Maybe a diet plan would

If you want boring, by all means, get on a diet plan. Eat what you like, hit your macros, and maintain a calorie deficit. Diet plans complicate things and always have failure looming over them. I've got no plan to shoot, but I have an open diary and eat upwards of 2500cals/day.

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If you want to follow a plan, go for it. If you choose a healthy one (like south beach) it can be a great way to learn to incorporate more healthy foods. And then you can move on to incorporating those foods into your own way of eating. I used mediterranean and south beach to learn how to eat better. Worked great!
There's probably a group for many of the healthy formal diets on here.

good luck!

I don't know if this will help you, but it helped me stay sane. I made sure to have one day out of the week where I would eat and drink anything that I wanted. For me, it was Saturday. Having a scheduled day allowed me the release that I needed.

I found that it became easier to say no to calorie dense foods in the middle of the week when I just had to wait a few days until Saturday arrived. On that Saturday, I would consume as much of anything that I wanted. It was just what I needed to pull me through the rest of the week.

What I learned is that my body retains water for up to four days after my free day. By my Wednesday weigh-in, I was back to my Saturday morning weight. That gave me four days to make progress before my next free day.

This worked for me for a while. I hit a plateau around 25lbs lost. I gave up and ate horribly for a month. What I found was that I gained some weight back, but not all of it. Now I'm back, but without the free day. Now I will allow myself a free-meal now and then.

The only diet plan I follow is what I set out at the beginning of the week. I get to eat what sounds good, but I like the structure of having meals mapped out and knowing what I need to prep and the calories I have for snacks each day…and it makes grocery shopping easier!

Your post reminds me exactly of myself. I am trying to battle my "all or nothing" mentality that I have. It sounds like you are the same way. I go from not exercising, eating an incredible amount of unhealthy food, not tracking anything, and having a beer or two a day, to wanting to go to the gym every day, eating completely clean while tracking every bite that goes in my mouth and giving up alchohol. It is too much to put on myself and sustain.

It sounds like you are going through the same thing. You quit drinking, quit smoking, cut your diet, and are trying to exercise all at once. That sounds like a lot to handle at once.

I am trying to learn to ease myself into this new lifestyle instead of jumping head first into it. I am tracking my food Monday through Friday, but I don't on Saturday and Sunday. I still make healthier choices on these two days and really watch my portion size, but to me, getting away from the monotony of counting every calorie for two days really seems to help me.

I am also resisting the urge I have to go to the gym 6 days a week and over train. I know that will burn myself out. I am shooting for 4 times a week right now. Two days doing NROL break in program and two days doing some sort of cardio.

Hopefully this helps, don't be so hard on yourself. If you binged last night, just get up this morning and try something different to eliminate it tonight. Maybe you aren't getting enough calories late in the day? Maybe these cravings are associated with stopping smoking? Just find what works for you. You are going to get just as bored with a diet program as you will with your grilled chicken etc.