@Lougle the NSVs (non-scale victories) are many and varied and, for me, more important than pounds or grams of weight lost or gained.
I started addressing my diet / food consumption because my blood pressure was catastrophically high - the kind of high that they put you in hospital for. I was also overweight and verging towards obese. My GP gave me a myriad of pharmaceuticals which did the trick for my blood pressure, and also a 'diet sheet' which was the classic old-fashioned standard western advice with at least a third of my plate being cereal, wholegrain wheat, brown rice, wholewheat pasta, sweet potato etc. Then smaller amounts of veg, then lean protein (including low fat cheese), then a sparing amount of fat (sunflower oil in a spray).
I didn't know about these threads at the time but intensive searching about weight/blood pressure/metabolic disease led me to believe that the 'diet' advice was completely wrong.
My GP also said: "don't worry if your blood pressure goes up a bit over the next few years, there's plenty more [medication - sic] we can give you yet."
I have some family history of degenerative illness which is age related, and having watched my Mum grapple with an increasingly complex drug regime I knew that I wanted to enter a similar phase (if it happens to me) with as few additional complications as possible, and certainly not on a pre-existing regime of statins, meds for BP, drugs to control insulin. So I set about improving my health as much as I could: more moving about (note there was no extreme exercise or huffing and puffing); more deep relaxation (meditation, massage etc); better sleep habits; and IMPORTANTLY a way of eating that really helped.
I lost weight, my blood pressure reduced, I took less and less medication, and I found the bootcamps threads. At last I was doing this in a supportive and extremely knowledgable community, rather than on my own. What joy despite a couple of hard thwacks from @BIWI 's big stick in the early days
I acknowledge that my weight fluctuates. Lockdown was awful for me, and the first few months of this year I completley lost my mojo. But I keep returning to this way of eating and (as a consequence?) my blood pressure remains stable on a sub-clinical dose (they don't prescribe the low level I take, so I break a tablet in half). I'm currenlty 3lbs away from a 'healthy' BMI but with a small and delicate frame so I've got more to lose than that.
So, long story, but for me this way of eating, and this varied and changing community, transcends what my scales say. I feel better, I feel supported and I am sure that my chances of having a longer and healthier life are increased.
[phew, got that off my chest bows and exits]