Less than 20 % of highly committed, dues paying members of Weight Watchers meet their lifetime goal and that is with a full schooling of behavior modification. Of those only 20 % keep their weight off for 5 years or more. That means less than 4% are truly successful.
You have to change your relationship with food and give up the poison everyone now consumes (and is the underpinning of modern farming and marketing). Bariatric surgeons know they are the only thing that works (somewhat or temporarily) with the poison food meth-like addicted fat Americans.
You can blame farmers, you can blame Agro-culture giants, you can blame chemical and genetic modification companies, you can blame government, you can blame marketers, you can blame parents who don’t know chit about food and cooking, you can blame human weakness in one of the most essential desires, and you would all be correct. Obesity is a planned outcome. You are considered consumer livestock where the goal is to fatten you up by having you purchase as much crap as possible and to use the medical system to keep you alive as long as possible so you can buy more crap and keep getting fatter. The Wuhoo screws with the model.
Weight can be reduced fairly quickly. I have dropped 25 pounds since mid March by walking six to nine miles each day and eating reduced portions of healthy, home cooked meals. My wife has lost half that amount, but I had more to lose in the first place.