I haven't posted here for about 18 months, but I am very interested in the question of long term weight loss after the first year. I am now in year four of a low carb/low calorie diet. Easy to maintain underlock down. But I seem to be trapped in a 2-3kg weight band which is about 10 kg higher than my lowest point---even though I now eat far less than I did then. Two meals, no snacks, and intake under 1500 calories and less than 50 carbs a day. Yes, I do lose weight on that but only within the band and if I give into temptation on shopping day, it goes straight up again. Yet when I lost most of my weight I was eating far more than this.
1. My weight goes sharply up if I even deviate a little from the diet. One Christmas it seemed to go up 5kg in two or thee days. Just a small snack on shopping day, e.g. cheese and biscuits, sends it shooting up, but then coming slowly down during the rest of the week.
2. My blood sugar (last measured in March, still seems to be fine, according both to health workers and a specialist.) So that is a permanent gain.
3) But my total weight loss is only about 22 kg lower than when I started (nearly a fifth of body weight) when I would like/need to lose vastly more than that. And I am now about 10 kg higher than at my lowest point.
I wondered about thyroid problems, muscle loss etc, but actually I don't think there is a problem. I walk up to five miles a day quite easily and am clearly healthier than I was three years ago. But my weight has been stuck in that 2 kg band for most of this year. Actually I thank lockdown and isolation, as it has made it so easy not to stray from the diet. But is this pattern of neglible weight loss on a strict diet going to last for ever? I can't find any decent medical research on the subject.
Advice very welcome.