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I have a pet hypothesis that one of (for instance) Keto's main benefits is that it shakes up habitual eating patterns. Instead of trying to eat less of foods you're used to eating a lot of, you're forced to develop new habits around entirely new food.

I've also gone from 250-ish down to 170-ish (although over the course of 2 years, not 4 months, lol), but I haven't really bought into any specific diet. I just don't eat out.

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Expanding on the theme of unexpected benefits, I think that one of the things that makes weightlifting helpful for weight loss is causing cognitive dissonance when eating crap. Since the first increases in what you can lift come from increased inter- and intramuscular coordination and are thus very rapid and really astounding, you can quickly get a feeling of agency and the belief that you are becoming a sporty person. Both will help you make better food choices.

^ this. I've done a lot of research/experimentation/thinking about keto, and this is definitely one of the factors. Along with the increased satiety from higher dietary fat, higher TEF from increased protein, improved insulin sensitivity (less hunger crashes), etc, of course. :)

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