A Brand New Carnie Wilson

Jan. 18, 2001 -- For years she used food to comfort herself when things got rough. These days too much food would be uncomforting — to say the least.

In August, 1999, Carnie Wilson underwent gastric bypass surgery to radically reduce the size of her stomach. Heavy since childhood, Wilson, formally of the pop group Wilson Phillips, says there was no other way for her to lose the weight she needed to lose.

Wilson weighed more than 300 pounds before the surgery, a weight doctors consider to be morbidly obese. Since then she has lost about 150 pounds and she has become a wife. Wilson, 32, married her boyfriend, Rob Bonfiglio, guitarist for the band Blush about 10 months after the surgery.

Wilson said she didn't decide on the bypass because of her boyfriend or even because of the way she looked at her high weight. She did it for because she feared for her life. Wilson thought she might have a heart attack if she didn't lose the weight and she already had other weight-related problems. She was periodically choking in her sleep because of her large frame.

Today, Wilson doesn't have to worry about keeping the weight off. Her newly-designed stomach only holds about one ounce of food whereas the average stomach holds a full quart. If she does overeat she will get ill immediately since her stomach cannot handle large meals. She tells Good Morning America that her average meal now is about the size of an airplane meal.