just sandy streets and beaches
-  Less than 2000 people here
-  Walk 4 miles a day in my barefeet
-  Life is amazing!  AND we are very happy here
-  Recently bought 4 acres of land in Tonga, in the South Pacific
-  Over 1200 feet of beachfront, plan to (re-)retire there, open a small bar, restaurant, store and rent out bungalows...  when the time is right...

Would you like to adopt a well-aged forty year old daughter?  I promise I don't eat much.  :)  When I grow up, I want your life. 

Oh my gosh you guys have some amazing lives!  Mine is rather boring!  I've been married since I was 19.  I'm now 55.  Hubby is a good man with an OK job but no ambition.  I am a Nuclear Med Tech at the local hospital.  We practically support our 32 y/o daughter and her family.  She never seems to get on her feet.  She's married to an equally non-motivated man.  We have been raising our granddaughters for so long now, I don't know how we'll break the cycle.  I work to pay the bills.  I'd love to ditch it all and head to Belize or the Pacific NW or somewhere and just enjoy life.  Time is running out.  I did the VSG solely for me, which is unlike me.  Love it, love finding the me inside the fat suit.  Maybe there's an adventure coming, who knows!

Old timer here. 63 year old retired lawyer. Got used to being overweight but graduated to obese when I gained 70 lbs after retiring. Health issues got me moving on VSG. So far, so good but this board seems to fit my current needs since you all share issues with me. Married 32 years, one adult son (great kid!). Don't expect much posting from me but I'll be lurking.

I've mostly been a lurker on this board but I think that as I push towards my goal, it's time to get more vocal, so I'll introduce myself.

I'm Lee, 60 years old, living in the Bay Area where I've been since 1982.  Grew up in Ohio then moved to W. Va. to live on a farm and organic garden/chop wood etc back in the early 70's.  It was a good getaway after all of the politics of the late 60's.  I work in finance and I've been with the same company for 17 years.

I have a 36 year old son that I adore.  He's working on his second MFA in film at NYU but comes home to visit as much as possible.  Last summer he came home to work out with me 2-3 hours a day because I asked for help with my lifestyle changes.  We find somewhere great to go every year for 2 weeks for family bonding time.  Some of my favorites have been snorkling/kayaking in Thailand, hiking the Great Wall, Machu Piccu, love love love Japan and want to experience the two remaining seasons that I haven't been.  I like active travel where there's lots of exploring to do.  I've been to many countries in Asia where I visit as many Buddhist Temples as possible.  There's still a lot of countries on my list.  Last June we took it easy because I was only a few months post-op and went to Provence and the Riviera for a couple of weeks.

My doctor recommended WLS in October 2009 because I eat well and exercise. My first reaction was that I couldn't admit defeat.  Obviously that changed as I had surgery 4 months later at Kaiser Richmond.  I'm so happy that I did.  Even being a slow loser, I'm so much healthier than I was a year ago.  I have one month until my surgery anniversary so I put up my picture from a year ago to remind me what it used to be like and to push me towards goal.

I'm an avid walker, hiker etc and recently added Pilates and starting Yoga next week.   Life is good!

Thanks for letting me join in.

Wow some of you have quite the tales to tell.  Exciting lives for sure.  Risk takers.  That would not be me. 

Grew up in Peoria, Illinois.  Met DH in college and now live in a small town (pop. 1300) in southwest Iowa. (his hometown)
Married 40 years.  Got married on Halloween 1970.
Worked my current job as office manager of the county health department for 29 years - and still love it.
Two grown children. Jason is 37, Christa is 34.   Our firstborn, Carol Anne died the day after she was born prematurely.  Her birthday will be Sunday.  She would be turning 39.
Five grandchildren. Ages 13,11,6,4 and 2.  Only one boy in the group.
No pets now....2 cats and a dog passed a  few years ago.  We are always on the go, so no time right now for pets.
My DH and I love to camp and have a large group of friends with whom we camp almost every weekend from May through September. 
Our life sounds pretty boring to some others, but we are very happy, healthy and I couldn't ask for more.  Plan to do some traveling when we retire.  I'm 59. he's almost 62. Hope to do a little traveling before I'm retired, as he is semi-retired now after selling a business we had for 30 years.  With 4 weeks of vacation a year, we can sneak a few trips in while we are still "young".

Hi, everone. I was sleeved in April of 2010 and am 10lbs above goal, not sure I want to lose more. I'm 53 and have been married to my High School Sweetheart for 36 yrs. We are empty nesters but while DH works I babysit the Grandgirls so my daughter can work. I really enjoy having them, think they keep me young.

We live in S.E. Texas I work with the Elections in our County for 20yrs. We live close to The Lakes, have a second home there where we have water sports and fishing :)

I love life since the sleeve, the energy is amazing. It truly has been a blessing to me..now if I can get the hang og maintaining the weight loss.

Carla