I'd started trying diets by age 8, obese by age 11. I dieted off and on for 20 years, frustrated because I didn't lose weight like normal people. In my late 20's, I started Optifast. One week the scale didn't show a loss. My doctor yelled me, stating that I HAD to have cheated. I'd previously explained to him my inability to lose weight like a "normal" person and that my body has an uncanny ability to lower its metabolic rate when eating lower calories. He ridiculed me, "I expected more out of you, for someone your age." I gave up on diets that very day, terribly discouraged. Shortly afterward, I was diagnosed with PCOS, which can definitely contribute to problems with weight.
June 7, 2012, age 50, my weight loss journey began unintentionally after dramatically increasing my protein intake (for anxiety). My sister, who'd had the gastric sleeve, encouraged me to increase my protein to 100 grams/day, telling me that's what WLS patients are told to eat. She encouraged me that I'd probably lose weight in the process. I didn't believe that was possible, because of my history, but I kept at the protein increase because it helped my mood. After a couple of weeks, I dared start weighing myself. I was 293 lbs. My hips: 65" ! But the scale did start to move slowly.
Six weeks in, I stumbled upon the idea of every other day eating (aka JUDDD [Dr. Johnson's "Alternate Day Diet" Alternate Day Dieter ] while visiting lowcarbfriends. The whole concept was exciting to me, as I loved the idea of being able to eat normally every other day. I thought that could only be a dream diet.
I lost my first 100 lbs by October 2013, and by March, 2014, I'd lost 110 lbs and officially called "goal". I've since lost 19 more pounds, with a new goal of 163 lbs in mind (1 lb to go!). I occasionally throw in low calorie days to get off bits here and there but mostly working on maintaining.
I always have my eyes on the scale. To maintain, I MUST walk 3-5 times per week, 45 min., or my metabolism slows to a crawl. I usually follow a CAD / JUDDD combo. I still count calories because I have issues with leptin levels more than likely as a result of having been obese at a very young age. Counting calories is not tedious to me at all. I enjoy it, and it keeps me accountable.
WHY DID THIS DIET WORK, when others hadn't? The combination of increasing protein to 100+ g every other day PLUS eating very low carb on opposite days worked! JUDDD enters into the equation because the higher eating days rev your metabolism, while the lower days knock the weight off. By trial and error, I've found that I am able to eat more by alternating my calories from day to day, rather than eating a stable amount day after day. My journey wasn't simple, including a 3 month plateau, but even during that time, my hips were shrinking. 
I'm so excited about this that I admit that I'm like one of those annoying ex-smokers. I'm passionate about this woe and helping others, if I possibly can, in the same condition because I was the bullied fat kid in the playground, the fattest kid in school all of my life, during a time when being obese wasn't as common as it is today. To be honest, childhood obesity ruined me in many ways emotionally. I'm affected by it still today, even though I'm no longer obese, but I cannot help but brag on what ADF has done for me and what I believe is the #1 answer to losing weight and keeping it off.
I'm passionate about this woe and helping others, if I possibly can, in the same condition because I was the bullied fat kid in the playground, the fattest kid in school all of my life, during a time when being obese wasn't as common as it is today. To be honest, childhood obesity ruined me in many ways emotionally. I'm affected by it still today, even though I'm no longer obese, but I cannot help but brag on what ADF has done for me and what I believe is the #1 answer to losing weight and keeping it off.
Above all, I thank my Lord, Jesus Christ, daily for revealing the key to a door I didn't realize even existed. In my gut, I always thought there was a tool I was somehow missing, and I was right.
