I have struggled with my weight since I was a little girl.  Back then people were a little nicer and called me a cute little chubby girl.  I started my first real diet when I was barely 10 years old.  I ate nothing but lettuce and tomatoes and tuna fish without dressing or mayo for lunch and supper every day. You can imagine I didn't last very long on this one.  I have tried low fat, low carb, low sugar, liquid diets and fasting for 2 days at a time. Everything worked for the short term but I always gained back the weight.  i kept yo-yo-ing until I finally weighed over 240 pounds on a 5ft 2in frame.  I was miserable with my weight and disgusted with myself.  How could I not control myself?  I finally went for a drastic solution and tried lap band surgery.  I was finally successful and was losing weight and feeling better.  With lap band surgery you can have what is called "fills" where saline in injected into the band and it tightens up and causes one to eat less.  Things were great or so I thought. Occasionally the band would tighten on its own and I was unable to eat or  even drink and would end up dehydrated. My doctor would have to remove some saline and it would relieve the restriction but immediately I would gain weight.  It was a vicious cycle of gaining and losing just like my entire life and finally my band started leaking and had to be removed.  Guess what...since I never really learned to eat right, the weight just came back.  Now its back to yoyo dieting.  I tried so hard just like everyone else but to no avail.  I finally decided to try another weight loss surgery but went into this really knowing surgery was not the answer it was just a tool to help me..  I had to take some responsibility and control.  Weight loss surgery will limit the amount of food you can eat but I had to change what I ate.  Over 1 1/2 years i lost 85 pounds with 30 more to lose.  I am learning every day to make better choices and there is no magic pill, surgery or cure for obesity.  It really takes a combination of eating properly, portion control and exercise.  Yes I did say exercise the bane of my existence. But the truth is we have to move our bodies, not just for weight loss, but for our own health.  This is my story and the reason Buffy and I started Customize Cuisine.  We hope that we can help others who have struggled like us by offering meal planning, recipes and grocery lists to make eating healthy a way of life and not a diet. We believe that knowing what to eat, how to cook it and what ingredients are needed will make it easier to follow  a healthy lifestyle.