To ask if you used to be 'fat' and are now thin, are you happier now?

[Lsquiggles]

I'm overweight and a size 18. Like many others I'd love to be thin or slim but when I think about it logically, I think it's because society has conditioned me to think thin = happy.

Am I unhappy because I'm fat or because society tells me I can't/shouldn't be fat and happy?

So if you used to be big and are now at a weight/size you are comfortable with, are you happier now? And if yes, why do you think you're happier?

Yes. And people treat me differently. I am 100% glad I had surgery. I feel better, look better and can wear nice clothes.

No, I was a size 18 and lost 7 and a half stone so now a size 6.
However, my diet that I went on to lose weight led to me developing an eating disorder and now I feel even worse and am never satisfied by how much weight I lose.

I feel healthier and fitter which in turn makes me more content with myself.
i am in no way skinny or slim - I am a 6ft 1ins woman who does not have a slim frame. I got down to a size 12 and felt awful, no energy, cramps, muscle pain and was struggling to do simple things -settled in a sensible 14/16 which is maintained by sensible eating and the odd binge. I know what I need to do to maintain this and adjust my diet no certain days.

@Lsquiggles

I'm overweight and a size 18. Like many others I'd love to be thin or slim but when I think about it logically, I think it's because society has conditioned me to think thin = happy.

Am I unhappy because I'm fat or because society tells me I can't/shouldn't be fat and happy?

So if you used to be big and are now at a weight/size you are comfortable with, are you happier now? And if yes, why do you think you're happier?

I spent forty years yoyoing between a 16 and a 24. What a miserable, depressing 40 years it was. Constantly failing diets and wearing my shame publicly so many, many times .

Nearly six years ago I finally learned the answer to dieting to a size 12/14 and maintaining it and I have not returned to obesity or binge eating (a blooming miracle).

For me, I am thankful every day that I made lasting changes that have enabled me to have a more healthy relationship with food. It did mean that I stopped eating binge-inducing foods but these foods had a very damaging effect on me physically, mentally and emotionally. Basically I couldn't stop eating them once I started. Now I don't eat them at all, ever and its second nature to ignore them.

So, today I am very happy and mentally, physically and emotionally in a good place. I have a vast wardrobe space (my grown-up son's bedroom is my dressing room now) full of many, many beautiful clothes I have collected over the past few years (a lot of second-hand classics) which still fit! I am grateful that I no longer wear clothes just to cover myself and be invisible.

It is good to finally feel confident and stable around food. For me, it was the detrimental effect that certain foods induced in me that was not healthy - some foods seem to cause me huge anxiety and depressed thoughts. I don't have these issues any more - its good feeling stable.