I have recently lost 55 pounds. I started in August. The reason I did was for me. Your weight is the only thing in your life that you have complete and absolute control over. You can blame no one but yourself for your weight. I decided to diet and become thin and I have never been happier going from a size 14 to a size 6.

I had all the excuses,I recently lost 52 lbs. I weigh now what I want to weigh, off blood pressure medication, off cholesterol medication, and If I must say so myself look pretty good for a 64 year old who is healthier!

Yeah and articles like this are the reason why america is such an obese country. Many people start diets because they ate bad and for a long time. Gaining 30lbs....that's alot of mayo, carbs and fats that you shouldn't have been eating, so, no your not healthy. Think about it. One pound of fat = 3500 calories so 30lbs is 105,000 more calories that you consumed whice your body doesn't need. Get some veggies in your system and get moving. The best thing you can do is give yourself 5lbs to work with, When you start creeping up to the top of the five lbs, start eating a little healthier, it's alot easier to maintain your figure and still indulge from time to time with that routine. At least new years resolutions keep you a little healthier for at least a month.

Quick scam diets are the worst. I realized in high school when I reached 230 pounds that I now longer felt healthy, and couldn't participate in the sports I liked because I was too out of shape. So I did 2 very simple things: I worked out more, and watched what I ate. I'm currently a sophomore in college, and I'm currently at a lot of about 70 pounds. Yes, it's taken me years to lose it, but unlike those cheap fast diets where the weight can come back just as fast as it left, I know my weight will remain at a reasonable level. Now I work out because I love it, and I eat well because its what I'm used to--its all a part of my lifestyle. My goal weight is 140--nothing too skinny, I like having a little meat on me. Women just need to stop worrying about how to get thin fast, and think about how to get healthy, and how to make being healthy a part of their lifestyle instead of a 2 week thing to shed 5 pounds that they'll just gain back the next week anyway.

Here are my thoughts. I was thin back in Jr. High, then put on a few pounds but was still okay in High School. Twenty years out, I have continued to add weight to my frame year over year. People have no clue how much I weigh until I tell them because I carry it well, which in all honesty, works against me. I need to lose weight for myself, for my health.

This whole thing about loving yourself at what ever weight is all fine and good, but if you're not the type to go to the doctor regularly, then you should do so. There could be hidden health issues there. If you have some extra pounds (less than 50) and you have no other effects to your health, then yes, you're healthy, but you should keep an eye on it. If you're more than 20 pounds less than your optimium weight, then maybe you should put some back on because that can also cause health issues.

So for me, the bottom line is as long as your doctor tells you you're healthy, then you're good to go, but when the doctor starts looking at you funny, or kind of suggesting something, you should listen. Most doctors today are afraid to tell you the truth because God knows in this country, if they hurt your feelings, you may just sue them for telling you you're fat.

A. R. Alan says: I'VE BEEN ON A DIET FOR OVER 50 YEARS, LOST OVER 1000 POUNDS AND STILL HAVE 40 MORE POUNDS TO TAKE OFF. YOU NAME IT, I'VE TRIED IT. MY NOVEL,'"DO I FLAUNT MY FAT, OR JUMP OFF A BRIDGE" SAYS IT ALL. WANT A FEW LAUGHS? READ MY NOVEL

As a man who prefers women who are NOT built like ten year old boys, women who consider themselves overweight, I am apalled at this fixation on thin women being the norm. Its true, there are people out there who need to lose weight, and I applaud their attempts and their small, and large successes, but then you see some of the before and after pictures on tv and some of them definitely looked better the way they were, if they would would be given the same beauty makeover in the before pictures.

All of this talk of body image and being over weight.. I have always been on the other end of the stick, under weight. It's hurts your self image just as much as being over weight. I did all the weights, high protein shakes, etc..you get the picture. It was and still is very distressing sometimes to have people look at you as if "oh, she must be sick, anorexic, etc"...you get the picture. At the end of the day and in my forties now, I'm now just now beginning to enjoy my "naturally thin" body. As for being a feminist, does that mean you are automatically overweight or bad looking, can good looking people, thin, overweight, be a feminist too.. I now workout 3 days a work and eat healthy, but not stupid crazy to try in fit into that mold of what society, thinks I should be weighing. This can hurt for both sides of the stick.. A little "food for thought""...

Being thin DOES NOT guarantee healthiness and longevity as we're constantly told. My mom lived to be 101 and she was always overweight until the last couple years of her life when she had problems eating. Her mother was also heavier and lived to be 94 and her mother, my great-grandmother, was far from thin and lived to be 103. I know of a family of sisters where the heaviest one lived to be the oldest, 102, and the thinnest ones died much younger. Of course, if you are 100+ pounds over your ideal weight, that certainly isn't healthy, but you can be quite a few pounds over and still be fine. Kelly Ripa is one that I worry about. I can't figure out why the tabloids haven't gotten on her saying she's anorexic, because she sure looks it and even got a stress fracture from exercising too much. There is so much medical bull out there and making money is behind most of it, but people take all of it as the truth. Beware, we are being taken to the cleaners by the medical and pharma industries along with the diet industry!! All they care about is getting you into their clutches to make money off of you!

I think you have to feel comfortable in your own skin. If you're not comfortable then go for it. Lose the pounds. All the best.