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

I have been very overweight since I was 2 years old. At 20 years old I had a baby and quickly slipped into the obese and then morbidly obese category. My highest weight was in 2003 I reached 290lbs. I had lap-band surgery and paid for it myself as the insurance company refused. It was a horrible experience from the very first day. I was miserable every minute. It seemed no matter how careful I was I vomited or I was in extreme pain after eating. I had to have a revision because the band slipped from all the vomiting. I finally had the doctor drain the band and started eating foods that would slide past the band without resistance. I had gotten to a lowest weight of 220lbs right before the revision. The weight slowly returned until I was bouncing between 250 and 270lbs. The band continued to be a source of discomfort. Nine years later in 2012 I got careless and the band became blocked by a poorly chewed piece or pork. I decided then to have the band removed. After discussing the situation with my surgeon and doing research I decided to have bypass done when the band was removed. This time my insurance company did pay for it. I had a roux-n-Y done in November of 2012. At that time I weighed 264lbs.

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

Feeling tired and self conscious all the time.

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

Getting dressed up and feeling good about how I look. I'm still not where I want to be but I have made progress.