First week in & starting to struggle

hi! welcome!

when you say struggle, how do you mean? are you feeling too hungry? just craving chocolate?

chocolate is something that you can work in a diet in the right context and dosage. i keep hershey's dark chocolate kisses in my desk for 'emergency' chocolate and find that eating 1 satisfies the craving and has only 35 calories.

I treat myself to one or two squares of good dark chocolate every night. It ends up really satisfying me and has made me like other junk food less. I take VERY small bites and savor the melting in my mouth. But it does not have a lot of calories or sugar and works for me.

I have a 50ish calorie square of dark chocolate for my "dessert" with breakfast every day. I know chocolate is coming, every day, without fail, so I don't crave it nearly so much as I would if chocolate were off limits.

Find a place for your chocolate, this isn't suppossed to be a punishment. Are you planning on avoiding your favorite treats for the rest of your life? If so, this new plan isn't going to last long for you.

Break things down into individual behaviors and habits. Instead of looking at this as an all at once, or all or nothing proposition, find ways to break things down into smaller and more sustainable habits. That makes it much easier to pinpoint where something is not working, and fix it, rather than staring at the whole jumbled mess of NOT WORKING. Plus, when you do backslide, you are less likely to drop everything, just one or two habits, that can then be fixed again. Otherwise, trying to everything at once, means that you are likely to leave out something important (like weighing food), and pay excessive attention to things that aren't. (Like fiber drinks and vinegar)
Don't demonize foods that don't actually make you feel bad. Obviously if you have food sensitivities avoid those things, but don't cut out all your favorite goodies because they are not "healthy". Think of your calories as a type of currency. You should purchase the nutrient rich stuff first, budget for regular treats, and don't waste any calories on stuff you hate, even if it is theoretically good for you.
Log EVERYTHING.
Don't JUST weigh (with a scale is best) everything you eat, also write why you are eating it (i.e, lunchtime, hungry, kind of bored, out with friends, watching tv) and how you are feeling right before, right after and an hour after (hungry, comfortable, normal, full, very full bloated, drowsy, OMG I am so damn sick of this crap I want to throw the whole plate out a window, etc).
This gives you a baseline pattern for your normal habits and routine. From there, it's just a matter of experimenting. Are you very full after dinner? Cut back on a few things. Does lunch leave you bloated and gassy after an hour, try less or no mayo, and see if there's something you don't mind dropping each meal (fries, or cheese, or maybe only 2 tacos instead of 3).Are you starving an hour after dinner?Maybe more fats during.
It's amazing how quickly these small and easily sustainable changes will add up to big calorie cuts. Only cut one or two things at a time, until they become habit instead if trying to do everything at once. That way they become individual habits instead of one big "diet".

My go to for chocolate is a protein cookie Lenny and Larry's is one of my fav for sure....