Fitness: Weight loss group accountability

[Diamondback]

Height: 5'6" - short height large frame, mostly sedentary for most of my life
Age: 39
All-time low as adult: 160#, ~2004
More "normal" range: 180-200#, late 1990s to most of 2000s, weight really started packing on about 2015
Lifetime high: 240#, May '19
Short-term goal: 40# off for a total weight of 200# before my 40th birthday mid-June 2020; reduce second chin to point of actually HAVING a neck again so I can button my shirt collars
Longer-term goal: Whittle down to around 180
Current progress: 208# (expected to balloon back to 215-220 over Thanksgiving, was pleasantly surprised by staying right around 210)

Strategy: My doctors have me shooting for a target "glide slope" of 5# drop a month, trying to make lifestyle changes slowly so they're more easily adapted to. Most of this drop is attributable to a combo of keto, intermittent fasting and moving to more consistent meal scheduling, getting most of the calories and carbs earlier in the day, making the "main meal" at breakfast, then a smaller lunch, and replacing dinner with a protein shake and a couple of meat or cheese snacks spaced out over a couple hours. A little constrained on exercise by taking care of a bedridden parent, but sneaking in what jogging, calisthenics and other light exercise I can in between the Evil Old One's demands. Keto for me is a "reduction" diet not a "lifestyle;" the game plan once I've trimmed into goal range is to switch off between regular and keto as needed to stay within +/-10lbs of target. (Sounds like a large swing, but for me that 20lb is just a normal "seasonal cycle" of lighter in summer/heavier in winter.) Watch-words here are "slow and steady," seen too many "Biggest Loser" winners who only set themselves up for losing in life by focusing on "game winning point scores" rather than "settle into a healthier routine small steps at a time." I'm never going to be able to pass a military PFT never mind compete with a Tier 1 operator, but the realistic expectations here are 1. get off the track that saw my mother at 330# with blown-out knees at 60 and 2. be fit enough that if some random street crim decides he wants a piece of me or mine I can be "more trouble than I'm worth" to take on.

Cholesterol/BP/etc all considered "exceptional" for my height/frame and BMI. EDIT: Lucky genes, neither of us are diabetic, pre-diabetic or even approaching pre-.