Hello, my name is Marion Rung-Friebe, I am married, have a grown daughter and live in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
I have been overweighted since childhood.
When I was a child I had first diets and since then there where several tries to loss weight a lifetime long.
Nobody tried to understand the illness, nobody could explain the disease, cause nobody knew.
I was in constant doubt because of myself, I felt like a failure like so many other people with that disease.
There was and still is constant discrimination, in everyday life, in professional life, in the social and familiar environment.
In a bariatric operation I saw the chance to escape this vicious circle finally. The surgery was in the year 2010 and my life has completely changed since then.
Not only I’m living a slimmer life, after that surgery I dealt with the subject obesity even more.
Now I finally know that obesity is a disease.
And it is not enough to eat less and exercise more to handle it.
There is so much more than to pure prejudice.
Obesity is a serious disease that is multifactorial and, above all, must be treated multimodally. We need education, help and understanding.
I would like to convey this to all people with obesity, relatives, doctors and therapists.
Now I’m the 2nd chair of a non-profit organization „Adipositas Verband Deutschland e.V.”
We accompany and help those affected, relatives and specialist groups and inform about the chronic disease obesity and the metabolic syndrome.
We help at the creation and development of new self-help groups as well. Existing groups are supported and looked after. Training and further education of non-profit managers – seminars and meetings are offered regularly.