I have always, always, always, been a "big" girl in a "little" girl's body.  From the time I can remember, my parents made us clean our plates whether we were full or not (people in the world starving, you know?).  I was also the butt-end of the "fat" jokes during my public school years.  People who don't have this affliction have no idea what the world is like when you don't fit in, i.e. seats in public, cars, clothes (when I was growing up there was no Lane Bryant), etc.  I am sure you all can commiserate the feelings.  When I entered College, I decided enough was enough (for the one thousandth time) and I starved myself down 101 lbs.  I ate once a day and that was usually popcorn with salad dressing as a dip.  At this time, I was also employed at McDonald's talk about temptation!  I kept the weight off for about 1 1/2 yrs.  When I met my husband, I again got fat and happy.  I tried many times early in our marriage to lose the extra weight.  After 5 yrs of trying to conceive (ttc) our first child on our own, we sought medical intervention.  After three years (and a surgery every year for female/male infertility issues), my Fertility Specialist referred me to a GI doctor for two reasons: 1.  I had a GI problem from Endometriosis, and 2.  My weight indicated that I might have Type II Diabetes.  Through the Hand of the Great Physician, my GI doctor and my Fertility Specialist, I was given my life back for the first time in many years.  My GI doctor put me on a very restrictive and demanding low-carb and high-protein diet.  Praise to God through His tenacity and leading me through this, I lost 100 lbs in about 2 yrs.  God has certainly shown me who He is through all of this.  After 9.5 yrs of ttc, four weeks after I hit the landmark of 100 lbs gone, I was viably pregnant - Praise to God the Father!  I ended up gaining 80 lbs during my pregnancy, because I spent much of the 41 wks that I was pregnant flat on my back in bed.  I thank God every single day for my daughter who is now three years old.  I did lose the 80 lbs in about 8 months after my daughter was born.  I had another miscarriage (my second), evacuated and ran from Hurricane Rita (where I live took a direct hit), and my undoing was having a Hysterectomy in November of 2005.  No matter what I did, I could not lose weight after my Hysterectomy.  My GI doctor told me in August of 2006 that I needed to have the Lap-Band to save my life.  At this point, I had gained everything that I had lost back and was zooming toward more weight. I had my band surgery on 10-23-06, and I haven't looked back since.  Thank you, God for giving me this gift!