that's great that you are aware of what you are eating and how you are exercising.  I  was a little plump when I was 15 - 17, and didn't start paying attention to my weight until I was about 18 or 19.  I think one of my friends called me sausage legs and then I became pretty concerned and was motivated to make a change. 

I'm 34 now and have been dieting for about 15 or 16 years now.  My weight's been up and down a few times, the heaviest I've been is 156 (29/30), the lightest was 113 (21).  I'm currently 126 at 34 yrs old and stand 5'5" tall and this about average for me.  It's a good weight but I have to work on my butt and thighs.  Post puberty I find that the weight goes to certain areas easily and is lost not so easily. 

You can't help the puberty weight, but post puberty going forward all the choices you make will impact you later in life.  I think your smart choices now will enable you to live a long healthy life.  The healthiest options are fresh foods, fruits, vegetables, meats, non-processed and sweets made with unrefined sugar or honey. 

dieting is a whole combination of eating, caloric nutritional intake and exercise.  Daily exercise is the vehicle to burn more calories.  What really changed me was joining martial arts.  I met friends and it was a lot of fun, but also really got me in shape.  Meeting people there taught me all sorts of diet/exercise/nutritional info I wished I had learned a long time ago.

Hmm, I started my scale addiction when I was about 7.  I was underweight and was made fun of for that (and other things).  By the time I was in puberty, I was drinking water while standing on the scale, drinking Pepto Bismo daily (even carrying to school).  By high school I was drinking protein supplements in ice cream. 

None of this helped.  I didn't learn better eating habits.  The thing I did learn was to stop looking at the scale.  I haven't owned one since I left home. 

I got married and got fat.  I never incorporated regular exercise and have been progressively getting out of shape. 

I finally got in touch with my size and fitness last February.  I travel to weigh myself and that's okay. 

This is really sad. I was actually pretty thin growing up.. in high school I noticed I was weighing a little more but I really didn't pay attention to it. I started really weighing myself when I was 18 and started college. I'm almost 20 and I started my first diet.

Sometimes I wish being skinny wasn't so important..

anonymous32, all the weight you gained was absolutely part of the process of puberty. You did not gain a mere 2 lbs. per inch and 10 superfluous lbs. In fact, your calculated BMI, for what that is worth, went down from 21.5 to 20.5.

I agree with those who say this thread makes them sad, except it's hard for me to feel sad because I see this so much that I am becoming used to it. The horror is wearing off.

When I was 17 I starved myself for four months. And I was already slender: I just didn't realize it. One day I sat myself down and told myself that I needed to be healthy, not skinny. I wasn't ever going to be a runway model at 5' 3 1/2", and I didn't want to eat like one, anyway. So I started working out. I began lifting weights and doing cardio. I am still doing that to this day.

At 35 I am 111 lbs., but I don't care because the numbers on the scale don't matter. What matters is that my body looks fit and strong. What matters is that I can maintain at over 3,000 calories a day—did I mention I like to eat? What matters is that I eat the right things but the wrong things, too, and I don't worry about it. I am not obsessed with my weight or my diet.

When I read threads like these I am just so thankful that I set myself on the right path when I was still a teenager. I wish that more young women would do the same. Stop obsessing about your weight. Stop watching everything you eat and feeling bad when you let yourself indulge a little. Exercise, build some muscle, get stronger, feel stronger, and take on the world. You are so much more than the numbers on your scale. And for those whose weight has fluctuated over the years, it is very possible that if you gave yourself a break and focused on being happy and healthy, you would see less fluctuation in the numbers over time. 

This thread makes me very sad, indeed.

I was pretty much always over-weight and was constantly reminded of the fact by parents, relatives, family friends, etcetera.  Finally at the age of thirteen (I think) I decided to do something about it and lost a bunch of weight, going from 180 something pounds to 120 or so in a relatively short time.  I became more and more obsessed with my weight and developed many unhealthy habits, resulting in me gaining a lot of weight back, sky-rocketing up to the 200s a little over a year ago.  In the year since, I've lost about 50 or so pounds.  Now, at seventeen, I'm trying to lose some more weight in a healthier manner and quick my unhealthy habits.

I've realised that being thin isn't everything and I wish more people would too.

ever since about 6th grade i've been unhappy with my weight.
my sister used to call me twiggy because i was really skinny growing up, but i just loaded on the weight during middle school.
now i'm 18. i started my "diet" (lifestyle change ^_^) in november.
i was at 170, and something just kicked in and i realized i needed to just lose it. now i've been around 140 for about a month (been getting some binge-eating habits i'm afraid...working on killing those), lowest was 133, and i'm hoping to get back down there and stay around 130-125. (i'm 5'8")

I was always obese/overweight growing up. No one told me that I was fat, so I didn't realize I was until 5th grade. Now when I look at my childhood pictures I wish my parents would have made me be healthier. I started feeling fat in the 5th grade and have been dieting ever since. Two years ago I lost 55 lbs. When I tried to eat normally I slowly regained 10 lbs. Then I began feeding my emotions, got stuck in binge eating mode and added on another 20 lbs. After therapy I am doing much better with binges, but I still wish I looked good in my old clothes, swim suits, etc. I guess to me being thin is too important. When I lost weight I felt like I had actually done something worthy of respect and I was proud of it, then I messed it up so I feel worthless again. I know I have issues with weight, I am trying to do better, just sharing.

When I was young, I was very thin. My parents used to worry about me getting injured on the playground and stuff. As I got older, probably high school, I wanted to stay thin and I had some issues with my eating habits. At one point my friends staged an intervention of sorts. I am 5'1" and weighed between 92 and 97 lbs at that time. I thought that was too fat, but between 18-20 I gained a little weight and was probably about 105-110. When I moved to Florida with my parents at 20, I lost a bunch of weight because it's really hot there in the summer and I didn't want to eat. I was down to 95 on my 21st Birthday. In the first year I moved back to Chicago, I gained almost 20 lbs and I've been gaining about 2-3 lbs every year since then. I'm 27 now and I weigh 125. I'm hoping to get back to 105, but I've been trying for a long time with little success. I think that is the best balance between happy and healthy I've ever had.

Probaly since i was 10 or 11. I was 4'4 and weighed 72 pounds and just decided it was too much. I kept growing but not gaining very much. I entered High School at 4'11 and about 100 lbs. I have had food issues all my life. I am 5'4 now and 87lbs. not exactly healthy but i am a small frame and the weight always has been and probaly always will be an issue