That said, I will provide an personal anecdote for your perusal and make one suggestion. First, the anecdote: I dropped from a weight of 205 - 210 pounds to a weight of 145 pounds over the course of three years. I am back up to 155 pounds. Yes, that last detail is important to my story. I am 5-foot-8-inches, so this is a radical change of BMI. Why did I lose so much weight? A radical change in diet.
I have a medical condition for which I was trying to avoid the most expensive treatments. I moved (not overnight) to a diet that removed virtually all grain-based and tuber-based carbohydrates. My carbohydrates came from fruits and leafy vegetables. No, I do not advise this diet for anyone unless they are trying to avoid the drugs that comes with my condition.
It worked. I went off the over-priced 1890's-era anti-inflammatory medication and stayed it for three years. Then, my symptoms returned.
New doctor, who said nothing about my diet and threw steroids and more anti-inflammatory meds at me. Those did not work. I lost even more weight, down to 135 pounds. I even went off my diet. Yes, it was good to eat bread, potatoes, and rice again.
Finally, I gave in and accepted that I would be on a ludicrously priced biological. Symptoms arrested. Now, back to my old diet. I have ten pounds to lose to get to my target weight.
What I am suggesting is that reductionism works. My diet notebooks shows a slight reduction in calories by removing grain-and-tuber carbs. However, it only takes you so far. There is room for wholism and seeking an understanding of exactly how a given source of nutrients is metabolized.