I have struggled with my weight and the issues surrounding this problem all my life. Since early childhood I suffered from prejudice against obesity. By age 50 I weighed 330 pounds and began having medical problems due to obesity. I made the decision to have gastric bypass surgery on March 21, 2004. Within 18 months I lost 170 pounds.

A bigger challenge has been keeping the weight off – a challenge for all weight-loss surgery patients. I've been succeeding through educating myself on the effects of weight-loss surgery and changing my lifestyle.

I wanted to help others by sharing my experiences, so I wrote a book, Fat No More: Long-Term Success Following Weight-Loss Surgery. In this book, I share what I have learned that can help anyone lose weight and keep it off. I try to provide information and motivation in a way that I wish someone had done for me, like a good friend sharing her experiences and knowledge, understanding my concerns, and providing support.

The reactions to Fat No More have been very positive. You can read some of the reviews here.

I also have mentored people considering weight-loss surgery through the UW Health Bariatric Surgery Program in Madison, Wisconsin since 2006. In this way, I have been able to provide inspiration and information to individuals and groups – within Wisconsin and in other states.

I wanted to do more to help, so I decided to become a life coach. I specialize in guiding people through the challenges before and after weight-loss surgery.

That was how G Notes came into being.

-- Gail Engebretson

Click here to find out where I'm going and what I'm doing to help people through coaching and mentoring.