Growing up, I was always the bigger one of my friends. I have been heavy my whole life. It really got bad in high school. I was studious and a book worm. I wasn't into sports at ALL. I wouldn't say I was extremely or severely obese but I was overweight. I started working after high school on a job that kept me active with running around and lifting so my weight was stable. However, I started a desk job after that and that is where things went downhill. I wasn't as physical as I should have been and all the inactivity was a devil to me. I started all kinds of fad dieting to loose weight. These were just short term solutions as the weight would always come back two-fold. So I'd loose weight and then it would come back plus more. I was getting nowhere but bigger. A colleague of mine that I worked with at the time actually had gastric bypass and another had the lap band surgery. That is what initially started me thinking about weight loss surgery. At this time, however, that was all it was, just thoughts. I would think and research on the subject and then nerves would set in and then I would push it out of my mind. This went on for years. I could never settle on a decision to go forth with it. My jobs changed and the years progressed along with my weight. I started getting depressed and started to shut myself off from my family and friends because I didn't like what I saw in the mirror each day. One day I was at work on the weekend and was having a conversation with my manager and few other people when another colleague walked by that I hadn't seen in a few months because she had changed departments. She looked absolutely wonderful!!! I didn't even recognize her at first my manager pointed out who it was to me and said she had the lap band surgery. Our conversation turned toward weight loss surgery and I was telling her I was thinking about it but I voiced my fears on it. She looked me in the eye and said "I've had it for 6 years. It's the best thing I could have done." For some reason, I'm not sure why, but that statement did it for me. I had known people in the past who had this surgery but I had lost touch with them. I didn't know if it really did change their lives or if they regretted it or not. But for her to tell me she had it and it was the best decision she made was what I needed right then and there. She looked great. I was floored. I had been researching the idea once more before this and had even taken it a step forward and gotten the closest physician in my area. I just hadn't made that final decision to set up an appointment, I was still hesitant. I knew I needed to do something. I knew it was getting out of hand. I had just saw pictures of myself taken at a work function and it just saddened me to see myself that way. My manager referred me to the physician she used. We talked about in dept, myself and her and she calmed my fears. I made an appointment for a consultation 2 weeks after that day. Once I finally allowed myself to make that decision, there was no stopping me. After the consultation, I had an appointment for my first dietitian meeting.