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

I was always a skinny child, at age 16 my weight was around 97 bls, almost looking sick one would say. After a doctor visit and some med i started gaining weight by the time I was 18 i look normal as any other teenagers. I had my first son at 24 and after that the weight gain was on a roller coaster for me by the time my son was 1 my weight was about 180-190 wearing a size 18-20 and slowly by surely i keep gaining weight year after year. I was unable to loose anything no matter what i did......my son was 8 when i became pregnant with my second son. After the birth of my second son i was now wearing size 22-24 weighting about 250-260. Last year my second son turn 9 and my weight is around 300 but i was still wearing size 22-24 most of my weight gain was around my butt, belly and thighs. When i went to see my doctor last year and I step on that scale and it read 303 I was in shock and after the blood test came back and my doctor told me i was a candidate for diabetic, and I had already been diagnose with sleep apnea I knew then i had to do something. after years of struggling with all different kind of diet, i then knew which path i had to take. that's when i ask my doctor for referral to a surgeon.

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

the worst thing about being overweight ooh man where do I began? being out of breath doing the simplest thing like cleaning my house, unable to climb up the stairs, ashamed to eat in public, being in denials about my weight (that i think was my way of coping with it) otherwise i would be in deep depression. There were time when i was depress but i fought it with every fiber of my being. i was wearing larger cloth, anything that was tight on my would show my fat belly/butt/thighs and so on....summer time was the worse, that's when people can really your size, I use to love winter with large cloths and a coat some on the subway would think i am pregnant and give me their site, and I would accept out of embarrassment; even worse when they ask me when am I due. one of the worse thing i always feel is that i would never find someone to love me looking the way i did, but i don't think people was running away from me because of my weight, i was running away from me, i was ashamed of myself, i loath myself, I never look at myself in a full length mirror.

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 had my gastric bypass surgery last year April 25th....and Today makes it 9 months since and I've lost 80 lbs since. i am now wearing a size 16 and able to go up the stairs instead on getting on the elevator. I work out 4 nights a week at home with Billy Blanks video, I've had those video since he first came out with it but i wasn't able to do even 10 minutes of it, now I can do a whole 45 minutes of Billy Blanks, I also run on the yoga on the treadmill and i am thinking about taking dance classes. I feel comfortable in my own skin again and I know i am no where near my goal but I'll get there. for now life is good and i am enjoying it.