I lost 40 lbs in my mid 50s and am in my 4th year of maintaining that. I’m 5’5” and 118 lbs. I agree with every point you’re making here. What is easy for me is intermittent fasting/time restricted eating. I typically fast 20+ hours, with 16 my absolute minimum. Having just one meal a day makes it easier and more affordable to eat healthy/homemade from scratch. My “fast food” is frozen leftovers! IF gives my insulin plenty of time to deplete and keeps my glycogen stores too low to kick me into lipogenesis. I think a big part of our toxic food culture is the idea that it’s “natural” to eat 3-6 times a day, and our inability to go more than 4 waking hours without eating.