To ask, why did you let yourself get so fat and how did you know you had become really fat?

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I am a lot a little bit overweight and just can't seem to get motivated.

I know I look enormous big but I still get a shock when I look at photos and realise what I actually look like.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

I comfort ate.

I ended my abusive relationship and gave myself a year to sort my head out and this year decided it was my body's turn. The birth of my GD, was a big motivator.

I've lost five stone, clean eating and exercising. I've got another stone to go, but I love my upper arms and getting my shape back.

I'm 48 and would recommend losing the weight before 45, to minimise the skin damage, losing weight can cause.

I'm counteracting this by investing in creams and dry brushing, daily.

Just to add. I'd been in denial about how big I had got and living in a region were there is a lot of obesity, didn't help, as didn't vanity sizing.

Planning trips out, is better, now that I can wear clothes that I like and not just to cover me.

i used to be bigger. Ive lost 10 stone but its been fucking hard work Then i put 4 back on and have lost that 4 stone regain in the last 2 years. Losing the regain has taken me 2 years. I originally started in 2002. Gave up smoking in 2005 DH had heart attack in 2006 I became a carer and for a good couple of years we had to live on £40 a week which included paying for prescriptions and hospital parking. Hence the regain which i have now lost again.

Its hard work and its not a 5 min job The world is not weight loss friendly Ive had no social life for the last few years because everyone was "lets go for coffee and cake or lets go for pizza. Re dating You only have to read the dating threads to see blokes who expect women to eat a takeaway with them and yet expect them stay the same dress size.

Friends have stopped asking me to go out and we have drifted apart. But ive lost the weight. Seems to me though that to keep it off i have to have no social life.

A friend has just returned to the UK from another country. Shes up North. Im already getting the sweats at worrying about the fact that i may have to go up there for a weekend and end up gaining as a result. Might have to keep my head down i think.

Becoming a Mother to a severely disabled baby, driving everywhere. I have always been overweight.

Helena I feel the same as you do. I lost ten and a half stones and had no social life in order to achieve this. I've regained eight stones. I'm seriously considering shutting myself away again but i'll lose my friend. I hat don't know what to do. I'm single and I need to talk to somebody! I feel so torn. I want to be slim but the loneliness is terrible.

I dream of getting to goal weight and finding more friends. I could tell lies and say I'm allergic to certain types of food and drink I guess.

My mood makes me reach for extra food my body does not need.

I'm sick of being grossly overweight.

Sole You are mother to a disabled child. That makes it harder. Caitlin Moran talks about the link between caring and weight in How To Be A Woman. Do NOT be hard on yourself about this Its bloody hard when there is always something else to think about.

I wont take contraception. and i wont risk pregnancy because both cause weight gain and ive worked too fucking hard to risk it. When i was on the Mini Pill i slowly started to gain and had major bloating despite sticking to SW Stopped it and lost half a stone in a fortnight. So no contraception and no pregnancy = celibacy. DH is disabled and no longer can and didnt want to for years before that so it doesnt really matter in that sense.

Its the paranoia and fear of regaining that has made me adopt this strategy . Society is just not weight loss friendly and that includes aftercare after the weight loss has been achieved. It has to be thought about ALL the time. Physically at the age of 42 im the best ive been for a while But mentally im not too sure about.

Do you get any outside help with regards to DC?

Sorry I meant its bloody hard when there is someONE else to think about.

I am currently a healthy bmi but I always seem to be losing or gaining weight, just don't seem able to maintain a healthy weight long term!

Thankfully my trigger for finding the motivation this time to stop overeating came at a lower weight than previously so it hasn't been so hard to lose.

I've never been as slim as I'd like to be really. I enjoy my food too much and have a natural propensity to eat crap. Always have!

I am fit though, I run a lot which I love. It's definitely getting harder to lose weight as I get older and I'm hoping that realisation may help me to keep off the chocolate.