Diets suck.
It seems you are on the right track. Now it's time to toss that diet rule out, and just concern with yourself. Remember, you're not training to be a super, duper Olympic runner who needs to run the 40s in 2 seconds flat or all hell is going to break. No, you just want to be an average joe, who feels better, who wants to look good, and just being yourself. Following a "diet" is not being yourself, it's being someone else. And one day, "you" are going to jump out and cry.
Watching what you eat is only part of the solution (it's the "balance" aspect of eating). Not the whole. It's only the bread on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The peanut butter and jelly is moderation and variety. When you practice this step, you can achieve greatness and follow an automatic 90-10 rule (90% healthy food and 10% fun food/empty calories). How do you start to do this? Well the first part is to throw away the diet idea... and concern yourself instead of what you like... really you can't go wrong with any fruits and veggies, and eating pretty much anything is okay! As long as you are not overdoing it, you're fine. I cook at home all the time now. In the past when I was unhealthy (I hate that word, I should rather say when I was lost, because I was really happy with myself and weight or health wasn't really a concern for me), I ate one or two large meals. I remember one day I ate taco bell, a large box of papa johns pizza, two 2-liters of diet coke, and then a huge chicken dinner at my mom's.... if I did this today, I would vomit, literally. One day my friends and I went out and we stopped by mcdonalds and I decided to order a double cheese – something I loved in the past – and I had a serious stomach cramp that night and not only that, the cheese burger felt like bubbles going off in my mouth. Tasted like crap, and I haven’t touched that in nearly 4 months. I eat 5 times a day, and all those 5 times, I cooked or made it myself. You can do this too, but first you need to follow your own rules, and not someone else’s. Remember, you need to eat...if you're hungry and you try to fight that hunger, you're doing it wrong. It's like saying you're a failure because you can't put on baby shoes... it doesn't make any sense.... so honor your hunger, don't stress on the diet crap, try to eat at least 5-6 times a day, always have food around, and practice balance, variety, and moderation. You'll be fine.
I think you're on the right path. Continue what you're doing, and you'll lose weight. Again, I can't stress it enough, don't base success or failure on weight. It sounds like you're having fun at the gym, that's good. Now it's time to expand that and have fun outdoors all seven days of the week. Try being more active than not. Don't become a mobile couch potato - driving in your car is not being active. Just try increasing your walking amount, don't stress if you can't do something. Remember, being "active" doesn't mean doing intense workouts, it just means you spend at least 30 minutes to an hour a day doing something... it can be anything and it doesn't have to be all at once. It can range from walking around the block, folding clothes, cleaning the house, etc. Try to analyse your life, and determine where you can use your body instead of a machine. For example, instead of washing the car through a car washer, do it at a "do it yourself" center. By doing this, and expanding it to the rest of your life, you can maintain a healthy body, and have fun at the same time.
