I don't believe anyone wants to be fat. Being fat is hard; it's hard on the body and hard on the soul. It's also embarrassing. I've broken chairs at restaurants, ripped pants in public, and I've been too big for rollercoaster seats. I heard "Fatso" so much growing up I thought it was all I would ever be. Some find a level of self-acceptance with it, but I never could.But I can tell you, everything in life gets better and easier when you lose weight.I was 380 pounds at my heaviest.

I lost over 200 pounds and have kept it off for 20 years. This is my story of what worked for me. I'm hoping it will inspire you.When we're scared, lonely or sad, food provides such great relief, but it comes at a cost. We all want to be thin, but when you're an emotional eater like I am, it can seem impossible. It's okay to want to be thin. We are not meant to be fat. When we lose the weight, we uncover our true selves.

Even the things that cause us to eat are easier to handle.No one can do it for us, though. All the diets and programs out there show us the science, but then we're left with the hole deep inside that just needs to be filled. It's an inside job to figure out why we can't stop eating when all we want is to lose weight. Reading how others have done it helps the most, I think.Because I'm a fat realist, I don't think any of us compulsive eaters ever completely get over our food addiction. But we can learn to work with it. We need to figure out how to get along with our BFF (best friend food) because it's not going away.

In addition to losing weight, I discovered how to get along in the world as a highly sensitive, people pleasing, emotional compulsive eater. I even found my own personal secret to happiness.Lose the weight. Everything gets better when you do.