Getting Serious About Dieting

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My diet has been pretty horrendous and I've put on weight to the point that I'm heavier than I've ever been. I tend to drink about 3 500-600ml iced coffee/flavoured milk drinks per day as well as about a litre of soft drink (or soda for you Americans). Those are probably the main issues with my current diet but I'd like to take a targeted approach to eating better and woth more moderation long-term and to do that I think the best way would be to predetermine some sort of an eating schedule.

1500 calories a day will be my initial goal and I'd like to start incorporating more greens and stuff into my diet (despite the fact I'm not a huge fan of the taste). There used to be an ad on Australian television where they'd mention something about having three serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables a day, and I think that'd be a good place to start, considering most of my days consist of zero of each.

The problem is I don't have much experience in the kitchen and I'm unsure of how exactly to structure things as such that I will meet my goals and that sort of thing. Being at home all the time and fairly unoccupied doesn't help either.

I guess I'm just looking for tips and the like from people who are better at this dieting and food thing than me.

^^You're 21 and will go through this phase of over-eating. It's called hormones.
If you have a low calorie intake at various points in the day, you body will try and make up for it by making enough endorphins to start a programme of fixation on some particular food or drink area.
I can tell you now, you will get through this, but it could take years of progression. Maybe seek out a professional trainer who can kick start your fitness regime, if you think that's what you need.

I suggest making gradual but steady changes.

What drinks are you drinking? Pepsi Max tastes really good and has few calories.

1500 calories a day is extremely low. How much do you weigh?
I probably wouldn't go lower than 1800.

This won't solve everything but you could try switching out some of those drinks with a sparkling water or seltzer water(not sure there is any difference). But yeah I've never had issues with going over-weight I just like to drink that stuff. But my boyfriend has started drinking those more in place of sugary drinks and has lost some weight that way...so that could be one idea. There are different flavors to, or you could always get the plain ones and add some lemon juice or something like that for flavor.

Or at least maybe try drinking coffee black, without the milk or sugar but if you don't particulary like the taste of plain coffee that may be difficult.

Lol also sometimes we drink the seltzer water in place of beer, both of us probably drink a bit too much at times...so it can be a good alternative.

As for greens if you eat a salad you can get a good dressing you like that will add flavor, or there are ways to cook greens and veggies that are pretty tasty. like for instance brussel sprouts can be kind of boring but if you add butter, salt, pepper and whatever other seasoning you like they can be quite tasty. Also I know grocery stores usually have steamer bags of veggies and some of those are seasoned already, all you have to do is stick it in the microwave. But the trick with greens and veggies is putting flavors you like on them...they can be bland on their own but with some oil or butter and seasoning they can be much better.

Your diet should target health, not weight loss.

Do not limit calories immediately, address what you are eating first.

Being healthy would give you more energy to be physically active and to have willpower. Weight loss comes naturally with health.

Eat healthy for a while. Monitor your weight and measures. If you don't see any weight loss after couple months of eating healthy diet, add some caloric restriction.

I would recommend paleo or keto, it gives you structure, eliminates a lot of daily decision making. I'm on keto for several years, never felt better in my whole life.

Lately I have developed a taste for raw veggies, especially carrots, celery, and cauliflower. I wash them, cut them up, a little salt and ready to eat.

Chronos, I wasn't aware broccoli was supposed to help us with our social skills. I used to eat it and cauliflower both but considered them to be somewhat redundant so gave up the broccoli. Sounds like I should switch; I can use all the social skills support I can find.

I agree that we HFAs/Aspies need to eat as healthy of a diet as possible. We are all experiencing it from different perspectives but if we can approach it with the best health possible, it will minimize our physical AND mental hardships.

If you happen to use Reddit at all, you should check out r/loseit; lots of advice and stuff on there