Hi I’m new here hello to everyone

Hi Tricia,

I am counting my calories, not excluding anything but prioritising lots of veg, lean meats and whole foods, still having a chocolate treat every day, and have upped my exercise (lots of walking, and a couple of exercise classes a week). I'm 61lbs down since August.

I pretty much eat what I always ate - same range of foods - just in different portion sizes and frequencies of the calorie-dense foods. Rather than adopting a formal diet plan, I remodeling my routine eating habits to feel mostly full and happy on lower calories plus tune up my nutrition while eating foods I enjoy.

It was pretty much this approach:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

I lost around 50 pounds in under a year, have been maintaining a healthy weight the same way for 9+ years since. As far as what I eat, I've been ovo-lacto vegetarian for over 50 years, slim to obese and back to slim ; I eat mostly whole foods including lots of veggies, fruits, dairy foods and some traditional soy foods; but also include a few treat foods just for joy. I don't think that's the only way to eat, or even the best way to eat for everyone, though.

When losing, I decided I wasn't going to do anything to lose weight that I wasn't willing to continue long term to stay at a healthy weight, except for a sensibly moderate calorie deficit until I reached a healthy weight. That put a focus on learning and practicing reasonably happy - at least tolerable and practical - eating and activity habits. That made weight maintenance - which many people find the hardest part - fairly easy. All I had to do was add back enough calories to stop the weight loss, and keep going with the same basic habits.

Different people find different approaches most helpful, because we're all unique individuals, right? That's just what worked for me.

Best wishes for success - IME the quality of life improvement from this is worth the effort it takes!