Do I have to stay on this "diet" forever?

This was written in response to someone who had lost 10 pounds and had only 25 lbs. to lose in all, and who wanted to know if they were going to have to eat this way all their life.
This is not a diet. Diets are temporary. If that's the way you approach this program, then yes, the weight will come back when you go back to your old ways of eating. Read your manual. It gives you several choices to follow when you reach your goal. The ones who are successful are the ones who continue to make the changes in their eating habits, with an occasional straying. Even when you have an off plan meal, you need to keep your portions very small and also compensate for that meal by having a couple of rapid results meals (which are not recommended until after the first six weeks) the day of the event. Although I still have one more dress size I want to lose before I reach my goal, I am taking a sabbatical during the months of November and December from the weight loss portion of the plan and am doing living lean for these two months. I cook for about 12 other elderly people during this season, and I am practiciing the LL plan. Last year at this time and this year, I am tasting everything I want to taste of the season's goodies, BUT the difference is that I am tasting (operative word here) only and am keeping to the plan otherwise. Also, if it is a dinner, like Thanksgiving Day dinner, I try to have two RR meals the day before, the day of and the day after the event. Last year, I did that for about six weeks, and although I was just trying to maintain, I actually lost a pound doing that, and never felt deprived of all my family favorite treats of the season. Again the key is to have only tiny portions of those items, and to compensate otherwise. After all, that's what SWBM is all about....learning to deal with the real world. If we don't do that while we're on the losing portion, then the whole thing has just been a failure. I'm not willing to give up what I've gained in better health, feeling better, looking better, etc. for a few bites of foods that make my joints hurt, give me headaches, and make me fat. I did that for most of my adult life, and it was not good. The choice is yours. This is a lifestyle, a life-long war. You just have to decide which battles you want to win and how quickly you want to do that. I learned quickly that it was not the foods that were important, but the enjoyment of being able to be with the people I cared about. You'd be surprised where I've taken my own foods to big dinners, and still had a wonderful time. No one really noticed except me, or if they did, it was because they thought my food looked a lot better than the junk they were eating!!! Good luck on your journey. Just remember, fighting weight gain is a life-long event. It takes some of us longer than others to win, but when you get there you don't want to sabotage the good you've done!!! Sorry to be so preachy, but if I had known at 25 lbs. overweight what I've finally learned at about 200 lbs. overweight, things might have been a lot different for me. Happy losing, and READ YOUR MANUAL!! It is packed with wonderful ideas on success. (First published 11/10/05)