Like so many, I have tried many times to lose a significant amount of weight. The plus is that every time I learn a bit more about myself, keep the weight off for longer, and listen less to the constant misinformation that surrounds and smothers us all. My body needs about 2000 calories a day just to keep me alive, so I keep it below 1400. If I stick to that I'm in a calorie deficit and will lose weight. Simple maths. It’s important to remember it is about limiting calorie intake, not eating healthy, these two are not really compatible with real weight loss. So, I start my day with porridge 1/3C, water1/3C, milk1/3C nothing else and I have a tasty filling breakfast at 150 cal. For lunch, it’s Rice Cakes 80 cal and mandarin or nectarine 40-60 cal. So far, I have used up 290cal. Now at that stage, I can consume calories up to my daily max, but I prefer to bank them for another day, so I often only go up to approx. 900 cal for the day plus then go on a 60 min 5km walk to burn off approx. 300 hundred of the calories I consumed for the day. Then if I want to go out for a nice dinner or lunch I am not stressing because I have saved up calories from other days that did not eat, so I can enjoy my meal guilt-free and not order the lettuce leaf. It is simple when you lower all your weight loss expectations to just calories. For example, if you are on 1400 cal a day, those calories can be whatever you want-pizza, ice cream, hamburger, cake, potatoes, pasta, chocolate, beer. Whatever it is you want to eat as long as you stay under your max calorie intake. This means that I do not go without the food I love, have to cut out entire food groups, there are no cravings and no reason to binge eat. I know there is no quick fix or instant results but with a bit of effort, I will get there.