I tell everyone, the reason is, that it keeps me honest about what goes in my mouth and I have people cheering for me

THIS time, I told everyone. I never did in the past, because I was always afraid I'd 'fail' (fall off the wagon and gain it back)...and I didn't want people judging me for slipping. But this time, in order to give myself a better chance of success, I not only told my friends and family, but I've created a tribe about it. I did these things because I AM a people pleaser, and because I really do WANT to be successful. I want this to be IT. I'm tired of never getting it all the way off. I figured it help if I told people. I basically just don't like to let people down. But, at the same time, I feel like weight is such a sensitive subject, and really a very very personal thing. While I don't LIKE the fact that people may judge me for gaining it back if i do, knowing that they might just do that helps keep me in line a bit.
It may not be a healthy approach (caring more about what others think than solely doing it for myself), but so far, it has worked for me.

I told 2 people and another friend sort of "caught" me reading material, so i started out not really telling people. After i had dropped 20 pounds though it became obvious... so at that point i started being more open about it. I mostly didn't want to hear "oh you should do... <Blah blah blah>" advice from people who mostly have no clue what it is like to be obese and have, at worst, struggled with 15 or 20 pounds. Now i feel differently about the whole thing. I'm clear this is a life long change and i'm different, so i don't care who knows what. At this point, it is inspiring to other people so it's a lot more fun than it was in the beginning.