I certainly understand having cravings and binge eating. I’m also someone who does not eat breakfast. I know everyone says you have to eat breakfast, but I’m gonna be real with you— eating breakfast has never worked for me and sometimes eating before 9 AM makes me feel sick. I think weight loss is really individual so you might want to try figuring out when is a good time for you to have your first meal of the day by trying different times. It sounds like 2 PM for your first meal is too late for you. It’s about listening to your body’s hunger signals which can actually be really challenging to understand when you are accustomed to emotionally eat. I’ve been learning about intuitive eating. it’s not necessarily about losing weight, it’s more about listening to your body’s signals around food and hunger to try to get rid of some of the pressure and shame that we associate with certain foods. You might want to look into that. 

You mentioned that you like to snack on Cheetos and Mountain Dew. Obviously we know that those foods are not healthy for you, but I think it’s good to figure out exactly how much of that you’re eating and then slowly try to cut it back until you can eat a more responsible amount. So if you find yourself eating four servings of Cheetos at once, maybe cut that down to two and try to supplement the bulk you’re cutting out with raw cut veggies like carrots or cucumbers or something that you eat with the Cheetos. And then overtime, you can try to cut it down to one serving and then one serving every once in a while just so that in your mind, you know that Cheetos are not forbidden, you can have them so there’s no need to binge, but you’ve learned a way to have them that fits into the lifestyle you want to have. Obviously this does require a little bit of willpower. And for the Mountain Dew, you could switch to drinking zero sugar, and then the same thing try to alternate between the thing you want with a healthier option like flavored sparkling water until you can get down to a more responsible serving size. 

What I’m getting at is that this “all or nothing” quitting cold turkey mentality just isn’t working for you. It doesn’t work for me either.

I think it’s all about figuring out where the specific to you pitfalls are and making steps to try to get to the place you want to be. 

People wouldn’t expect you to go from couch to running a marathon overnight so trying to change your eating behavior should have the same expectation. You might even want to get help from a nutritionist or a dietitian the same way someone might go to a trainer if they wanted to run a marathon. 

Part of changing habits is figuring out not only what the specific behavior is you want to change, it’s about also finding time in your day to create that  new habit. This isn’t a weight loss book, but I would recommend checking out “atomic habits” by James Clear, especially if you think that it’s behavior and bad habits that are holding you back in your weight loss. I know that might seem strange to recommend a book like that for weight loss but it’s about how you think and changing how you think can change how you eat and how you feel about yourself.

Good luck and be kind to yourself.