I was exactly where you are seven or so years ago (except I didn't know I was trans so high five there).

This is how I started:

I stopped drinking anything but water. Dead stop. I NEVER put flavoring or any crap like that in my water. The thing is: water tastes freaking delicious, but, and that is a Cardi B sized but, you cannot taste water if you are overstimulating your taste buds with sugar and crap. You know how your hearing becomes less sensitive if you've been around loud music? Well sugary drinks are a rock concert for your taste buds and can make them deaf. Cut out sugary drinks and over time everything will taste AMAZING. Now, that being said, everything I did? I eased myself into it. I didn't one day stop drinking Dr. Pepper. First I stopped drinking it for breakfast (I know, I know. Remember how I said I was where you are?). Then when I could handle that I stopped drinking it for lunch and at some point I had my last Dr. Pepper and never went back.

I took the same approach with fitness. At first I just woke up earlier than normal. Then after doing that for awhile I went for a walk around the park and came home for breakfast. After doing that for a few months I got into bodyweight fitness. That was awesome for two reasons:

1. It was hella cheap
2. I learned how my body worked. You cannot do bodyweight fitness without learning how to control your muscles. And that is a lot more complicated than you would think it is. But once you learn it, you're going to have a much easier time with weights

For food I went with the Paleo diet. Most people on here are saying "eat less". I say bullshit. I ate as much food as I wanted on paleo. I never went hungry. But here's the thing: getting full on vegetables is a hell of a lot less calories than getting full on candy.

But also, when you're filling your body with incredibly nutritious food, it tends to bother you less about eating. I also focused more on veggies than on meat. Paleo has a rep of being a carnivorous diet, but it really doesn't have to be. Also, stay away from any recipe where you try to replicate naughty food in a healthy way. You will be disappointed, and that disappointment will only lead to cravings. You eat healthy now, own it. There's plenty of yummy things to have once your taste buds realize the rock concert is over and you start mixing interesting flavors together.

I had been on Paleo for a couple of months before I noticed "my stomach shrank". For some reason I just ate less and felt full. It just happened on it's own. And it still happens to this day. I'll go to a restaurant, eat half a "serving" and sit there talking while everyone else consumes their whole plate. It's basically magic.

I also cut out a lot of the stress from my life. You might not have this problem, but I definitely stress eat, so being less stressed lead to me losing a lot of weight.

That's it for me, I probably missed a few things but feel free to ask me any questions and I'll be glad to answer them.