Losing weight is the hard part. Keeping the weight constant is the hard part. Everything is the hard part. (I attempted and failed losing weight for years now. Getting this started was extremely hard. Right now it’s admittedly easy.)

I just assume that I can never stop tracking my weight and never really stop counting calories. These changes that I’m making now are constant. This is not a temporary thing. That’s just how it is. I will see how it turns out in a year or so.

Although I'm not overweight, I had been trying for a long time to get myself to exercise, and finally started running a few years back, and I totally agree with the "this is not a temporary thing". Right now I basically run at least once a week but average about 3-4 times a week (it's only on terrible weeks that I get one run in, and I'm usually really antsy if I can't run more than once). That is basically non-negotiable, I will continue running regularly until I'm too old to.

If you are going to engage in that level of tracking already, you should definitely consider looking into bodybuilding. It's a good way to build confidence for former fatties (myself included), and you get to eat more.

The hard part is living a lifestyle consistent with being the right weight.

Most people fail to keep their weight down because they do something until they lose the weight, then forget about it. The real strategy is to do something sustainable, which you don't mind, and which you plan to keep up forever.