I could not have stumbled upon this video at a more perfect time. Between January and August of last year I went from 170 pounds as a 5'7" female, to 126 pounds. Much of this was motivated by the vegan diet that I adopted in the spring, a sincere attempt to life a more healthful lifestyle; simultaneously improving my body, mind and the world around me. Unfortunately, over the last six months I have gained a significant portion of that weight back after having fallen in to an unfortunate pattern of yo-yoing (as you describe) which has caused incredible turmoil not only for my body but for my psyche and emotions as well. I've been struggling to re-adopt my vegan diet, but have found myself consistently falling off the wagon. I've gone so far as to enlist the help of a nutrition/eating disorder counselor to assist me in my efforts to figure out what the hell's been going on for the last several months.
Towards the tail end of my weight loss experience I began to suffer from severe anxiety attacks, migraine headaches and developed a mild ulceration in my duodenum. Much of this was due to the fact that my vegan diet and lifestyle had developed into a full-on obsession where I drove myself to strictly count calories and restricted myself from eating much of the foods which I'd grown to love over the years.
Watching this video has helped me more than any number of sessions with my nutritionist or any amount of reading or research I could possibly do. Thanks to your advice and wisdom, tomorrow, for the first time in over a year, I am going to try and go an entire day without counting calories or without beating myself up over my nutritional choices. Yes, I will try to eat a vegan diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, but I will not restrict myself in anyway - body, mind or soul. Thank you very much.