LEWISTON – Meet the Dubois family.

Tracie, 34, is a medical transcriptionist. Travis, 33, has a job with the Department of Transportation.

The couple is raising two boys. They enjoy going out to eat and attend every home Maineiacs hockey game.

Tracie and Travis are both having gastric bypass surgery this summer.

Over the next year, the Sun Journal will follow the Duboises as they prepare, help each other through recovery and adapt to their new bodies and new lives.

Tracie wants to lose 150 pounds. She’s body conscious. She doesn’t swim anymore, or dance, or go on walks because she worries about being embarrassed.

Recently out with a friend, they left one restaurant because the most comfortable seats were full. They drove someplace Tracie hadn’t eaten before.

“The whole way there I could feel the pit in my stomach worrying that I couldn’t fit,” Tracie said. She did fit. But she’s tired of worrying.

Travis is active, playing golf and ping pong, but gets winded. He weighs 365 pounds, nearly 200 more than when he was in the Marines.

“There’s a game, it sort of goes through my mind whenever I go somewhere, ‘Am I the biggest person here?'” he said.

The couple didn’t arrive at the decision easily. They’ve dieted together, and gained weight back together. Before either develops health problems, they’ll take this next step, together.