Follow the story of  Wendy Carpenter who will be undergoing gastric bypass surgery at Vita Clinics next month in June 2009.

Here’s her story...

Between us, my husband Barry and I weighed almost 50 stone. Barry had a gastric bypass a year ago and it has changed his life. I am determined that the same operation is going to change my life next month.

As this is my first blog post, I thought I would tell you just a little bit about what obesity has done to me and my life. It is not as if we haven’t tried to do something about it. “Yeah, ok”, I hear you say. But it is true. I have spent years yo-yo dieting. I thought I was doing the right thing. For every pound I lost I put several back on. The pounds pile on so quickly. The bigger and bigger I got the more and more difficult it was to get rid of it and the more and more desperate I have become. Imagine what it is like to hate the way you look – not just in a particular outfit, every single day of your life.

I was worried about going to a restaurant because you are concerned about whether you will fit in the chairs.

I couldn’t go on overseas holidays because I couldn’t fit in the aeroplane seats.

I was stared at in the street every day.

I couldn’t do the simple things I love in life like going for a walk or a cycle ride.

I got into a friend’s car one day and the seatbelt was too small to strap me in.

I have to take at least three pain killers every day, and have done for years, because I am in agony with my knees and back due to the extra weight I am carrying.

I know what you are saying – “just do something about it!”

I have been. Well, so I thought. But, I was not doing the right things. I now understand why yo-yo dieting doesn’t work. I now understand that it is not necessarily what you eat – everything in moderation – but the amount you eat.

After years of trying to do something about it on my own and failing, I have decided that enough is enough. I can’t live like this anymore. I am scared about what my weight will do to my health in the long term. I am sick of being judged because of the way I look. It has just got to stop. It may seem like an extreme choice to some, but the gastric bypass operation is my route to a new life.

I am almost 20 stone and a size 28. Things are going to change. Follow my thoughts, feelings and experiences during my weight loss journey every week.

Read more of Wendy’s diary here