> The active ingredient is not the plan, it is the desire to commit to the plan with all of your being... for years, forever.
All of your post is good but this is the most important bit (IMO). The biggest scam the weight loss industry ever pulled on Western civilisation was the redefinition of "diet" from "what you eat" to "a temporary change in what you eat". To maintain a healthy weight you have to monitor your weight, and what you're eating, and adjust the latter in response to the former, forever. It's not a thing with an end. It's how you have to live.
> To maintain a healthy weight you have to monitor your weight, and what you're eating, and adjust the latter in response to the former, forever.
Yeah, this is the part that people don't get when they talk about weight loss. They make it out like losing weight is the greatest thing, you'll feel better, have more energy, get more attention from the opposite sex, etc.
Truth is those benefits aren't guaranteed and are mostly exaggerated, but worse is the part they never talk about: what you're giving up to get there. Personally, I have to avoid (or leave early) social functions where free food will be available (you wouldn't believe how pushy people get, insisting that you eat), or that takes place at a restaurant (order a salad and everyone acts like you shot their dog). I have to suppress the urge to hit people who bring donuts to work. I spend three nights a week exercising and I eat a single meal a day of steamed vegetables and fake meat. I weigh myself every single morning and I make n effort to count every single calorie. And I have to do this for the rest of my life if I want to maintain where I am.
Weight loss is not a panacea, the tradeoffs aren't going to be worth it for everyone, and I really wish people would stop being such dicks about the whole thing.
Thanks very much, and I agree on all counts; it’s really the only advice I can give that I know to be true. You have to want to lose the weight and keep it off, to change profoundly, more than what you’ve been doing for years. The specifics are going to be different for various people, but the commitment over time is the big thing.
All of your post is good but this is the most important bit (IMO). The biggest scam the weight loss industry ever pulled on Western civilisation was the redefinition of "diet" from "what you eat" to "a temporary change in what you eat". To maintain a healthy weight you have to monitor your weight, and what you're eating, and adjust the latter in response to the former, forever. It's not a thing with an end. It's how you have to live.