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

I might be a little different than many, because I was super skinny all my life. I'm not sure what is worse? I see people that I have known for years and they don't even recognize me. I graduated High School under 100 lbs and got married at 118 at 23 years old. My first child was born at 28 years old and I gained 65 pounds with my pregnancy. By the time my second was born, I gained another 60 lbs. I breast fed both children and didn't lose any weight. It's been a struggle ever since. Today I am 46 years old and I feel 20 but every time I pass a window or a mirror and see my reflection, it's a reminder that I am not in the right body at this weight. You can see it coming, can't you? Yes, the life time memberships of every weight loss organization in town and the fad diets, nothing worked for me not even surgery. I opted for the lap band surgery by my 40th birthday and began my new life with restriction helping to curve my portion size. I'm here to say that did not work. You see, speaking for myself only, it wasn't about the portion size or what I was eating, because I never addressed the issue. We need to look at what is making us over weight. For me it wasn't the food. I'm a good eater, I really do not snack. I'm a meal person. Savory kind of girl. The dinners were easy, I would eat half and then 3 hours later eat the other half. But why did I eat if I was not hungry? Early on in the banding I really felt intuitively that something wasn't right about the band. Something was off, and I was right. July 18, 2012 my surgeon operated to do a revision and after 45 minutes he finally found my band. More on that later. He was able to perform my sleeve procedure and here I sit 14 days out. It feels so good to have that foreign object out of my body. Now onto a new journey.

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

I felt like a walking billboard. When I'm spiritually and emotional fit, I feel like I have the spark. I feel health beautiful and vibrant. When I am overweight, I feel as though I'm walking around with a flashing sign that says! Look at me, I'm screwed up! The battle with my mind is the worst part. The conflict you are faced with. The desire is so strong but something else is stronger in my actions. It became a quest to figure out why I was doing this to myself. This is not how I am supposed to be.

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

Because I'm only two weeks post op, the first thing I can say is that I love not having something in me anymore. I can tell it's out and it feels great.