For me, it's all about a lifestyle change. I decided nearly 18 months ago that I wasn't going to "diet" the rest of my life. So I choose to eat healthier and exercise. For me calorie counting is the only way to go, because it's not a diet. I can eat whatever I choose ... as long as I have the calories available. But it still keeps me aware of what I eat.
I do make daily menus ... every Sunday I sit down and work out what I'm going to eat for the week. I usually go grocery shopping on Mondays, but sometimes on Sunday nights. Just depends.
Do I always stick to it? No. But it gives me a framework to start with. For example, today I was supposed to have soup for lunch, but a friend of mine had a crappy day, so we went out for lunch instead. However, I didn't use that as an opportunity to pig out. We went to a Thai place and I had green curry, no meat, extra veggies. I asked for brown rice and then ate only 1/3 of the rice they gave me.
I track my calories on thedailyplate.com and I weigh myself every morning. Both of those things help keep me on track.
One of the hardest things for me to learn was portion control. For the longest time I had no idea what a *real* portion size was. For me a bowl of rice was one of the big blue bowls from my cupboard, filled to the brim with rice. That's a serving, right? Nope. A serving of rice is 1 cup cooked (170 cals). A serving of frozen yogurt is 1/2 cup (120 cals). A serving of cheese is 1 oz (110 cals). I bought myself a digital food scale and now I weigh or measure EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth.
Another thing I do that really helps is that I eat ALL THE TIME.
Seriously. I don't have just three meals. I know that I need to snack, so my meal plan includes snacks. I eat 6 or 7 times a day and stick within a 1500 calorie range (sometimes going up to 1600, sometimes as low as 1300, but always using 1500 as my goal number). For example today:
B - homemade yogurt, protein powder, blueberries
S - apple
L - curry, diet coke
S - V8 juice
S - boiled egg
Postworkout - protein shake
D - Mahi, steamed veggies
S - frozen yogurt (will have in about an hour)
I also drink 1/2 gallon or more of water per day. I keep a 1/2 gallon container on my desk at the office and I use that to fill my glass. My goal is to drink one of those during the day and then drink more at the gym and at least one more glass of water at home at night.
It's a bunch of little stuff that works out to make a huge difference.
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