Another thing I recommend - but is very hard due to the idiocity of the medical field...
Getting your blood taken at the beginning of your weight loss. Running a complete blood eval.
Then checking it once a year after.
I know my triglycerides were above 300 before I started my 100 pound weight loss back in 2006... by the end of the first year my triglycerides were down to 35. That's it. Thirty-Freakin-Five.
Those are results that don't lie. Those are results that tell you that you ARE saving your own life... and damn they're fun to brag about
lol