I believe a diet should be like a husband. You should choose the one you can picture yourself staying with for life, and you don't want the one you feel the need to cheat on.

I've decided (finally) on 100% plant-based, as much of it whole food as I can manage. It seems to work for me, because I've never been a big meat eater, I've never met a fruit or vegetable I didn't like, and I really prefer a lot of vegan foods. Fortunately, my husband is cooperative, although he still eats dairy, eggs, and fish. Nevertheless, he eats what I put in front of him when I cook for me, and he enjoys it.

I love activity -- hiking, skiing, walking -- but I'm not diligent about "exercise." Something to work on. I'm a continual work in progress.

I'm about balance when it comes to eating and exercise. I agree with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff that the goal is to achieve your lowest happy weight -- the weight that allows you to be as healthy as possible without becoming obsessive or turning your entire life into a weight loss goal. Right now, my happy weight seems to be between 130 and 135. I've stopped monitoring food for a few reasons, mostly because with so much from-scratch cooking, it gets onerous, but I do monitor my weight closely. I know it's quite easy to regain within 2-5 years. If I see an upward trend, I'll return to tracking food. The good news is that by tracking food for so long, it taught me some great things about portion size and balanced nutrition.

At my heaviest, I was just over 200 pounds, but a big chunk of that was medically induced, and it's been many years since I weighed that much. In 2019, I was back up to 180 thanks to a foot injury and menopause. My knees started buckling on stairs, so I decided to lose. A couple of years ago, I was successful in dropping a little over 20 pounds for the purpose of making it easier to ski and hike.

Hoping to find some support here, and hoping to offer some to others.