Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.

It seems after I turned 40, every year it was like 10 pounds, 10 pounds, 10 pounds -- more or less. I've fought my weight with everything I could come up with: Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, South Beath, so many more. I've have some success with several of them, especially Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem, but haven't been able to sustain the effort in a marathon slog.

What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?

It's not one big thing: It's lots of little cuts -- not being able to fit in an airline seatbelt, seeing myself in windows walking down Main Street, comments from well-meaning friends and family, people who judge you if you eat anything they think might be outside the bounds of a diet, not being able to get my wedding ring off for surgery.

If you have had weight loss surgery already, what things do you most enjoy doing now that you weren't able to do before?

I'm only two weeks out, but my jeans are looser, getting in an out of the car is easier, my rings are looser.