I appreciate the help guys but seriously I am an advanced dieter and am so lost because I feel like the general advice doesn't work for me any longer.

I did a liquid diet and they had all these studies off pub med that showed that if you did a liquid diet and went back to eating normal, your metabolism would recover. And it was on that basis that I did it. But now I realize the conceit that I didn't think of...

If you have been reducing your calories since you were 13 -- once or twice per year - and you are now 50; what does that do to your bodies ability to recover its metabolism? I suspect the answer is that like anything your body just gets better at it if you do it all the time. Every time I go on a diet now my body more quickly adjusts all its processes to reduce the amount of calories burned.

I am on a weight loss site with a diet drug and so many people point out they aren't losing, even on the diet drug. So they aren't hungry, aren't eating, and aren't losing. I believe them all. I have seen it so many times. They only way this could be is if your metabolism has reduced.

My whole life I have primarily focused on the eating side of the equation, to be sure, I have exercised but it always seemed like I needed a lot of exercise. It is tremendously difficult for me to exercise because of my job, there just isn't time or energy. But I know the single greatest mistake I can make right now is to eat substantially less. That side of the equation cannot change substantially.

So this is my plan for the moment

1. I don't know that I have a ton of muscle. But recently (not sure if they were around before ) I found that BMR calculators have a new feature where it can calculate more accurately if you put in your body fat percentage (it calculates your muscle from that). Well turns out if I just drop my body fat percentage and increase my muscle by a little bit, my BMR can increase up to 200 calories burned per day. So I am going to get a "My gym" and try to build muscle.

2. I am going to attempt to burn off about 200 more calories per day via exercise. In two ways. Working out at the gym and also NEAT... standing at my desk for longer periods.

3. I am going to drop my calories slightly. Right now I burn anyplace from 1500 to 1700 cals per day. Instead of dropping down to 1000 calories as I typically do. I will drop to 1400 to 1500 cals per day. And attempt to burn off 1900 to 2000 cals per day.

I need to focus on the increase calorie burins side of the equation. Period. It is going to be difficult but I hope to be able to do a lot of it at work.