Ok well..here's my story...

Up until the age of about 8, I was average weight...thanks to my father who always encouraged eating right. The weight then started to creep up very slowly...I think I was slightly overweight until the age of about 11, when I became a "lady"...LOL! Later I found out that my hormones were WAY out of whack and that's what caused my weight to skyrocket so quickly. I think by the age of 14 I was weighing about 170, which is pretty high for me because I've always been short. Throughout high school my weight kept going up, not too fast but definitely faster than before. By the time I graduated I probably weighed about 220. I moved out of my parents house a few months later. Being on my own allowed me to eat whatever whenever, which was really bad...I think by the time I was 19, I weighed close to 240. I then met my husband and lost about 20 pounds...we bought a house the following year and moved in together...weight went back up and more, about 250. Then we got engaged (yes, he must be a chubby chaser, LOL!). 3 months before our wedding I fell while dancing, broke my right leg and severely sprained my left...that left me in a wheel chair for a month and a half...so my fiance at the time was spoiling me with lots of great food (Flanigan's cheeseburgers and desserts every single day) and with having no way to exercise I gained 30+ pounds by the time we got married I was at 286, my highest weight ever!! After we got married we settled into our new home and started the Atkins diet...I lost 29 pounds but then we decided to stop the diet when we realized we were about to kill someone for a piece of bread...or any carbs for that matter! So I went from 257 to about 267 during the next year...not too bad. Then I got pregnant with our angel baby (the most wonderful daughter in the world!!!), I ended up losing 4 pounds throughout the whole pregnancy, which left me at 264. Then my daughter developed GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and I was back at work, full time...not having too much time for anything I gained some weight, went up to 271. I was able to maintain that weight (give or take) for over a year, then I decided enough was enough...went to meet with a surgeon, scheduled my surgery, started my clear liquid diet on 1/12/07, lost 5 pounds, had my surgery on 1/22/07...and here I am!!

This is me at my heaviest weight.  (November 2003, 286 pounds)

Here are my BEFORE pictures, the morning of surgery. (January 2007, 266 pounds)