Some inspiring stories here :)
It's true that weight loss in itself doesn't solve your problems but I find there are so many benefits to it in terms of a positive mental outlook (sorry for that rather silly phrase)
It shows you that you can achieve something
It makes you feel good about how you look
This gives you confidence
It makes you force yourself to look at the long term goal rather than the here and now (this is a big thing for me, I like to have my cake and eat it and you just can't!)
I put on a lot of weight (about 4 stone 
) at university, going from a fairly healthy 10 stone to 14 and a half over three years. I was very confused, having lost my mum as a younger teenager and then my family just fell apart. Rather than wanting to go out into the world and confidently live the life of a young adult, I clung to the familiar world of childhood for too long and I think weight was a way of protecting myself. In my third and final year I studied hard as I'd messed up some exams in my second year and I really wanted to leave with a 2:1 but I could only do that by achieving high 2:1s/Firsts in all my third year essays and exams so I knuckled down - with a takeaway / bag of sweets / family pack of crisps. Socialising in those days was my slim friends and I sitting with a bottle of wine and a pizza.
Sometime in late May when all my exams were finished and I was going to the Spar for food, probably, and I still remember what I was wearing - jeans and flip flops and a white knitted cardigan with a hood, and I heard a car honk and I just thought it was one of my friends but it was a group of teenage lads shouting a load of abuse at me like 'get to fucking weight watchers!'
Mortification. I had just applied to be a teacher and I realised walking home (without my crisps!) that other people could see my fat as well, which I know sounds crazy but I'd been so so deep in denial. I rarely bought clothes and if I did it was tops that stretched and sweatpants / leggings so I convinced myself I was a size 14, a bit chubby ... I was more like an 18. I darted away from the camera and if anyone did take my photo without me seeing I'd at first be horrified and then convince myself it was a bad angle.
The next day I started googling weight loss. I did a diet which involved cutting out all food and replacing it with shakes and soups, amounting to less than 500 calories per day but still getting all nutrition in.
Some people are really critical of them but in my situation it was perfect. I couldn't really cook and I was living in a shared house at the time with friends but soon they went home and I moved very temporarily to a caravan and then to another flat share. I was working in an ice cream kiosk that summer and the weight just dropped off me. I started it beginning of June, and by end of August I was weight of 10 and a half stone (I lost 11lbs in the first week.)
It completely changed me, and thank you for asking here because it's made me remember how much determination I had, to get my 2:1 (I did!) to lose that weight and to become a teacher.
Now, I need that determination to STOP being a teacher! 