What a great thread! I particularly relate to this post:

I totally, totally agree with this!

^bump

Love love love this thread.

I've never been particularly thin, but at 135 lbs I was mostly solid muscle and used to get nice comments from random people like "wow, are you an athlete?"

But more importantly, I used to wake up each morning much more eager to start my day. Being satisfied with my body gives me freedom to not think about it at all. That's what I miss, that happy freedom.

What does it feel like to be thin?

I feel broke!! Hahaha..since I've been spending my ALL my money on new clothes. I think for once in my life, I'm a shopaholic!

I used to be a real clothes horse when I was fat. I was so excited to find anything nice in my size, I felt I had to buy it. All the fancy clothes, expensive shoes and meticulous grooming masked a real lack of confidence. Now that I can walk into virtually any store and find lots of things that will fit me and look great, I don't really care about clothes any more.

But I'm still broke, because now I spend all my money on fitness gear, gym memberships, workout DVDs, kettlebells and other assorted fitness toys...

Same here, I constantly find myself lurking in the fitness section of shops.

Heh.

I just stumbled upon this thread, and wow is it inspirational!! It's such a feel-good read.

What does it feel like to be thin...well, I don't feel "thin" in the least bit probably because I'm 5'9 and always felt like a "big girl" regardless of my size, but I do know that I feel healthy and slender.

My DH and I were at a party last week and someone I haven't seen in a year came up to me, gave me a hug and said, "You are sooo tiny!!" That completely blew me away because the person who said it is 5'3 and super tiny, so for her to say that her 5'9 behemoth friend was tiny was really a big deal for me, lol!

Here are some things I have noticed about being "thinner":

** I no longer sweat for no reason (and wonder why the **** I am sweating). I remember being at my aunt's wedding 6 years ago in May and I was sweating profusely...and I wasn't even moving. I was so freaked out and I didn't know what the heck was going on. Now that I look back, I realize that I was sweating because I was fat and I didn't even know it.

**I don't have to take off my winter coat when I am running errands because it doesn't make me profusely hot. The winter coat came off immediately after stepping into a store when I was overweight.

**I can now run. And I like it. And I feel like my body can do anything I ask of it.

**I am no longer nervous to eat a lot of food in front of people. At the party I was at last weekend I ate two plates and was the first person to grab a piece of pumpkin pie. And I didn't feel badly about it at all

**Clothes shopping is awesome. I am no longer limited to overly-big-patterned moo-moo shirts that I can't stand but have to wear because that's all there is. I love grabbing a medium and doing a double-take when I see the tag. XXL used to be my homey.

**Most of all, I just love the confidence that comes from being thinner and feeling healthy. It's not a cockiness, but more of a "whew, I feel good, and I am proud of myself, so I am going to hold my head high." I am nicer to myself which in turn makes me nicer to others.

I love those reasons of you!!!

What a great thread! I loved reading some of the responses.

I'm not what I'd consider thin but I'm certainly a lot thinner than where I started. Things I've noticed (and many of which I've already posted about here ) are:

- so many bones! I keep poking myself and I just feel angular

- Airplane seats are comfortable, who would have thought!?!

- Clothes still don't always fit the way I want still but I can find cheaper, normal-sized clothes and get them altered so that they DO fit.

- My body isn't perfect. I have stretch marks and loose skin BUT I look way better in clothes and don't feel as limited. It's like I've removed the heaviest jacket in the world.

- I look in mirrors way too often.

- SO MUCH MORE CONFIDENCE

- I've started wearing make-up again and dressing up more

- I don't feel embarrassed anymore at the pool when I take my cover-up off and am wearing my bikini underneath.

- I get treated better (I have to say while it's nice to get treated better it makes me really sad that that means I was treated worse/ignored more in stores etc when I was heavier and that others have to deal with that. People shouldn't be treated differently according to their appearance ).

Not thin, but love being at a weight where I don't have to think about "being fat" haunting my thoughts. So many years my first thought on waking was taking an inventory of my fatness so I'd know what to wear.

Ouch! I used to do that too - I'd almost forgotten about it.

This thread should be stickied. So motivating and inspirational!!

I just started school in the fall to become an X-ray technologist. This is the first group of people I've gotten to know that didn't know the bigger version of me. Knowing how to handle all different body shapes and sizes is obviously a big part of the job, and every time I am used as an example in class, it is because I am so SMALL. It makes me smile every single time!!

And another thing about this job.. it is very physically demanding. I don't think I could have done it 55 lbs heavier. In fact, my new career choice has been and continues to be a motivator to lose weight. It feels really good to have the energy to give my patients the care they deserve.

That's fantastic! I'm going to school to be a COTA, and there are a lot of physical demands as well. It absolutely motivates me to keep losing!

Love this thread! I hope we get more responses for those who have conquered this aspect of their life, motivates me every time I read here