Sorry for the ramble. It's what I do.

I've been overweight all my life. I am 58 years old. I have tried diets before, many successful in the short term. Most of the time they were basically calorie-limiting diets. About 12 years ago, I had topped 290lbs, and began taking one of the "fen" drugs for a while. That and a 1500 calorie per day diet triggered a 6 month loss of 70 lbs. I stopped taking the drug midway, and began walking a mile or two most days. Towards the end, I was using a treadmill while playing video games (guitar hero) to pass the time. It was very easy to walk several hours at a time as the time just flew. One day I went to work, and the receptionist told me "you can stop now" referring to my insane weight loss. About the same time, we had a foreign exchange student move in, and I was uncomfortable exercising around her. All of which, were just excuses. But I began, slowly at first, then ultimately worked my way back up to 275 within a year or two.

Then in late 2018 I talked to an old friend, who also battles weight, and we sort of talked about "competing" to lose weight. Well three months later, I was up to 285. Apparently just weighing yourself each day isn't enough.

In early 2019, I started 16/8 fasting. Initially that was the only change I made. I had a physical about a week after I started, and told my doctor I was doing that. She expressed concern that I might be starving myself of nutrients in the morning. But I persisted.

I quickly began shedding weight, and within about 6 months was at 245, 30 lbs dropped. At that time, my progress slowed, and between 8/19 and 8/20 I only dropped 10 more pounds. At that time, my wife learned of a heart condition, and committed to a healthier diet. We started by removing much of the Beef from our diet, and added more poultry, plant-based protein, and fish. Also started cooking more of it at home rather than ordering delivery. Because of this, my weight started to drop again, and between 9/20 and 3/21, I have shed another 25 lbs.

The reasons I went with intermittent fasting.
1. I have always had this habit of eating something every 4-5 hours while awake, and I would stay awake very late at night, so 4 or more meals per day.
2. I wanted to be able to eat "practically anything" without breaking a diet rule. Having been in weight watchers it makes it tough to eat with family and others.
3. I suspected that I didn't feel full until I ate a large amount because my stomach was overstreched.
4. I felt I was being controlled by a body clock and not a true hunger trigger.

Rules I follow and how I deal with diet conflicts
1. If I'm out with friends, and I drink beer past 10pm, I make sure to eat as well, and then I don't have my next meal for 16 hours after that. That way, I'm not starving by the time I do eat.
2. Naturally, I skip breakfast nearly every day, and only have water or a cup or two of coffee until lunch. If I want to eat breakfast, as my wife and I do love traditional breakfast, the day before I'll have my last meal by 6pm so I can eat breakfast at 10am.

What I notice about myself now
1. I am satisfied after a plate of food.
2. If I order restaurant portions, I often have leftovers.
3. I don't wake up with abdominal pain anymore ostensibly from overnight gut activity.
4. My body clock is very used to the 16 hour gap, and I typically don't get any hunger sensations until about 15 hours have passed.
5. I no longer need to use a CPAP for sleep apnea.
6. My cholesteral counts are all in GREEN, and were all marginally in RED prior to starting.

Negatives
1. I have to tell people "go ahead and eat without me, I'm not hungry", but they don't always believe me. but I'm being honest when I say it.

Useful tools
1. Don't weigh every day. Use an app such as Happy Scale to track moving average and set short achievable goals. Frankly, I also skip posting weights that are higher than a previous weight. I wait till I feel I've dropped a pound, then post.
2. I weigh myself between my morning constitution and my first meal, but not if I'm feeling "fat". 🙂
3. I walk several times per week, and it keeps getting easier.
4. I use Virtual Reality a lot, and play Beat Saber for fun and exercise. I can burn several hundred calories per day, and my upper body is pretty strong now. Never had an issue with lower body as it has to haul me around. But I play heavily for a few days, and take a few days off to avoid fatigue.

Looking ahead
1. I would like to add in some VR biking/rowing etc. Just waiting for my next plateau, and I'll add that in. Maybe at 200 lbs (only 17 to go).
2. Now I feel in control of my body, it is doing what I tell it to do, and it likes that, and it is cooperating. I can keep doing this forever.