First off, it's just so weird to start a thread in a forum cuz I almost never post anything online except for some nonsense facebook updates.

Anyways, hi guys. My name is Kelly, and, well, I'm a college student in the US. But I'm originally from Vietnam, where being 5'2 and 150 lbs is considered highly overweight. Half a year ago, I moved in with my boyfriend trying to reduce the living cost. Turned out that he made me eat like crazy, and within 6 months, I went from about 120 to 150

Thing is, with all the homework and classwork and such, I really can't find time to work out. Plus, as many of you have mentioned in your posts, I also have that anxiety of going to the gym, seeing toned and perfectly shaped people. With my body weight, and my hideous appearance (my skin is extremely acne-proned and spotty), I'm dreadful that people would make fun of me or something cruel behind my back. It just broke my heart to see my old pictures and then see all these freaking stretch marks on my arms and thighs. I really hate who I am now, and I'd literally do everything to be who I used to be.

Then that is what you need to do, everything, Experiment until you find what works for you.

((((Kelly)))) I'm sorry to hear you feel that way about yourself, but I think most of us understand. It's hard to be stuck in a body we're not proud of.

Luckily, a healthy diet is a powerful weapon toward looking and feeling great. Is it possible your skin problems are linked to something in your diet? Until I reached my 40s, dairy products gave me terrible acne all the way from the top of my head to my waist. Finally, my hormones changed and I outgrew it.

Hang in there! You're definitely in the right place and on the right track.

1. welcome!

2. stop it. stop being hard on yourself right now! You aren't going to love your body any more when you reach your goal weight. You just aren't. There will ALWAYS be something jiggly or wrinkly or whatever. So go ahead and get one big hurdle out of the way and start loving your body! You have to take really good care of your body to get it in really good shape. People don't usually take care of things they don't care about, so start caring for your body! Only feed it the best foods, and carve out time to take it to the gym. We find time for other things that are less important than our body, it's time to start making time for your important body!

I TOTALLY feel you. You have come to the right place.

I really like what Kriket84 said. I have known that feeling of being so ashamed of my appearance that the only times I felt happy was when I was completely distracted. Eating crap is a great distraction. Poutine and pints of haagen-dasz and whole bags of ruffles. So is acting like a buffoon in public. So is spending my entire day watching TV.

What works for me, and what may work for you, is congratulating myself on every good choice. It takes a lot of thought training to stop comparing oneself to other people, but it's so key. I started by forcing yourself not to give a care as to other peoples' looks or lifestyles. Then it followed that I stopped caring if or what people thought about MY looks and lifestyle.

Hi Kelly, I totally understand being petite and overweight. Use your age to your benefit by finding ways to jump start your metabolism. Also, being in school means there is probably a gym on campus, go and ask when the 'quiet times' are and I bet you will meet some kind kids who are willing to help you out. Don't always assume the worst because of a few bad apples in the barrel.

Good luck and hang in there.

Hi Kelly!

I'm new to this site too. I can really relate to the feeling of disgust with yourself. The important thing is to start doing something about how you feel. Make the decision to start doing something about it RIGHT NOW. Even if it is just something small at first, like changing the foods you eat, or counting calories. I know that you are scared of the gym right now, but maybe take a walk outside daily-- just short ones at first, or buy a jump rope to do indoors or on a balcony... I read a quote a few weeks ago that said "One year from now you'll be happy you started today." That quote has really helped me a lot in the past few weeks.