Lacking Motivation and Support

FWIW, I didn't find menopause a total roadblock to weight loss - nor severe hypothyroidism (properly medicated) either - at age 59-60. A little harder? Maybe. But don't let fear make it take up space in your head and turn the fear into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mindset matters.

If motivation is a problem - or discipline, willpower, etc. - my advice would be to take the easiest possible path that will lead you gradually to your goals.

Too many people get here and shoot for some aggressively fast weight loss rate like 2 pounds or more a week, maybe thinking they can do it fast and get it over with? Doubtful, because for anyone like me with a tendency to excess weight, successful weight management is a forever kind of thing.

Judging by posts here, on top of aiming for fast loss, seems like quite a few try to do it by adopting some extreme, restrictive eating rules or following some unpleasant but popular, much-hyped named diet. Some of those people try to stack punitively intense daily exercise on top of that.

That kind of thing doesn't usually end well, but it typically ends quickly.

It's possible to lose weight gradually and more manageably. Half a pound a week is 26 pounds in a year. Doesn't sound like much? It's more than losing zero, right?

Sometimes a slow loss rate will get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme approach that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether because it's Just. Too. Hard.

As a bonus, slower loss creates opportunities to experiment, find, practice and groove in relatively pleasant - at least tolerable and practical - new eating and activity habits that make it easier to stay at a healthy weight long term, ideally permanently. (BTW, I'm in year 9+ of maintaining a healthy weight so far . . . after about 30 years pre-loss of overweight/obesity.)

For me, calorie counting was a great method, once I committed to it: I could see which foods I could reduce in portion size or frequency to reduce calories, with the least personal difficulty along the way. It may not be the best method for everyone, but it's worked great for me.

Extreme eating restrictions aren't necessarily essential, nor cutting out all enjoyment from eating. Also not essential: Intense or unpleasant exercise. In fact, purely for weight loss, exercise isn't essential at all. Generally, it's a smaller factor than most people imagine. That said, exercise is good for a body, feels good (when doing the right type/amount), and lets us eat a few more calories while losing at the same sensible rate, so worth considering. If you exercise, find something fun. Any kind of extra movement helps, it doesn't need to be some gym-y thing unless you like gymming.

Honestly, I'm pretty much a pleasure-seeking, undisciplined aging-hippie flake, with a severely limited budget of willpower, discipline or motivation. I figure if I can do it, most regular more-mature adults can, too. For me, making an easier plan was a key idea, and so was relying on finding new habits I could follow almost on autopilot long term to first reach then stay at a healthy weight. It's a different mindset from "lose weight fast then go back to normal".

I'm cheering for you to succeed: For me, the quality of life improvement was more than worth the effort.