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

I had struggled with my weight since my early teens. I met my husband during my junior year of high school and we were both on the heavier side of still being healthy. Shortly after graduation I decided to move in to town with him to be closer to work and college. With both of us working and starting our lives together we found ourselves eating out more often than not. This habit set me up for great weight gain and with little time for excerise I packed on the pounds. As I worked my way up in the corporate world and began to make more money we would pick steak houses over fast food but still ate ourselves sick night after night. In 2005 we started taking cruises and would spend a week together making sure there was no food on the ship we didn't try. By the time I hit my mid 20's I was pushing 300 pounds. After landing another great desk job and pot luck after pot luck and dinner out every night because of our hectic lifestyle now being homeowners and working several jobs I hit 330 pounds by the time I was 28. My moment of truth was when I went for a check up and my new doctor said I was in great health besides my weight. It was at that point we began discussing weight loss options and working together to get things headed in the right direction.

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

The hardest part of being overweight for me is sitting in meetings and social events and always scanning the room to see if there is any other heavy people in the room. While I never had an issue with my weight while surrounded by family and friends I have always been very uncomfortable around large groups of people who I don't know.

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

In September of 2009 I had Gastric LapBand surgery and was able get 63 pounds off. While still hitting the scales at nearly 270 I have began to find my confidence and self control. I had a few complications with the LapBand and my surgeon and I decided to remove it and switch my procedure to the Gastric Bypass this August. I am only a week out and healing well and already feeling much better. I look at the road ahead as being in my control and looking forward to life under 200 pounds.