My story =) Just thought i share

I  used to be 140 @ 5 ft 5 (now around 120)i had a lot of muscle and wore a size 8 clothes...i was always healthy and happy and enjoyed good food AND exercise then i planned a holiday with tons of my 100lb friends who kept complaining that their 'stomachs' and 'love handles' would ruin their bikini photos.I wasnt going to be made fun of so i decided to diet,first healthily you now more fruit workout less sweet stuff IT WAS GOING GREAT and i lost 7lbs

thats enough

But it wasnt.Hmmm....i could do with more of this i thought.The compliments kept coming at school 'Kim you look great' 'Oh,im so jelous' so i decided to take things further.If i can loose 7lbs i can lose 20lbs!! So i lived on weight watchers crackers and fruit (now i realise that for a 15 year old growing girl that wasnt enough). The thing that makes me most ashamed is the way i treated people the lack of food ment i was cranky and irritable.Every day i would scream at my mum 'you want me to get fat' ' you dont love me' My face was sunken and drawn in an my hip bones jutted out waaay too much.I was starving myself and i didnt want to talk,i couldnt concentrate i just wasnt myself.

Listen to your mum I thought She loves you

But there was a voice whenever i tried to eat something my mum cooked healthily etc.... YOULL GET FAT YOU DONT DESERVE TO EAT THAT PUT IT BACK DOWN

My family would cry themselves to sleep over me hoping that something would happen.That i would eat properly,they wanted to see me have kids and grow up into a healthy woman.

The final straw was when mum took me to a nutritionist and halfway through she ran out crying.It broke my heart and ill never forget the way she looked at me before crying her eyes out. She just wanted the old Kim back

I realised i had to do something

With the help of the nutritionist and a supportive family i now follow a healthy balanced diet again.It took over a year but i now know that the support of your family can work wonders.

Good for you taking the healthy route now!!

I'm glad that there was something, or in this case, someone who could make you see the harm you were doing to yourself. I know someone who won't listen to anyone, and nothing will shock her.

I also just saw some before and after photos of a teenage girl on this site, and they were shocking.

I'm really happy for you!! Good luck xx

Thanks=) im very happy now

Sometimes i feel torn between to parts of me though

The one that enjoys food and the one that calorie counts obsessively.

Can anyone relate? Do you ever find yourself saying

'Oh i really want that [insert food here] but I CANT'

Sometimes I really do have to say "no" to myself, but I am still trying to lose 2 more babies worth of fat, LOL.

But, sweetie... You weren't saying no for a good reason.  You were just torturing yourself.  I'm so glad you're better now! 

Thanks for sharing your story.  I hope it inspires another teenage girl facing what you were facing.  It inspired me!  :)

Kim: Thanks for sharing your story.  I see so many youngsters on this site starving themselves to get even slimmer.  They don't want to hear from someone like me.

Yes, I am going through a period right now of having to say no to even reasonable foods.  In general, I don't like calorie counting.  It is time consuming and involves so much guesswork.  How many calories in that banana I had for breakfast?

This is the second time in the last decade that I have gone through this.  The last time, I didn't count calories.  I just cut back on the food I was eating -- way back.  It was a tough adjustment at first then I got to the point that I would look at piece of pizza or chocolate cake and all I could see was oozing fat.  I actually got to the point that I could sit through an afternoon meeting with a bowl of potato chips staring me in the face and not eat any.

Last year, I enrolled in a training program that required me to count calories.  It worked very well.  I got into pretty good shape and trimmed another 15 pounds.  I took some time off and stopped counting calories last Fall.  Five of the pounds are back and I have started counting calories.  I don't actually believe in counting calories but keeping rough track of them helps me say no to some tempting snacks.

I am not starving myself.  I would like to cut back a little more but with all of the exercise that I am doing, I need all of the food that I am eating.  I don't need the extra.  I get by just fine without the frozen yogurt in the evening.  One cookie at the office lunch is plenty even if I would like a couple more.

Limiting my food and putting in the exercise time are good choices.  Stay healthy and by all means, make sure your family knows how much you love and appreciate them.

kim, thanks for your story. pretty much the exact same thing happened to me. except i'm 5"3 and i got down to 110. it sucks, and i had to put 15 pounds on, but you know what? i didn't even really notice it going on because it was all m y muscle coming back.

my family is the only reason i am able to live a healthy, happy lifestyle today. good luck to you.