Hope you don't mind be posting here. I tend to be a lurker rather than a poster, but I really wanted to reply to this.
Quick bio: I lost 112lbs following a liquid diet. I have maintained for 3.5 years within 4lbs either way of my goal weight.
I have spent 35 years dieting and putting the weight back on. I have done every diet possible (almost) and each time gained it all back, plus more.
This time it's off for life.
So, was it because I did a liquid diet? After all, everyone told me I was bound to put it all back on again after that. I hadn't even managed to maintain after a calorie controlled diet...how on earth would I do it this time.
The answer is simple. I
chose to maintain this time. I wanted it more than anything else.
I really do feel that it doesn't matter which way you do it (as long as it's healthy), maintenance is a whole new journey. Since getting to goal, it's less about food and more 'head stuff'.
I have given myself the chance to get it right this time. To live as a slim person, rather than a dieter. Of course, the diet I did gave me the tool to start from scratch, but so would any diet, including weightloss surgery. What people do after that is their choice. I chose to be free of it all.
My decision had nothing to do with how I lost the weight in the first place, and more to do with how I wanted to move forward when I had got to goal.
Thankyou for reading