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

I have been heavy since late elementary school. I was teased through middle school but by high school learned to use humor. If I made a joke about me being fat I could beat the others to the punch. I had lots of friends and HS was enjoyable. Later in life (I'm 33) I never had dating issues. I met guys, generally smart, very attractive men and dated quite often. I had high self esteem and men were attracted to that. Also (and my overweight women can relate to this) have been told I have a very beautiful face. Yes of course I love hearing I'm beautiful however the sentence generally was never "you are so beautiful." It was generally directed at my face. I like to think I carry myself well. I dress for my size, Im well groomed, in all other aspects of my life besides fitness I feel like a success. So weight was never a huge deal. Of course I wanted to be smaller, I wanted to wear the cute in style clothes, shop at any store and not have to suck it in every time a pic was taken. Flash forward 10 years. I'm married (almost 6 years now) I've lost weight, gained,lost gained to the point of supreme frustration. We want a baby..badly. Not to give to much detail but our fertility issues were linked to me not ovulating properly because I'm overweight. EVERYTHING else checked out fine.After years of avoiding it I realized I had 3 choices; 1. Start fertility treatments again, spend a lot of money, hopefully get pregnant but go into it knowing I'll be high risk because I'm obese. 2. Do nothing 3. Get this surgery and use it as a tool to a new life. I changed my diet 20 months ago. No fast food or real soda (my vices) I work out but due to a herniated disc I'm not able at this size to push myself the way I know I could if I was smaller. I want to enjoy my pregnancy. I want to be healthy and have a healthy baby. I want a faster recovery. I want to be able to keep up with my child and be the parent I know I can be. Most importantly I want to live. I want to be around for my children & my husband . I want to be the best me I can be. This tool will help me achieve my goals in being the BEST me I can be!

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

Fertility issues Not being able to shop in regular stores Wondering if when I fly will I fit in the seat properly Putting off amusement park trips because I'm scared I won't fit in the rides Being the biggest one in a picture every time I'm with my friends Not feeling sexy naked

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

Haven't had surgery yet. Just started the process but hope within the year to be able to "edit" this section :-) :-)