This almost perfectly describes me, I was 16 and 230lbs and I realized that eating 3 family sized bags of chips while sitting and playing video games was not healthy. I did have it kind of lucky though, even though I was fat I was still quite fit from just the exercises in gym class and doing all the chores in my house. So when it came time to lose weight the excelled at the exercise portion. At first began to diet and I ate like 1200 calories a day to burn off some weight before hand. Then I also began going on a walk right after school and that walk that was originally .5 miles which then turned into 11 miles!! As I lost more weight that walk slowly turned into a run as well!! And when I started to better myself physically I also began to better myself in school. When I began losing weight my whole personality changed, school which I found unbearable became interesting. and the homework which literally refused to do became something I enjoyed doing, I developed a unquenchable thirst for knowledge that i still have today. I went from Cs & Ds to straight As. As of this year I have moved up in all my classes and I'm down to 165lbs and next year I'm moving into advance placement classes. What you said about making friends when you weigh less is so true. That fat was suffocating my personality, Now i'm confident, I talk to almost everyone I meet and, I am no longer scared about being myself. I wear bright colorful clothing, tons of wristbands a bandana around my neck. Without the fat I was able to shape myself into the bright person I actually am and shape my identity. I'm no longer the "fat kid" Im a person who is nice and fun to talk to. to Anyone who is thinking about beginning their journey should know this is what losing weight did to me and the same change might not happen to you, but you get the wonderful experience of realizing who the real you is when you finally put off the weight. remember even if your just starting your still lapping everyone on the couch.
sorry about my grammar, english is hard subject.
TLDR. Losing weight changed everything about me, and allowed me to realize who I was as a person and pursue a high education