I'm sure my story is similar to many of yours. When I was very young, I was average sized, but I started getting "chubby" around age 8. In 5th grade I wore a women's size 8. By 8th grade, I was a size 16. I did slim down a bit in high school when I joined the swim team; I got down to a 12. After two years on the team, journalism beat out swimming for my time, and I ballooned to 186 lbs.--my heaviest weight EVER. When I headed off to college I did lose some of that weight. When I graduated college 5 years ago I weighed about 165. When training for a mini-marathon a couple of years ago I got down to 147. Training stopped, and I settled in around 155. I never felt thin, but I felt normal. After I got married last summer, I stopped watching anything I was eating AND stopped working out. When the scale read 166, it was my wake-up call. I'm back on Atkin's and ready to make it a lifestyle change. I'd like to be 135 before my husband and I try to start a family next year. So that's where I've been, join me as I see where the journey is going to take me. :)