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

Where do I begin ? I was skinny for most of my life , my family even called me puny ( ha ha ha) now they can't say that but maybe one day again someone will ! I didn't get (fat) till I was in my mid 30's and it wasn't until after I quit smoking cigarettes, although I wasn't a heavy smoker less than a half a pack a day I guess it helped me not to munch. My downfall began in 2007 with a list of stressful events, death of a friend , father in law , my 14 year old dog , my son getting robbed at gunpoint and me having to quit a job, that I loved to stay home while my son was tutored by 6 tutors daily and I guess I turned to sweets , ice cream , cake candy to relieve some of that stress. I soon found myself over 200 lbs , of which 242 is my current weight. I have done weight watchers, Jenny Craig , Nutri- system, Atkins diet, Phen Phen , Metabolife, grape fruit diet, cabbage diet , 6 week body make over,you name it I have done it ! I work out daily , so most of my labs are pretty good and I only drink water so I guess that has helped me too, I even just finished the "Insanity workout" ,weeks of it only to be 5 lbs thinner and losing only 2 inches in my waist, all that effort and the weight just sticks on ! Phew when I read what I have done it makes me scratch my head and say " what is wrong with me ?? I don"t feel good about myself and it hurt when a male friend said to me a couple of years ago " I always hung out with fat girl's they never judged me for being gay " I was blown away here I am being non judgmental and he says something like that to me " I replied ' I don't see myself as a fat girl because most of my life I was a skinny girl ! Being fat has hurt me in my marriage because I see my husband glancing at skinny girls he doesn't do it to be mean but I see his side ways glances and he looks away when I see him , you see ,the woman he married (me), used to be skinny and called Barbie doll ( now I call myself inflated Barbie) for a nick name by some friends , I actually had a barbie doll figure and I would like to get that back and give him back and myself back ,the woman he married the confident ,secure and thin woman. Now I'm hoping my insurance company covers me so my journey to my new life begins !!!!

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

Shortness of breath , not being able to go up the stairs without huffing and puffing, having a hard time tying shoes or painting toe nail's. Having my son's say to me oh she will give up on that diet soon , when I'm trying soo hard. Feeling unlovable and insecure and thinking my husband is going to trade me in for a skinny girl, and also because everyone in my family is thin and in shape and I want to fit in and look healthy like them ! Most of all feeling like a failure after dieting and still not losing the weight and hiding in clothes !

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

I will start taking riding lessons( horse back riding) again like I did years ago, also learn how to snow board, I was starting to learn in 2006! I will spend more time being creative and painting instead of tired and uncomfortable on the couch with no motivation to do those other things.