Welcome to my journey. I am excited and nervous to share this with you. It has been a long road getting to this point, of ups and downs, both weight and emotionally. And now I am just 10 days from my life-changing surgery.

I am a 36 year-old working mother of 2. But that is getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. I was not a heavy child. But then puberty hit and hormones went wild. And so did my weight. To complicate matters, I was raised by a mother who couldn't deal with heavy people and hated me when I was fat.

As an adult, I have been on every diet out there. Just before Oprah did her fasting diet, I did it (Yep, Oprah copied me). I lost a ton of weight, and as soon as I began to eat food again, I gained it all back. Then, I joined Weight Watchers, about 40 times. With success each time, I got thin. Then I got cocky and went off of the diet and gained back all of the weight. I have been to Pritikin 2 times and again had success, until I got back into the real world. But this is all history.

In 1992, I was diagnosed as borderline diabetic. Out of fear, I sought out some help from a personal trainer to get me moving. Meeting her was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life. She gave me a book by Dean Ornish called Eat More, Weigh Less. I read it, crying through the entire thing. But when I closed the back cover, I became vegetarian and was dedicated to working out. I lost 75lbs over 2 years and began to compete in triathlons. In the process, I made a friend for life in Stacey. I kept the weight off for 5 years and was happy and loving my life.

In 1997 I got married, and in 1998 I gained back 60 lbs with my first pregnancy. I was unable to lose that weight after giving birth. In the next 4 years, I had two miscarriages and ate my way through recovery each time. In 2001 I had my daughter and decided I needed to emerge from my "blue period." So, I joined Weight Watchers again and lost 75 lbs again. I began training for triathlons and was going to do the Chicago triathlon in the summer of 1993. Just 3 weeks before the competition, I fractured and sprained my left ankle. Relegated to the couch, I had nothing left to do but . . .you guessed it . . eat. And from July 2003 through March 2004, gained 90 lbs.

Now we get into the good stuff. With almost 130 lbs to lose, I was at rock bottom. I had seen Carnie Wilson, Randy Jackson, Star Jones (although she won't admit it) and other celebs having gastric bypass surgery and the dramatic results that occurred. And you know what, I thought it was the easy way out. I am not one to ever take the easy way out of anything. However, I knew I needed to do something.

I realized, very clearly, that I was capable of losing weight. I also realized that my weight issues were much more than just about the weight. I needed to get to the bottom of the emotional issues behind the weight. So, I sought help from Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Wellness Institute in Chicago, Illinois. There, Dr. Kushner, the leading expert on obesity, runs an amazing clinic. He has gathered the best and the brightest in the field of obesity research accross all disciplines, from exercise physiology to nutrition to psychology to physicians and surgeons. It takes weeks to get into his clinic, but I believe things happen for a reason. On the very day I called, he had a cancellation and I was able to meet with the guru himself.

When we sat down to talk, I told Dr. Kushner right out that I did not want to have surgery. I was here to see what I could do on my own. I told him that I thought surgery was the easy way out and that I had lost weight so many times before, I didn't believe this time would be any different. And he agreed to help me do it on my own.

And appointment with a nutritionist and a psychologist was prescribed and off I went. However, unlike Dr. Kushner, the appointments with these professionals took about 8 weeks to schedule. They were busy and I wasn't ready to sit back and wait. I was desperate. So, what did I do? Tune in tomorrow! ;-)