long term success--please share

ive been doing this for 5 months now.
i started because walking across my college campus was starting to get really difficult and i was suffering from really terrible back pains. to add insult to injury, im a martial artist and have been one for 10 yrs now and i was embarrassed to workout with my class because i was having difficulty keeping up. i was weighing 237lbs and i was miserable.

i started off really strong and every time i felt like i had had enough, i just reminded myself of how much my martial arts meant to me.
obviously at some point that was not enough to keep me going. i never intentionally took "time off" but throughout the course of this journey i have had about a week (twice) where i wasnt into it and i allowed myself to eat more so that i can become motivated again. Thank Gd i found the motivation after each one of those weeks and i got right back on track. so as far as that is concerned i would advise to go on maintenance when you start to lose motivation so that you can eat more calories until you feel you are ready to continue on the weight lose.
an important decision i made when i started was that i was going to stay on this lifestyle until i was skinny and not just until i felt better. and every time i need some motivation i just say to myself, "you are looking better but you are not skinny yet."

although i no longer log my food, i do keep track of my calorie intake and i do all the calculations in my head.

i find that reading the posts in this community really helps me. it keeps me involved in my diet at all times so i dont slip into any bad habits accidentally. there are some really great ppl here with some really great advice.

i hope i havent gone on for too long. i didnt mean to write so much but i would love to help motivate someone the way ppl have been motivating me on this site (even though they dont know it)

g'luck to us all, we can do it!