hey, being 5'8 and 140-145 or whatever, you are perfectly healthy. You will find over the next few years, hopefully sooner than later, that you have so much more to offer the world than your weight...what you focus on is not what other people see--what other people see and appreciate are the smiles, the warmth you radiate, the authenticness of all your feelings--good and down, angry and elated--just try for me, for a couple of days to say to yourself "My body is created for this moment, I am created to live in this moment, my life is in this moment." Living in weight sucks, I've wasted my last 5 years there and I've lost a lot of friends and loved ones because I refused to look at myself the way the looked at me. Read Reviving Ophelia, by Mary Pipher--maybe you're too young, or lacking the perspective to appreciate it all now--but it will make things clearer as you go. curly_red@hotmail.com