It falls upon those who have been obese themselves to take the lead in these sort of crusades. Only those who have fought the battle themselves can really know what it is like.
When I was fat, I made all sorts of excuses. I "didn't have time" to exercise. Obesity was in my genetic makeup. I'm actually healthy despite my weight. Blah, blah, blah.
Fact is, I too couldn't stand seeing myself in pictures and there were very few pictures of me during the past 20 years because I would avoid cameras. Wouldn't even get in pictures with my own kids if I could help it. I waddled like a duck and had to buy my clothes in fat man's shops. Due to my gut, my shirt was always getting untucked because my gut was always pushing my pants down. As a result, I looked like Chris Farley (from SNL), constantly pulling up my pants and redoing my belt.
I sat around all day and was too tired to do anything strenous. I felt like an old man. Aches, pains, dizziness - just a general feeling of fatigue all day long. Had trouble sleeping at night too and I'd often stay up until 2AM, often with beer and bags of pretzels or chips by my side.
I can go on and on.
With the 100 pounds off and daily exercise regimen in place, I feel 20 years younger. I feel that I have recaptured my youth (at the age of 41). I now bound up and down stairs, climb rocks, run around with the kids - all that stuff with hardly any effort at all. This was the first summer that I didn't feel hot and sweaty all the time. And I can now buy clothes anywhere because my size is in all the stores. And once I put on my pants in the morning, I don't have to retuck my shirt or adjust my belt the entire day.
As a side note, my career at work has taken off too. I'm getting promotions that were never offered to me before. Like it or not, employers do discriminate against obese people. Although I must say that other factors have come into play such as having much more energy and enthusiasm in the workplace. All of those improvements however are attributed to taking off this weight.
I can go on and on but pictures speak louder than words so I'll post a before and after picture of myself below...if you are obese, it is definitely worth making a change. 
