Hello and welcome aboard! You are going to LOVE it here!
If I can just comment on the price issue.....I'd like to add that yes, it's more expensive in some ways, but since you're not eating as much food, you're saving a lot of money just on that alone. I used to binge eat and spend tons of money on all the massive quantities of junk. Just by substituting water for sodas, you're saving money. I've also seen (on Oprah) that there are ways to take advantage of sales on whole foods in the supermarket. Since now you have some time on your hands, maybe you could try to use coupons more and buy things like chicken or various frozen veggies on sale and stock up your freezer. I also like to make foods and freeze leftovers so that nothing goes to waste. It saves time and money. I"m sure you can get advice from other people here on this...I've seen threads like this before.
Anywho, I love calorie counting and it has really been great for me because I don't feel like I'm too restricted. I try to eat mostly whole foods, but I do eat some foods that are processed but still low calorie.
Best of luck to you on this journey of self discovery! You're taking all the right steps so far!!!