Story from the past - Denial!

When I was looking at pictures from when I was heavy. I looked and thought wow I never saw myself like that. My husband looked at the picture and said "where did you find that picture. I never saw you like that".  All this got me thinking. I remembered a time when I went clothes shopping. I tried on an outfit and looked in the mirror. I was like holy cow that is not me. There is something wrong with this mirror. It makes you look so much bigger then what you are. I walked out of that store and didn't buy anything. I even remember telling people how ridiculous it was to have mirrors in the store that make you look bigger because who would want to buy clothes like that. Now that I look back. I couldn't of been in any greater denial. How would I of done something about my weight when I didn't even realize I was heavy. Nobody around me wanted to tell me. Everybody just said you are beautiful just the way you are. That's how we are as a society. Its rude to tell someone they are fat. Now if someone had told me I was fat I would of been like your very rude. So really you can't win. How do you fight denial?  How does someone come to the realization that they need to loose weight and how do you get motivated to do so?