Down 40lbs doing weight loss without giving up sweets completely

I see a lot of posts about cutting out sugar completely and while I respect that approach it just wasn't realistic for me. I tried cold turkey multiple times and always crashed within 2 weeks, then binged way harder than if I'd just allowed myself something small. This time I planned for it, I budget 150-200 calories most days for something sweet after dinner. Sometimes it's a small piece of dark chocolate, sometimes it's sugar free options that don't taste like cardboard. The important part is I'm not sitting there at night feeling deprived and obsessing over what I can't have. People always say "if it fits your macros" but they forget that mental satisfaction matters too, if you're white knuckling through cravings every day you're eventually gonna snap. For me finding that middle ground between restriction and freedom made this whole thing sustainable instead of another failed diet attempt.