Barbara Thompson battled a weight problem from the day she was born. When she finally admitted to herself in her late twenties that her “baby fat” was turning into a serious problem, she began dieting earnestly, only to diet her way to morbid obesity.

When her weight reached 264 pounds, and a herniated disk in her back was causing her to face disability, she knew she was in trouble. She decided to have the life-altering gastric bypass surgery. That was 10 years ago, and she hasn’t looked back since.

Thompson will return to the Park Rapids area for an encore audience at St. Joseph’s Center for Weight Management Weekend in the Pines event set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1-2, 2010.

She speaks on a national circuit to groups as large as 18,000. Through her speaking, she brings hope to the dangerously obese and stresses the right for personal dignity at any weight. She has served as a consultant to CNN and the Wall Street Journal. She has been featured in People Magazine and on ABC’s “Nightline,” and she is a frequent contributor to “Fox and Friends.” Barbara is also the Chairman of the Board of the Obesity Action Coalition.

Her book, Weight Loss Surgery: Finding the Thin Person Hiding Inside You, now in its 4th edition, is a bariatric patient’s must-read practical handbook. She co-authored Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies, published by Wiley in 2005, and is a frequent contributor to WLS Life Styles Magazine.

Smokey Hills Wilderness Retreat will again be the setting for the fourth annual Weekend in the Pines. Mark the date in your calendar, then watch for sign-up details this summer in the mail and on this Website.