For as long as I can remember, I have been a “bigger girl,” as my mom would call me. In middle school I was always larger than my friends, not fat, just bigger. I struggled a lot with confidence and constantly was comparing myself and pointing out things about myself that I hated. It put me into depression in 8th grade and I began to find comfort in food. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted not realizing how I was damaging my body. Freshman year of high school I blew up and hated myself. I couldn’t look in the mirror without crying. I felt ugly, useless, and fat. I tried starving myself, making myself throw up (which never actually worked because I am deathly afraid of vomit), etc, but I would binge and binge and binge. I gave up trying to do anything about my body and let myself get huge. My cheer skirt no longer fit and I looked like a whale on the lacrosse field. Sophomore year I started swim team and I hated going because people would see me in a swim suit. I never wore swim suits in public. When junior year rolled around, I was still gaining weight. I eventually realized that something had to change; I would not be big for summer 2012 and my senior year. During this time, my faith actually increased and I was slowly pulled out of my depression. I began running 3 miles and by the spring I was able to run 10 miles without stopping. A friend of mine did this with me and we both began losing rapid amounts of weight. I did plateau for about a month and a half even with exercising and eating healthy, but I just ate a ton one weekend and then went back to eating healthy and lost more. I have never been more confident and happier with myself than I am now. I am still big, but I no longer look at myself and see a chubby sad girl. I am strong, happy, faithful, and loving life. I have learned so much from this journey, especially about what hard work can achieve. If you put your heart into something, you can accomplish anything. :)