So tell us...is being skinny worth it?

Well, my knees hurt a lot less, I can train martial arts longer and harder (giggity), and my bloodwork is all excellent.

As an unexpected side bonus, I get a lot more attention from guys.

Depends on what you mean by skinny.

I was at 103 for quite a few years of my adult life and no effort because of youth and yes it was worth it.

You can stay overweight and have achy knees,hips, feet, swollen feet, out of breath walking to the mailbox, not being able to fit in a plane seat without an extender, not being able to hike and travel to remote places of the world because you aren't fit enough to walk for an hour to get there, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and so on.

If your life is so miserable that your one and only joy in the world is food, I have to say I feel sorry for you. I'm doing this so that I can climb the mountains I want to climb and meet the people I want to meet, and without limitations do the things that will make my life something exciting, something to be cherished. The moments I want to create with my body and with people I have to climb mountains and cross rivers to meet is not even comparable to a meal that will last at most 20 minutes, or a hundred meals for that matter.

Being thin is really just a small price to pay, which is eat less.

There nothing great about being obese, if affects your sleep, makes you prone to diseases, unemployable, etc, etc.... list just goes on..

I have lost weight before- only to reach my goal and gain if back plus more.

The way i see it; is that if you make it all about the food and obsess over calories then the end goal is small, you reach your goal and still obsess not to gain and it is not a sustainable or happy place

Those who see this a ls a healthy journey, a life style change, a pursuit of fitness......
Those people have found the magic- in the motivator!
Change is hard, but the motivation can make all the differemce and turn glasses into being half full

Losing weight is worth it- only if the end results are in line with what you want in your life

If you go about it in a sustainable way, so you enjoy the lifestyle that makes you reach and maintain a healthy body fat percentage, then there's no dichotomy between fat and happy v thin and miserable. Because you're fit, strong, lean and happy.

Skinny isn't the goal....... fit, strong and healthy is. Healthy includes having a healthy body fat percentage, which some would define as skinny. But I think being fit, strong and healthy is definitely worth the effort put in to get there.... and no reason why it can't be enjoyable.... do exercise that you enjoy and have fun doing it......... eat all the foods you want, just exercise portion control so you stick to your calorie goal. Weighing and logging food can get tiresome but with the phone app it only takes a minute and it's just a question of getting into the habit of doing it.

I know someone who lost weight and maintained it for a bit, but then realized he wasn't able to enjoy life as much. He sort of thought "life is too short to be worrying about being thin". He has gained back the weight and now is a jolly, older man with no regrets regarding his lifestyle.

I have such high hopes for how much better I will feel without the extra weight, but is it actually worth it? Does life then become less enjoyable because we're not quite as free-spirited when it comes to eating food?

I personally think it's 50-50 just like most things and situations in life.
When I was overweight-almost obese, I used to keep telling myself that I would have never liked myself anyway, so why depriving myself of food and laziness? I still somewhat "like" that lifestyle, I mean, who wouldn't like to splurge or rest instead of working out... or maybe it's just me. I've never been that kind of person who exercises and eats clean just for the sake of it.

At the same time, I was miserable so here's the back of the coin. I used to feel pathetic while overeating, I couldn't walk much, I was always tired, I didn't like the way I looked and I had to avoid mirrors. I was convinced I would have never found a man and I had given up on looking good on clothes. So, yeah, I could have all the food I wanted... but I wasn't happy.

I can't say losing weight resolved the problem since life always offers you some new troubles, but at least I'm doing better. It's been hard losing weight, and it's still hard, I have to eat less than I'd like to, and I feel bad if I exceed, but at the same time I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. I still have issues with my own image but it's getting much better and I'm still young, so I have a long way to go before completely accepting myself. That's a part of me I'm working on and I hope I'll be successful.

So yeah, I'd say it's worth it, but you need to really come to the point in which you can't take it anymore. Otherwise there's no need to start dieting or exercising if you're not truly convinced about it.

I have a happy super obese friend. She eats and drinks whatever she wants, she's social and goes out (to eat and drink) a lot. I'm certain that around a third of her weight is alcohol. She's happy.

But, she's almost disabled and, if you look and listen carefully, she has had to adjust her life to accommodate her size. It's restrictive for her, which she plays down. Normal daily activities, travel, sleep - everything is adjusted or completely avoided and then joked about by herself.

The time before last that I visited I was walking behind her at one point and watched her struggle to walk and listened to her extremely laboured breathing. It made me sit down quietly on my return home and seriously consider that I may not see her ever again.

'Enjoying life' is a relative and subjective term. She would tell me, I know, that she enjoys life but, if she was to really break it down what she enjoys is 'eating and drinking to excess'.
Is that the only enjoyment there is in life then? No. Does that 'enjoyment' come at a price..? Yes - and I really worry, genuinely, that she'll pay the ultimate one very soon.

Being skinny, no.
Being fit and healthy, not a question in my mind it's totally worth it.
So much of life is easier when you're not hauling around additional fat.

Being skinny, no.
Being fit and healthy, not a question in my mind it's totally worth it.

Very much this.

I think when you see how you look as a side benefit to the way you feel, perform and live then happiness is more likely to come.