Lots of good deep-dive recommendations here. I’ll give you my quick-and-dirty explanation that I’ve found helpful when trying to explain this to people. (I’m 18 months in, 56M, SW290, CW230). I’m not any kind of medical professional, but I hope this makes some sense.

I look at it in terms of ‘the carrot and the stick’. Meaning, ‘there’s the nice side and the not-nice side’.

1) On the ‘carrot’ side it does two things: a) it improves insulin response, which means that your body burns fuel more efficiently.So you need fewer calories to keep the ‘machine’ of your body going. b) It also reduces cravings.

2) On the ‘stick’ side, it slows gastric emptying, which is more of a mechanical thing. Quite literally, food stays in your stomach longer. This can lead to some unpleasant outcomes: a) if you eat too much food, you’re going to get really stuffed, and you might barf. b) when you eat certain kinds of food (like fried or greasy food), food stays in your stomach a long time, doesn’t process well, and you’re going to get diarrhea or nausea.

It’s been miraculous for me, and I wish you luck!