Desperate to shed pounds, Mom, Dad and three grown kids all underwent weight-loss surgery. After the Sheltons dropped a combined 479 lbs., family dinners will never be the same. When some families get together, they compete in touch football; others like to battle it out over politics or scrabble.
But the Sheltons of Belleville, Ill. – mom Kim, dad Chet and stepsiblings Michael, Loretta and Breanna may be the only family in America ever to gather in the living room and throw down over … who has the nicest-looking gastric surgery scar. “I’ve got the smallest and prettiest of all,” says Kim, lifting up her shirt to reveal a flat tummy accented with a belly button ring. “Yours is skinniest,” Breanna agrees, “but mine’s prettier.” As the family continues to tease and joke on this June morning, Michael turns to a visitor and admits, with a shrug, “We pretty much bask in the glory that is us.”