Excellent post.
Just because you didn't lose a lot of weight, as some people do, is not bad at all! Most people who spectacularly lose a ton of weight, will just put it all back on within a few years! Their "before and after" photos are impressive, but the "before and after and then much later" photos, showing how they gained it all back again, would be something else!
Yet your experience – how you could stay slim in a world where everyone else is fat – is far more valuable! It shows what works, long-term. Your experience is much more important (scientifically) than the "I lost a ton of weight - look at me" experiences which teach us nothing new.
RE: How I’ve kept in shape over the years