I am the poster child for yo-yo dieting and my story should be a cautionary tale. I was mildly overweight between the ages of 5 and 17 but it was never so bad that I couldn't find ready to wear clothing easily or couldn't comfortably remain active. Things went downhill when I went away to college. Up 15 pounds (I hear that happens a lot). Lost them over summer break, all with rigorous exercise and diet program. Kept them off for 3 years. They crept right back over the next 4 years. Another round of dieting. Lost the 15 pounds again. Kept them off for 4 years. Re-gained the 15 pounds plus another 20 over the ensuing 6 years (by then age and metabolism were catching up with me). Another round of dieting and exercise - lost the 20 but not the original 15. Fast forward over ten years - regained the 20 plus another 25 (not all at once - maybe 3 to 5 pounds a year). Lots of life tasks made taking on another diet more and more difficult, but finally went through another round of dieting and exercise - lost 20, still left with 40. Fast forward a few more years - regained the 20 pounds. Net change: +60 pounds since graduating from high school. I'm sick to death of diets and the whole concept of target weight. All it's gotten me is a whole lot heavier. I think mentally I approach a diet like any other piece of work, with a beginning, middle, and end - but that's not conducive to permanent weight maintenance because life goes on after the diet ends and apparently my body was made to survive major famines. So here I am, working more now on changing food choices and eating patterns, trying to manage the bigger picture (a week at a time) instead of micro-managing my eating on a daily basis. I know I'll never look like I did just out of high school, but hopefully I'll improve what I've now got.