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

I am a person who loves food. Saying I'm an emotional eater is an understatement! I'm a foodie, a food lover.....I have a passionate relationship with food, get the point? :) Growing up in an Italian household, there wasn't a time where we didn't discuss our most challenging moments, our most happiest moments, our saddest moments, in the kitchen. We celebrated with food and mourned with food. We shared stories with in the kitchen with coffee and toast or a pastry and cried with a piece of bread to dip in the gravy while it permiated the house with love and tradition. In 2007, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and it was like a ton of bricks fell over me. I was a newleywed of 2 years and felt like my life was just starting with my new, beautiful husband and I felt like I put such a wrench in our lives. What happened after was a lot of trial and error with diets and trying to turn my mindset into a healthier way of thinking. But the results were slim. I was taking insulin and getting more and more frustrated with weak results. After a lot of input with my doctor and many many discussions with my husband, I finally made the decision to look into the process of lapband/GBP surgery. My husband and I went to a bariatric seminar and learned volumes about the different procedures. I felt a little overwhelmed until a former patient of the surgeon giving the seminar came up to speak about her journey. She was like an Angel. She gave us a run down of the steps she took towards her weight loss surgery (she had Gastric Bypass surgery) and brought an album of her photos pre-op. She had lost an incredible amount of weight, had numerous ailments that were now cured from the surgery and then curious, i raised my hand to ask about her diabetes and she told me that after the surgery, she did not need any more insulin or oral meds, that her sugar levels became normal and she no longer had diabetes. This was monumental to me.......I instantly became obsessed and after talking to the doctor, he confirmed that yes, this is a fact that in most patients, diabetes is removed and the need for medications are left at the operating table! I asked my husband several times......."Did I hear that right?" It then became evident what I had to do. And now, the journey begins........

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

Developing type 2 diabetes.

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 have not had the surgery as of yet as I am going through the pre-operative requirements first. I would love to run in a marathon, feel breathless, do yoga and be active without being exhausted. Most importantly, i would love a life without having to take insulin.