I've been giving up alcohol for years at a time. I've been overweight for years. Every time I go back on the alcohol I seem to be a heavier drinker than I was the previous time I gave it up. I've had a sweet tooth all my life. I can't eat a few sweets from a bag, I have to finish the whole bag. I've also been getting increasingly overweight for years. Recently I've taken to watching Dr. Sten Ekkberg's videos on youtube. I took up the diet recommended basically because it told me I could eat almost everything I really like, butter, beef, cheese, olive oil, oily fish. I had no specific plans to give up alcohol or sweets completely just to be as moderate as possible. Bizarrely right from day one I completely lost interest in alcohol (and it's been around a month now) and apart a couple of biscuits a day with a cup of tea, I've not eaten anything sweet. No bread, hardly any potatoes. I've lost 15 lbs so far and it's been an easier diet to persist with than I've ever tried before. My short summary of how I understand it works:

A low carbohydrate diet stabilises blood sugar whereas a high carb diet causes swings in blood sugar levels and actually prevents the body from burning fat. Insulin causes the blood sugar to drop then cortisol is released which stimulates the appetite for sugar, causing snacking. When on a high fat, calorie deficient diet, you're still hungry sometimes but not like the cravings you have when your blood sugar is all over the place from eating a high carb diet, Your body isn't prevented by insulin from going to the 'pantry' (your fat tissue) to keep you going.

Also aerobic exercise, ie walking NOT running burns fat. The latter will cause your glycogen stores to be raided as well as stimulating cortisol to tell you that you need carbs, URGENTLY!