Mindfulness in weight loss

People who succeed do incorporate those ideas, in one way or another, seems like - based on hanging around here for nearing 8 years and reading lots of posts (and doing it myself). Whether you can write a book or create a program and help people (or turn a profit, more cynically, though you don't sound like that kind of person) - that's a little different question.

People say calorie counting is not the answer. IMO, in the strictest sense, it can be, but that explanation is a little narrow. It only applies to the realm where it applies, y'know? Of course, if a person eats fewer calories than they burn, they'll lose fat. There seem to be ample research to support that. But that's simplistic, just a foundation in physics.

But human bodies are dynamic. Calories in influence calories out. An aggressive calorie deficit (or sub-par nutrition) can sap energy or reduce calorie goal compliance, and result in worse than expected results in a practical sense. Body composition matters (at rest, a little; in ease/enjoyment of movement, or inclination to move, possibly a lot).

On top of that, humans have psychological states, and social contexts, and those influence eating habits in a big way. Calorie counting doesn't touch issues like emotional eating, or the social pressure of families for whom food is a love language (let alone a mechanism of control), and that sort of thing. Calorie counting doesn't provide any insight into guilt or compulsion around eating habits.

Most of us don't just want to be lighter (calorie compliance can do that), we want to be healthy (which is not just calories), maybe look more attractive (also not just calories) and more. Often, people conflate all of those goals, and conflate the different dimensions that go into them. Many people think exercise creates weight loss inherently (or is required), surprisingly many people seem not to realize that "just being alive" (BMR/RMR) burns more calories for a lot of people than exercise or daily life activity. People who don't calorie count often don't realize that one Starbucks Frappuccino (or calorie equivalent) wipes out the calories not only from one, but from multiple typical workouts. The popular press/blogosphere mostly don't help sort that out, and the health/diet/fitness industry has a vested interest in obfuscating the issues as much as they can (to convince us that we need their special expertise in order to succeed).

If you find a way of packaging the true and useful ideas that's consumer-friendly, you could be sitting on a gold mine . . . especially as an MD. Many consumers will think you, as a doctor, could have special insights. (Since you mention finally making progress yourself, I'm guessing you're not much differently situated than the rest of us, in practical terms. No diss intended, because no shame in that!)

I sincerely hope you're able to sort out this complicated mess for yourself, and hope that you can frame it in a way that will help others, too. (It's simple, but it's complicated. )

On the mindset side of things especially, I found this really interesting, especially part 2, in case you're not familiar with this or the studies mentioned.

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/reframing-your-reality-part-1/
https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/reframing-your-reality-part-2/