I meant to return to this comment sooner. It has helped me answer the question that your earlier comment got me asking myself, to wit: what are my expectations from losing this weight?

The word "privately" here really nails it for me. That's the key I was looking for, in the face of a good deal of questioning about the purpose and value of weight loss. To be "privately much happier with how I look," it seems to me, is a perfectly adequate, perfectly complete answer to that question.

What's astonishing is that I didn't think of it! So thank you very much for providing it.