I love this thread. Since I was a little girl (which I still kinda am- only 15), I hav been taught to feel like I could only reach my true potential if I was thin. THe problem was, I never was. Obesity runs in my family. My mom had this surgery three years ago when she was 110lbs. overweight; my great-grandmother died from complications from obesity. Everyone in my family is fat, and everyone in my family feels like they aren't good enough because of it. When I was 11 I went to Brazil with my grandmother. I remember standing in the dressing room of a bathing suit store crying because my grandmother was telling me that I looked like a whale in every suit I tried on (and that was during a time in my life when I was average weight). I hated her for it, but I also believed her. The lady I was staying with would make me huge bowls of dulce de leche and hide them from my grandmother because she felt bad that my grandma wouldn't let me eat much. It felt so good to rebel in that way. When I came home a month later, I had gained ten lbs and a lot of bad eating habits. Since, I have had multiple eating disorders and lost a lot of weight, but it always comes back, and then some. I am fat becasue I like to rebel and I especially like succeeding and proving everyone wrong despite my weight. Nobody believed I could win a pageant, so I worked my butt off and won, and then won another. I was elected class president, mastered classical piano, got accepted to numerous leadership conferences, traveled to Europe, maintained good grades, got a gorgeous boyfriend, and did many hours of community service when they said that fat people couldn't do anything. I proved them wrong and then got the band to prove myself wrong and loose weight. I'm finally ready to be thin. WOO-HOO!