I will be taking care of myself forever. Life is not permanent and I want to have a quality existence when I get older. If we don't care about ourselves now, or let ourselves slide, think about the alternative. I am beginning to not worry about the fat anymore to tell you the truth. What I am worrying about mostly is the overall health. Being active and eating right will keep me young and energetic for longer. It is about quality living and that is not temporary, that is permanent. xxxoooo

Sometimes when I log my food, I wonder whether I will have to do this forever. I think there are some people who can make good eating choices automatically and some who need to really think about what they are doing. I fall into the latter category.

For the most part I am a healthy eater, being on a plant based vegan diet, eating mainly unprocessed foods, which I tend to cook myself. I am off to a good start then, right? Yes and no. It is still possible to put on weight eating clean, good quality, healthy food - I can attest to that, especially when you throw in a few bad habits along the way.

I think about food a lot more than I used to. I take more time to consider what I am eating before it goes in my mouth. When I am grocery shopping I consider what I am buying. I pore over labels, assess calorie value, look at the ratio of sugars to carbohydrates, look at the sodium content, etc, etc. Grocery shopping now takes me a lot longer than it used to! I am never, ever going to take food for granted again, even healthy food.

So am I going to be on a diet forever? Maybe not forever, but certainly as long as it takes for my new habits become entrenched and I don't have to think about food so much, until the choice between what I crave and what I need gets a lot healthier. How long will that take? I have no idea!

This ^^^^
The truth is every diet I have been on has FAILED. The reason is not the diet' fault it is me. I achieve the weight loss rejoicing the suffering of calorie counting was over and than return back to the same eating habits of eating whatever I wanted. I learned the hard way the fat cells had shrunk but are still there with a craving to fill them up with fat again.

Each time I have lost weight it has returned again with a vengeance bringing more lbs and filling more fat cells with fat. I am never going on another diet,this is a forever commitment till death us do part. I will count calories and because of hypoglycemia I must count carbs also. Yes for me counting calories and carbs is something I hate! Until science finds a easier way I am Forced to think of every food has a potential for me to gain the weight back again, if I do not moderate the portion or refuse to eat it. I constantly fight the feeling of being deprived knowing sugar will not touch these lips again.

The truth is this is my reality to continue weight loss and eventually maintain the weight loss counting calories is necessary. I hate knowing the rest of my life it will be a battle against high calorie foods verses my will power. I want to quickly add I do intend to win this battle and once the weight is loss never to regain it again. The 1st Diet I went on I was not even overweight, I weighed 125. I remember starving it to be 110 lbs for what? I did get to 110 lbs and quickly but it was a battle to keep that weight off and quickly gained it back. It is my opinion our DNA sets our weight, Many of us mess it up thinking we should weigh less going on our 1st diet. The fat cells do not like to be shrunk and want to be filled with more fat! After we lose weight the cravings for high calorie food can get stronger at least in me it does. If I could go back in time I would never have started the diet because I did not need to be on a diet, it was only when I started dieting I gained the weight! I made my body suffer needlessly. This is just my opinion if you do not agree with it I mean no offense, no one says we all have to share the same opinion. I found this to be true and do not know if anyone else will agree, every diet I went on when I found it necessary to go on another diet I always weighed more each time. I only wish I weighed what I weighed when I FIRST went on a diet.

For me, I believe it will be a lifelong journey. I will probably have to log my food until I'm put into the ground (hopefully my casket will weigh less than it would now). I know myself well enough to know that I will probably revert back without accountability.

I won't be a diet so much as a lifestyle change. I am trying to look at it from that perspective because I know that is what I need. Any diet, however good it is, won't do you any good if you don't change your lifestyle to be healthier. Once you leave so called "diet" behind and go back to what you used to do then you will end up in the same place.

I applaud you for your progress so far, and cheer you on to complete the journey and reach your goal.