BACK AGAIN. AND AGAIN.

Welcome (back)!

I wouldn't dream of laughing. Most of us have been there. If an undisciplined hedonistic aging-hippie flake like me can do this, anyone can, I'm convinced. (I'm in year 7+ of maintenance now, after a year of loss, and 30 previous years of overweight/obesity.)

Key thing? Don't quit. If some particular change in eating or exercise isn't working for you, don't treat it like a personal failure and give up. That change has failed you, you haven't failed. Treat it as a useful learning experience, then try something else. Keep going until you find the right route.

A lot of people act as if weight loss were a temporary project with a near-term end date ("Lose Weight Fast!). They adopt restrictive eating rules, strive for ultra-low calories for fast loss, start punitively intense exercise routines. That's not necessary, and it usually doesn't last.

For someone like me, with a long history of overweight, weight management is a forever endeavor. That meant it was necessary for me to develop new, relatively pleasant, relatively easy eating/activity habits - a daily routine - that got me to a healthy weight and kept me there.

Being overweight is not a sin we need to expiate via suffering. The majority of our days, lifelong, will determine the majority of our outcome. Finding new permanent habits that can operate almost on autopilot is IMO a good way to exploit that.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: The results are worth the effort!