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A little chubby gymnast as a child always wanting to be as skinny as the other little girls. It was not a lack of exercise but a diet high in sugar. In 7th grade I started my own diet of running around the block and cut out all extra calories and lost 25 lbs bringing me from 150 to 125. Still didn't feel thin enough but maintained that weight through high school and kept active running, dancing, rollerskating and swimming, but did not obsess and ate like a normal teenager. After, high school I began teaching aerobics and working out even more after my classes with the goal of becoming very thin. I had incredible 6 pack abs that I would expose with short tops and get many comments like " nice abs!" from strangers. Still, my thighs were thick and lacked that inner thigh gap I longed for. So at age 19 I had liposuction, 2x in the same spot as I didn't think the first surgery was good enough. I planned for more surgeries but then started seeing a sports medicine specialist to get "ripped and vascular" and shed any extra fat so I could compete in Fitness shows. I got married at age 20 and after a year of trying to get pregnant along with getting ripped I finally got pregnant and with my joy and excitement I quit working out and began to eat for "two". I happily gained 60 lbs eating the pasta's and sugary cereals I had long avoided. Three days before my 21st birthday I gave birth to my first healthy and beautiful baby girl. Then it hit me, I was still 60 pounds heavier and not one pound, not even the weight of my baby was lost during delivery. I somehow thought as soon I gave birth the weight would fall off. It did not so after 3 months of nursing and panic I signed up for Physician's Weight loss cntr, and did indeed lose the 60lbs within 6months. Then a series of events, depression and panic disorder led me to anti- depressants like Paxil and then Zoloft and lack of exercise etc. and the same 60 bls came back as if they were just on vacation. From age 25 to 36 I tried everything. At age 36, I did my own Atkins like diet and began working out fiercely again, fell in love and began to lose the weight...and then I got pregnant again. SO HAPPY! Again I stopped working out but because I was so sick at first I thought I was going to have a different pregnancy this time. This time I thought I would actually lose weight during pregnancy. Didn't happen. I gained 20 lbs immediately even though I was sick the first month and again a least 60lbs by end of pregnancy and developed gestational diabetes but thankfully gave birth to my second beautiful and healthy baby girl at age 38. I did lose a lot of the pregnancy weight and no longer had the gestational diabetes after I gave birth but was stuck at 228. I battled and battled until I found VSG online and saw the before and after pics and just knew I had to get this surgery too. It was just what I hoped they would create as I don't like foreign objects in my body like breast implants or stomach bands etc etc. I immediately did all that I needed to do to get this surgery and to my joy my insurance MEDICAID payed for the whole surgery at NorthWestern Memeorial Hospital, the best in Chicago. I had surgery 3 days after my 44th birthday on May 31st 2012. It was not as easy as I thought being belly surgery but within the 3 days I stayed in the hospital I went home, smoked my marijuana for pain, and lost weight rapidly, learning fast how small my stomach now was the hard way and loved every minute of it. By August I was back at the gym working out and by April 2013 I was down to 140 pounds. It is now August 12 2012 and I am on my way to the gym as I work out regularly, running, and interval training etc etc etc.. I had to stop my marijuana medicine for a while ( still off but waiting for them to legalize my herb ) which actually made me put on a few pounds as I started eating gumme bears ( SUGAR!!! ) and so now I'm at 151, so now I am really watching everything I eat and logging it onto MYFITNESPAL along with running again as I slacked during July thinking walking and my pool workout was enough...it wasn't cause the sugar / calories in the gumme bears was clearly more than I was burning...and my nutritionist warned me about those gumme bears before I had even discovered them. She must be psychic or something or perhaps she is simply experienced and I am not the only one who had indulged in gumme bears. Either way, lesson learned. I wear a 5/ 6 Abercrombie jeans, extra small tops from Hollister and have adorable bikini's from Victoria's Secret. I do have ridiculous stretch marks from such expansion during both pregnancies and plan to get that fixed next year, but I wear my bikini anyway as I have worked hard for it. My nutritionist said that weight loss continues for 18 months after VSG surgery so I have til December of this year 2012 to reach my goal of 125. I would still love to weigh 115 lbs and be skinny skinny, but health wise, and ideally, my weight should be 125. So now I am off to the gym, to get those last 30 lbs off the old fashioned way!!! I know I am obsessed and love seeing my bones and want more bones but I have to be grateful NOW and THANK GOD FOR ANSWERING MY PRAYERS. I was in cell block fat as I call it, the real me hidden from the world, from myself for so long. I call my journey Faith & Fitness Forever and always want to help anyone who wants to lose weight because it can and will happen if you want it, work for it and keep the faith in JESUS to help you in your journey. When you do lose the weight you will see a person that was always there but hidden. Love yourself now, don't wait to love and accept yourself because life is still no easy ride just because one is or gets thin. Put the Lord first and be the best YOU can be and God Bless.