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

My emotional and behavioral batter with weight control started when I was very young. I struggled for a long time with what I thought was a weight problem. Turns out at 5'5 and 150 I was okay. But I measured myself against a very tall and thin sister and equally tall and thin step mother. With noone defending my "perfectness for who I was", It was a battle. Like most, I tried lots of different types of diets....WW, Nutrisystem, Optifast,Medifast, Omnitea, and nothing worked long term because I wasn't dealing with my head. I learned post bariatric surgery that emotions play a very big part in how I eat. I tend to overeat and crave sugar when I am tired. It took a long time for me to recognize this, but I do. Sometimes, I am in a place where I can sleep and other times, I give in and find something sugary....like a mini reese's peanut butter cup or part of a snickers bar. Before surgery, it would have been a Coke and the Reese's king size and dessert.

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

My surgical process was 2 years in the making. In the middle of my second pre-op year, I was diagnosed with liver failure and wasn't expected to live. My surgical date couldn't come fast enough! I didn't have the energy to stay awake to adequately take care of my children. Yes, I did homework and cooked meals but needed a nap in the afternoon and went to bed at 9 pm. It was awful not to be able to be fully present.

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

Things I enjoy doing now? Dressing a size 10 body, tying my shoes "straight up and down" and not on a slant. Walking places and not getting tired. Being stared at because I am attractive and not because I am heavy.