“For the first time in my life, I haven’t felt hungry. I’m Thanksgiving full every day,? said Slocum, 56, who has lost more than 90 pounds since April, when she became one of the region’s first patients to undergo a sleeve gastrectomy at Hurley Medical Center.

While the other parents would engage in friendly chit-chat at the school gates, none would even acknowledge her existence.

October, the month when Americans officially celebrate their love affair with candy, marks the start of our end of the year, three month holiday from sensible eating that leaves so many women and girls feeling fat and frustrated on the bleak, morning after known as New Year's Day. Unfortunately, females tend to let bathroom scales define their beauty as a woman and their worth as a person.

At 24 years old, Jaime Kendall never knew what it was like to ride a roller coaster.

At 5 feet 4 inches and weighing 400 pounds, the Dalton, Ga., resident was too large for the seats. She couldn't watch movies, fly on a plane or fit into traditional school desks because of her size.

"I just never felt full. I ate and ate and kept gaining weight," said Miss Kendall, now 27. "My weight just consumed me. It was all I could think about."

Daily lunches of a cream doughnut, a chocolate eclair, a packet of chips, two rolls, ice-cream and a bar of chocolate led to Durban youngster Yusuf Rawat tipping the scales at 215kg.