Lorrae, I think what troubles me is the general belief that "if only" I were thin, then: the love, popularity, blah blah. There is this implicit promise woven into all the magazines that thin =(whatever it is you and I don't have right now). Being fit, vs, thin per se, will give me the chance to love myself better. However if I don't deal with underlying dynamics which led to the obesity in the first place, a condition that is increasingly complex, overly simplified and horribly understood by just about all of us, then I will continue to self destruct. Food is all too often the weapon of choice, for me after a series of brutal rapes, the closest one handy. We all have our history, we all have our reasons. But not all of us are capable of teasing truth for ourselves out of the marketing. I've read so very many stories about people who reached their goal weight only to discover that nothing changed other than their goal weight. That speaks to the level of inappropriate expectation; Henry Cavill didn't suddenly appear at the door bearing roses, or whatever. All that is process, and it's deep work.