[Broken_Hippo]

"The main point is that the restrictions force you to change your habits."

And this is really the main key with diets and healthy eating. You gotta change your habits.

But in that respect, you could do similar things without the restrictions: Simply work on changing the habits without eating more. Take a while to focus on cutting out most sweetened beverages: Some time to eat more veggies, more grains, adjust your eating to reflect when you are hungry, and so on.