"I tried to diet but being vegan/paleo/etc is just too extreme." Or, you know, just eat less? Speaking of paleo, I  recently stumbled on an article about paleo for beginners to lose weight and the first few paragraphs were "ignore portion control and don't worry about calories. Also stuff your face full of as much fat as possible as long as it's healthy fats". I would guess the obvious idea would be to get enough of your protein and fats and then fill up on vegetables, but for fatties, that's an open invite to binge and bitch.