"At 253 pounds my body ached all over - which isn't surprising when you realize that carrying around that extra weight was like lugging 13 bowling balls with me wherever I went."

Like so many people, Adeline started getting heavy right after high school. Leaving behind the daily activities that kept her trim, she slipped into a more sedentary lifestyle. "I tried to control my weight with various diets and expensive programs, " she says. "But I'd always gain it back - plus a good 20 percent more." Eventually, Adeline simply resigned herself to being heavy.

Her attitude changed, however, when her doctor told her that because of her weight she couldn't safely bear another child. "It was like a lightening bolt to my heart," she says.

And so, having another child became Adeline's inspiration. "Almost an omen," she says, "a co-worker, who was celebrating her own 100-pound weight loss, told me about Barix Clinics." Within a week, Adeline had arranged a consultation with a Barix surgeon. By the end of that meeting, she knew that surgery was the answer. Adeline's second child was born three years later, in March 1999.

"Now I have the energy to run my consulting business and take care of my family," she says. "It's an incredibly active lifestyle, and I love it. I feel like I'm living my life the way it was intended."