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

I have been overweight my entire childhood, and went up and down in size during my 20s. By the time I was in my late 30s I was close to 300 lbs., and reached and went beyond 300 lbs. in my early 40s. By the age of 56, my current age, I reached 372 lbs. I was 8 years old when my mother had me go on a doctors 1200/day diet. At 8, of course I failed. At the age of 20, and 260 lbs., I put myself on an extremely strict diet. I only ate once every other day, and exercised daily. I lost 96 lbs. in 6 months. But suddenly my body just couldn't do it anymore, and the weight came back on. The at age 30, and back around 260 once again, I begain another diet where I only allowed myself 700 calories a day, and did aerobics for an hour a day. I lost 90 lbs., and again my body said "enough", and back came the weight. In my mid 30s I found out that I had sleep apnea, and so I went on a HMR liquid diet. I really couldn't handle that one, and I only lost 50 lbs., developed gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed. I was down to 236 lbs., and a few years later was up to 286. So, here I am now, 372 lbs., and preparing for gastric bypass in just 3 days. I am very ready for this. I never leave the house unless I am going to the doctor or visiting my sister-in-law. I can't do much for myself because my back is so bad. My husband does most everything for me. A friend of mine had gastric bypass back in 2004. She weighed a little more than I do. She lost 125 lbs. in a year, but hasn't lost anymore. I know she doesn't exercise, and I also know that she isn't eating the right foods. Seeing her lose skin, I was put off of the idea of the surgery for a very long time. But as my health got worse, and my ability to do things got worse, I decided that some lose skin was far better than my morbid obesity that would eventually kill me. I told my husband not to expect a beauty queen, and that I would just be going from one extreme of ugly to another. I hope I'm wrong, but what I really want to accomplish is being healthier.

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

On of the worst things about being overweight for me is being in my own way all the time. Another big one is not having a lap for my grandchildren to sit on. But mostly it's the health issues. I had a heart attack in 2009, and I have a stent in my arterie. I have severe sleep apnea and RLS, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I will be glad when the weight goes down and the medications go away.

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

My surgery is scheduled for January 23, 2012, just 3 days away. After my surgery I will continue my journey.