I was on this forum five years ago and saw I had lost about 40 pounds - now after going up and down, up and down, I am back to the original weight from that year (although I have been about 15 pounds heavier).
I hit the big 60 this year and it is not as easy as it once was to lose the weight. However, lately I have been obsessed with sweets!!! I am an artist and a teacher, and when I paint I am right next to the kitchen. I take breaks and eat junk food - sometimes so much it makes me feel lousy.

I am really discouraged because I see that it seems like nothing ever works permanently - for anyone. I watch Dr. Oz, all the shows and see the people just gain it back again. It is food addiction and there seems to be little hope for a permanent cure. Anyone else feel this way?

Yes, I have felt this way too. I have been successful in weight loss before, though not recently, only to gain it all back. Now I am at my heaviest. I have decided to try and make lifestyle changes that I will keep forever, and see if I lose any weight because of it. If I lose 10 pounds, and never gain it back again, then I'm going to consider it a victory. It is day 11 of doing this, and I refuse to weight myself until day 29. Currently, I'm eating 1 piece of fruit every day. My diet was so bad, it was not unheard of for me to go 2 weeks without eating any fruit. So I'm improving my diet just by this. But that is me. Find something you can stick with forever. Good luck to you!

Good luck to you too! I am just going to try minute by minute - This morning I did something I rarely do - ate eggs. I am going to try and reduce my carbs - so only one small piece of whole wheat bread this morning - 2 lite sausages. Like I said, it is going to be one step at a time.
A friend of mine is eating low carb because (even though she is thin) she has pre-diabetes. She has lost 20 pounds just from doing this. My weakness is lack of veggies, so I am going to try and get more of those in my diet.

Hi redjb7 - so glad you are back. I don't imagine there are many folks here who have not had a similar experience as you describe. It's a life long process to have sanity with food. Hop on to your plan and move forward. As you well know folks here have wisdm, support and kindness.