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

I was overweight but not obese all my life without prolonged dieting until age 40. From 40-50, I went on a series of low fat/low carb/exercise diets to keep myself in the simply obese catergory. But from 50-60, I gained 70 pounds and became morbidly obese. I developed high blood pressure and knee pains and became unable be physically active. I also got breast cancer, which may or may not be related to my weight; and dilated caridomyopathy which was caused by a congenital defect in my heart. I tried to diet and exercise but did not have the will power to stay on a program. After struggling with this for 10 years, I decided that bariatric surgery was my only hope for living a happy life.

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

The worse thing about being overweight is the negative impact on my health--high blood pressure, plus the potential for developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. But it is also terrible to not be able to be normally physically active for a person my age (60).

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

Only one week out.