Dropping Lbs: Kimberly Sikes of Moriches

"I had poor eating habits," Sikes recalls. "And I ate if I was happy, sad, angry, you name it."

She would eat multiple portions, then raid a food stash in her bedroom closet. Being overweight was robbing her of the life she thought most 20-somethings enjoy.

"I would lie and say I was scared of roller coasters because I couldn't fit in the seat," Sikes says. "To avoid asking for a seat belt extender on a plane, I'd just hide the seat belt in my lap. I avoided chairs with arms because I couldn't fit in them."

Her doctor's chilling words finally made a difference. She suffered from Type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea, and 90 percent of her gall bladder was destroyed and had to be removed. "I was 21 years old, and he told me I wouldn't live much past 30," Sikes says.

She had tried Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Hollywood-type diets, gaining back more than she'd lost. She dismissed bariatric surgery as the easy way out for years until the conversation with her doctor. "Aug. 3, 2011, was the day my life changed forever," she says of the surgery. She is no longer diabetic and doesn't have sleep apnea.

Kimberly Sikes

27, Moriches