I'm a highly-educated professional in my 40s who has struggled with weight all my life. I don't think that I've missed a diet out there. I've cut fat and dairy, worked out, and done severe calorie restriction. I have lost lots of weight only to gain it back and more.

My top weight was 305lb and I started seriously treating my weight in 2015 when I was 280lb. I had tried to loose weight by counting calories and restricting what I ate. The fact is that it worked for a time--of course, practically any diet works for a time, and then you gain it all back. And that is what happened. I had lost 65lb and then in course of a few short months gained back all but 20lbs of my initial losses. I knew I was going to gain it all back and be worse off than when I started. The fact is that losing 100+lb is a lot different than losing 20lb--it's a whole different game with completely different challenges and problems.

Adding insult to injury, even though I was dieting, my blood sugar was out of control. On the cusp of type 2 diabetes, I had to change my eating habits for a different reason. I've begun a strict ketogenic lifestyle to control my blood chemistry. And a year into doing this, my blood sugar is under control and my weight is at least stable with a gradual loss, and progress is going in the right direction.