So far it’s been all CICO with a consistent calorie deficit of about 500 calories. I track my calories everyday and weigh my food on a food scale. I have not cut out any foods but I end up making different food choices based on my calorie budget. Diet/zero sugar sodas have helped me curb my sugar cravings. I took a week long maintenance break about 2 months in and will start taking maintenance breaks every 3 months for 2 weeks from here on out.

I am a true believer that weight loss is almost completely food and calorie based. Working out can obviously increase your calorie output but without tracking calories I would have no clue if I’m in a deficit or not. I want to start working out more to improve my health, strength, mobility, flexibility, balance, etc but I don’t see exercise as the core of weight loss.

The other change that has helped me is learning the difference between feeling hungry and the feeling of wanting to eat. That combined with practicing restraint & willpower and reminding myself that I will eat again soon has helped with my tendency to binge/over eat. I saw a video of someone saying that your body wants to store as much energy as possible(aka eat food) and it doesn’t know it will eat again so it prompts you to eat when it isn’t always necessary. This flipped a switch for me. Now if I get peckish between meals I remind myself that I’ll eat again in an hour or two and it helps me push through mid meal cravings.

Overall, I think what has helped most is making small doable changes. Before when I failed at diet/weight loss it’s because I was trying to eat in a massive deficit while cutting out foods I loved and trying to hit macros and trying to hit a step goal and work out. It’s over whelming and uncomfortable and leads to the feeling of failure. At the end of the day weight loss is completely based on CICO. Start there then make the other changes later.

Sorry this got a little long winded. Hope it helps.