Thank you for the thoughtful blog! I wrestle with the same things, and I have a few tips and thoughts in return.First, the tips - I actually use MyFitnessPal to plan out my days calories. I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, and very similar stuff every evening - I'm not a cook so I generally use pre-packaged salads and healthy frozen food meals. This also is a real boon for portion control, since if you buy a 300 calorie dinner, there you are, there isn't 100 extra calories lying around.Now the philosophy - If you have food cravings/addictions/emotional eating like myself, I don't really think you can have a "balanced approach" to food. We wouldn't suggest a heroin addict can have "just a little now and again" and then get back to being clean. I think as a food addict, if I choose to lose weight and get healthy, I also have to choose to get to a place in my life where I eat the healthy stuff I've planned to eat, I take some small pleasure in it, but food becomes a really minor part of my life and I just never, never get to experience the joy of the addictive junk food I crave. It's a monk's attitude toward food, that the goal requires sacrificing this particular part of your life.Just my 2 cents.
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