As an older guy I've finally figured out weight-loss

Learn to read faster!

It will serve you better in life than telling other people to write less.

“To know and not to do is not to know.”, some Chinese proverb.

> If I'm hungry, I'm in calorie deficit.

That's actually not true. When your stomach has been empty for two hours, it begins contracting to sweep remaining food into the intestines. This rumbling is called 'borborygmus'. Cells in the stomach and intestine produce ghrelin, a hormone that triggers feelings of hunger. Src: https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/what-happens-in-... So, the body isn't so clever to recognize how much fat you've stored before sending 'hunger' signals.

Nobody wants to calculate everything from scratch again and again. Thus I wrote a program that does 99% of heavy lifting. It contains a database of ingredients I commonly use and their nutritional values. I have a set of recipes that I tend to make mostly the same way, the only thing that differs is the relative amount of ingredients that go into the sauce for example. I measure those when I meal prep, and then I only need to weigh the ~homogenic components of each portion. The program does everything else including macro tracking, daily weight loss estimates etc. This is extremely sustainable and it removes all of the guess work. So far it's been scarily accurate which in turn has kept motivation high.

I went from 82kg down to 67kg and have kept it off for 4 years.

I'm happier, more mentally stable, and more free in my thoughts.

I agree with the main argument you make - measure what you eat, and decrease it, but not too rapidly, and stick with it.

I agree with your main food recommendation of keeping it natural: "only vegetables, fruit, lean meats, eggs, all seasoned with herbs and salt only - not sauces and very little oils."

Regular big salad lunches keep you feeling full. Learn how to wash and store a whole lettuce and make salad dressing in bulk. With those staples in your fridge, you'll be able to whip up a tasty salad with little preparation time and little effort.

However, I urge caution with this recommendation, which is against your main recommendation and in my experience is not helpful: "Diet drinks and fat free yogurt are fine for those sweet-tooth cravings."

Fat free yogurt is full of sugar and should be strongly avoided. Sugar is the biggest threat to weight loss because the calories from sugar go straight to fat, and the sudden increase in high glycemic index input triggers an insulin response, which makes you feel like a yo-yo merry-go-round of energy/despair.

Diet drinks should also be avoided. Whilst they don't contain sugar, the artificial sweeteners are so unnaturally sweet they will cause your brain to habitually crave sweet things. If you stick to water and natural foods you will lose these cravings after a few weeks and you won't need to revisit them.