After being heavy all her life, Kim now welcomes compliments. Unconventional exercise methods (dancing to video games) and a kitchen-savvy husband helped her drop the weight for good.

I’d been heavy since kindergarten, which made it hard growing up — I remember getting teased a lot, especially in middle school, when kids can be really cruel. When classmates made comments, I’d tell them, "I was born overweight; it’s heredity," but then I’d go home and binge to relieve the stress, which only packed on more pounds.

As I got older, I felt unattractive compared to my thin friends, and I’d never want to go dancing or shopping with them. At trendy stores, I’d feel like everyone was looking at me and thinking, "What are you doing here? You can’t wear any of these clothes!"

I started playing Dance Dance Revolution™ (DDR) at the age of 17 with the very first version that was released to the United States, DDR Version 1.5.

The first time I saw the game was at Gameworks arcade in Seattle, where tons of people were crowded around the DDR machine to watch different players dance.

At this time, I was a senior in high school and weighed about 235 lbs.

Four and a half years later, I now weigh close to 140 lbs and I would've never guessed how much that trip (OR a video game) would affect me with my health/weight, and in growing to be a better, more self-confident person.

I lost about 140-150lbs with the help of DDR and a weight bench.

But before I found DDR I tried walking and a weight bench and I only lost 20lbs, then after DDR it melted off in under a year.

So the main factor of my weight loss is the intensive cardio workout that is DDR.