Fascinating thread.
Husband was diagnosed type 2 diabetes about 3-4 years ago. Has finally wised up and is watching what he eats a bit more. It's so much easier to eat healthy if we're both motivated at the same time, so I'm seizing the opportunity and introducing him to much healthier recipes. So far he's enthusiastic. Now if only I could get him to exercise more....
One point I wanted to make. I see a quite a few comments about watching the scale and being disappointed when the needle doesn't move. I went to Curves for several years. They weigh you but they also measure you with a measuring tape at several points around your body; it's not just how much weight you lost, it's also about how much fat. Fat is fluffy and weighs less; muscle is dense and weighs more, but it takes up less room. So if you're eating healthy and working out but the scale isn't budging, it's entirely possible you are losing fat and gaining muscle.
I remember a particular woman at my local Curves, she attended for several months and lost some weight. She was a religious scale-watcher, though, and got discouraged because that darn needle stopped moving, so she quit. She didn't consider the fact that she'd dropped 2 sizes. We tried to tell her she was looking great and not to give up, but she was singularly focused on that scale!