Quote Originally Posted by Rya View Post
... I don't want to diet forever and would like to gain some understanding of what is realistic to expect. If I can't maintain in throughout the year I'm not interested ...
With few exceptions of some genetically gifted people, maintaining your ideal body fat is going to require some dieting year round. Given, it will be less stringent than achieving the weight loss, but very few people can just eat what they want and maintain. Your body wants to make you fat. It is part of human nature and a way of your body to assure self preservation. That being said, I want to re-emphasize that there are exceptions and there are even people who have to struggle to keep weight on.