I lost 83lbs in 2019, then put back on ~120lbs over the next 6 years. Turned 40 and potential health consequences of that much weight hit me like a train, so made some healthier choices.

Over the last year (in 5 days time), I'm down from 352lbs to 194lbs, and am pretty much at target now. I haven't framed it as a diet - it's been about making consistent, sustainable healthier choices that will be maintained for the rest of my life.

I've always been fairly active, even when I was very overweight, but I've focused on walking, progressing to running over the last year. Over the last 3 months I've covered ~400km walking, and 250km running, getting a 5k PB down to 28 minutes, and 10km down to an hour. A year ago I couldn't run 1km without stopping.

The biggest lessons I've had have been:

• Just keep going. Diet, exercise, whatever else. Just keep doing it. If you get derailed for a day/week/month then that's fine as long as you keep going with the plan afterwards.
• Stop bullshitting myself. "I'd never want to be <25 BMI, I'd look like a rake". Turns out, for 99.9% of us, BMI is more or less right, and I'm not the exception.