Ok, I was born a whopping 10lb 11oz baby… that’s a huge baby! By the 9th grade I was a size 22/24.

My brother was a body builder, my sister a size zero, and then there was me… How unfair is that? I never seemed to fit in with people… or clothes for that matter. By the age of 7, yes 7, I had had enough.

I started Weight Watchers with my grandmother who thought it would help. Anybody carrying extra pounds is familiar with the program but then it was the South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, Soup Diet, and the “Just Don’t Eat Diet”. I’d lose the weight then slowly all those pounds would find a way back to me – I’d end up right back where I started… alone, tired and hopeless… wasting all of my hard work and money!

I prayed every night for a miracle then one day I saw an ad for Dr. John Bagnato with the Lap-Band. It took me a year to save the money and prepare for the surgery but I never gave up. I got my band in 2007; one year later and 93lbs lighter I was there. I had successfully lost the weight but… not only did I lose the pounds I gained my self confidence. I was normal and being taken seriously – people were seeing me, not the shell I was in.

Now, another year later I have successfully kept off the weight – not even fluctuating a pound – I am a size 10 and buying a whole new wardrobe. While shopping my eyes fell on the cutest bikini I had ever seen, yes two pieces! I am 26 years old and have never been in a bikini… not even as a baby. I took a deep breath and tried it on. I actually started crying. They were tears of joy… I was in a two piece bathing suit and looked better than ever!

I am proud of me and feel alive for the first time. I wasted so much of my life, time and tears being overweight. This is how life is supposed to be… I got my miracle… everybody deserves one!