I tend to think that weight loss (or keeping your weight) works if you follow a set of rules (and form certain habits). - I lost twenty pounds some years ago by

I tend to think that weight loss (or keeping your weight) works if you follow a set of rules (and form certain habits). - I lost twenty pounds some years ago by following a German author's book (which is titled "Schlank im Schlaf", or: "get lean while you're sleeping"). Basically it recommended having three meals, not eating anything in between those meals, then: eating 100g of carbs in the morning, 100g carbs for lunch, almost no carbs in the evening, instead high protein for dinner. - I followed the rules very strictly. It was basically a 2000 calories a day diet (although the author says not to count calories). What made me lose weight was in fact self observation, getting in control of what I eat and avoiding processed food. The first days were extremely tough. Not eating sugary things felt like a drug addict who tries to avoid drugs. After some time I had inner peace, felt in control, not only of my diet. -- When I read about "do not count calories", I am skeptical because I do observe that those who are desperately in need of a diet do not have a notion of what kind of food has how many calories. They know almost nothing about nutrition. Learning some about that is a good starting point. Also many eat to compensate stress or inner voidness. And getting that straight has nothing to do with nutrition. What they need instead is meditation, intellectual challenges, phyical activities and some more.