Losing weight is also something I'm trying to do too. As others here know, my downfall is alcohol. With food I can easily stick to 1000 calories a day which definitely works for almost anyone wanting to lose weight. Add in the drink and of course it increases to beyond 2000 which is not going to lose me any weight.
Exercise is great but in my experience doesn't really burn off lots of calories unless its really intense - and I think I'm well past the age where I can do that. Exercise does really help with mood though.
I have managed to lose some weight in the last few weeks but that is largely due to stress (I think) and eating far less than 1000 calories. Yeah, I know... its not a healthy way to go.
Yes, hear you here on this... one of my downfalls is also alcohol, and with COVID restrictions in place in 2020, I'd start earlier and earlier. I am working on cutting back / starting later. There, I said it. Alcohol. A bit too many starches, too.
I had great success on a mostly-Paleo plan (I don't want to call it a "diet") starting in 2010. Basically, it was low carb but not to the keto level of low. More protein and healthy fats (with yes, some evening tippling). I didn't cut out the legumes - but I was never really a heavy legume eater, except when I go Mexican/Tex-Mex. Cut way back on cheese, but that's one thing I doubt I'll ever ditch entirely. What happened was I was satiated by what I was eating and didn't need to fill up on carbs.
Once a month at work we'd have a lunchtime working pizza party (someone would present their research, or an interesting scientific journal, and we'd hang out and discuss. I'd have that pizza, but otherwise I pretty much stuck with my plan. Eating out at restaurants I'd have meats, fish and veggies - and that "save room for dessert" thing I could always conclude "oops, I forgot!", making an effort to put a tone of regret in my voice.
Prepping to move up here (a process in itself, as I'm something of a pack rat - not a true hoarder (except for books) -clearing out stuff, cleaning, getting some renovation guys in to repaint all the interior, and help revamp the bathroom - I really was too busy to eat all that much, although towards the end I was hitting the local diner or Five Guys a lot when back in Connecticut - since I'd already moved the kitchen up here. (At least at Five Guys I always got the lettuce wrap burger - as you recall, I dislike hamburger buns. But their fries are dang good and overflowing...)
I don't drink soda to begin with - wasn't something we ever had when I was growing up. (Only when we went out, and Mom did keep around some ginger ale for upset tummies.) I used to keep some here for company that expected it, but I've only needed to dip into a touch of it when I feel a sugar imbalance going on - maybe twice a year. A quick fix for that!
Up here, it's a small town. The local community center would have Tuesday night dinners (with largely starchy foods - but i have to admit their corned beef and cabbage (not at all starchy) was to die for. That, a little mustard, a return trip to the trays - yummers! They also did Thursday lunches. Frequent pizzas that the local children when on school breaks helped to make. More starch otherwise. It was a way to meet and get to know people here in town. Since near-everything was all made in the kitchens there, I felt funny not eating the food there. I managed to pass up the desserts for the most part (but they made the only cannoli I ever liked, and their tiramisu was good, too). For the dinners, there was always ice cream - no they didn't make that, but... ice cream...
Then, on Wednesdays, there were the catered lunches at the Senior Center. That food was brought in from outside, and re-heated -- part of a senior care program which is subsidized somewhere, as we were only charged $3 per meal. Sometimes I would buy it, sometimes I would bring my own food - depending what was on the menu. I would reject out of hand that watery 1% milk that came in a grade school size carton, and nearly all the desserts - but nearly every week one or two of the attendees would bring in some homemade delight for additional dessert - and would be mighty offended if you didn't take SOME. (At least when there were nuts in them I could safely decline... but then some of them decided to do me a "favor" and remove the nuts...)
While that all stopped with COVID, so did 98% of any socializing. I live alone. Well, two then one cat. And the chickens. Started up the quail to get my mind on other things, on something new that would depend on me. Zoom activities were and are not the same as seeing humans in person. So, I let things fall further apart. It might not be sweet starches I typically eat, but too many potatoes etc right now. And that earlier in the day alcohol. The Senior Center now provides a lunch but you do it as a take out - bring home and re-heat. The community center is open sort of, and I can use their Wi-Fi, and drop off my extra eggs - but hardly anyone goes now, due to the decline in socialization. Most people here have at least one other human in their homes... Oh well. Serenity my ragdoll is my bubble, although I have been getting together a few times with some friends of late.
The old social gathering type things have not yet re-started here, either. I have gotten together with a few friends but life isn't yet back to like it was before. I may get down to my old book club for a dinner meeting tomorrow - but I may not have the chance. We did Zoom for a year. (Connecticut, 2 hours one way travel). I will see friends this coming Saturday. We will see...
