I have always been a big girl .............  I found out early in my life that food was my addiction of choice,  I loved it and it was the perfect solution to all my emotional needs. When I was under pressure or had problems I found comfort in food and when I was celebrating I ate because I was happy and it was another reason to ‘blow’ that weeks diet.

I used every excuse to eat and every excuse to convince myself it was okay !

I really struggled over the years, tried every slimming club, every pill , every weird and wonderful way to lose weight and always found myself heavier than when I started !!

I was disgusted with the way I was eating my life away,  my friends say I ended up ‘super obese’ because I had a personality disorder resulting from a lack of will power  and self control !

I soon learnt Obesity is a chronic disease and I just couldn’t stop myself...........

Being overweight was a horrible way to live and I hated every minute of it, I didn’t have any medical conditions associated with obesity and at a 60 + BMI this was unusual .

What I did have though were lifestyle conditions associated with obesity and these were embarrassing – incontinence, skin fold infections, not fitting in chairs, aching joints and depression were by far the worst.

Don’t get me wrong, I  was a nervous wreck the night before surgery and didn’t sleep a wink – I was so scared of failing again and also very afraid of the unknown..............was I really going to make it this time ?

My life has really changed since my WLS and I finally feel ‘normal’ but surgery isn’t magic , you have to work with it !!

I have been given a second chance to live life and I intend to ......by helping others,  on what can sometimes be, a difficult journey.............

I was also fortunate in April 2009 to give birth to a healthy baby boy after years and years of trying to conceive and the weight just hindered my chances.

Being a mum makes every hard part of the journey worth it and nothing comes close to the feeling I have every time my son calls me "Mummy" – its a dream come true.