I've been lurking here for a long time and have finally decided that I, too, can be a calorie counter!!

How do I start? I really need to make this time of losing weight the last. Any advice would be awesome!!

I'd say start by determining approximately how many calories you should be eating to lose weight and then start reading the calorie content of food items you have in your house. You also need to start thinking about whether or not they're good calories, like you could eat a small bowl of ice cream for 150 calories, or some fruit and light yogurt. A lot of people use calorie trackers on here or write down what they're eating in a journal to keep track.

Kinda like Lemonzest said. Figure out your calorie needs. Google "how many calories should I eat" you will get endless calculator sites. If you count online check out caloriecount.about.com, sparkpeople.com, fitday.com, myplate. Those are a few options, look around and see which one you like the best. Or simply write stuff out to keep track.

Generally the most important is to just start counting. After a while you'll start to automatically make better choices in food since you want to make better choices caloriewise.

Set an ultimate goal, then set some mini-goals along the way to help you succeed.

Check out some exercises that you'd like to try. Check out the exercise forum area. There are some great ideas and support there. Figure out what exercises you like. Some like to run, others walk, others bike and others just do a variety of videos. I do a mixture of those each week to keep switching it up. But, find something YOU enjoy as that will keep you going longer!!

And keep posting here to get support and motivation!!
Just keep movin'!

I have a few tips for you:
Remember to add veggies and fruits to your meals, and try to have some protein in every meal. A little milk, yogurt or cheese will do if it's a snack.
Buy a kitchen scale! A lot of us have a problem with knowing the size of our portions, a scale helps a LOT.
Try to bake or buy foods with whole grains whenever possible. They have a lot of fiber, which improves your digestion and makes you feel fuller longer. That's a big help when you're not used to limiting calories.
If you have a smartphone, an iPad or something like that, get a calorie counting app. If you don't, find a website to help you. A good one is: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Good luck

I'd start by figuring out how many calories you're currently eating and then cutting back. I started by cutting back to about 1500 right off the bat. In retrospect, I wish I cut back to say 2000 first and tried that for a bit to see how it went. That way, I'd have some more room to cut out additional calories after my body adjusted to the new level. I cut right back to 1500 which didn't give me a lot of wiggle room to adjust down. This may or may not be an issue for you, depending on how much you have to lose. It was a bigger deal for me because I had over 100lb to lose. I'd estimate that I was eating 2700-3000 caloreis a day, so 2000 would have been a significant reduction.

Also, I'd get a digital scale to weigh foods. It's MUCH easier to accurately weigh out 85g with the scale. Then start checking packaging and online for portion sizes. What does a serving of carrots or chicken look like? It's time consuming at first, but gets a lot easier as you learn the stats for the things you commonly eat.

AND, I'd figure out how you're going to keep track. I like something online (website or personal blog) because I can access it from many locations.
I agree with posters above about finding foods that fill you up and satisfy your personal tastes that are worth the calorie expense. I'm far happier and fuller for longer when I pick healthier foods. I like quantity!

Best of luck! You made the first step just by posting! There's lots of good advice and helpful chickies around here.

One of my friends in another thread had a great idea if you are on a budget and don't have a phone/portable device capable of tracking your calories. Get a little notebook and in the back of it, write down twenty foods you eat a lot of and their calories. As you look up the calories for a new food, add it to the list. You'll find you end up eating a lot of the same foods pretty frequently. In the front of the notebook, just start tracking your calories daily. Pretty soon, you'll have a pretty comprehensive lists of your most commonly eaten foods/drinks in the back, and a nice log in the front to keep you accountable/track your progress. Good luck!

I started by first finding a good calorie tracking website. I like the myplate application at livestrong.com. And then I started by visiting the food network site and searching for low calorie meals. Once I did that, I just go week by week sometimes repeating recipes and sometimes picking something new to do. Having a specific grocery list helps me to keep on track and ensure that I'm stocking our home with healthy foods and not twinkies .

I also found it helpful to figure out how many calories I want to eat per meal. 400-400-400 or 300-300-600 etc. That way I can figure out a variety of breakfast and lunch combinations.

Also, I started reading the beck diet solution book. That has helped a TON with positive reinforcement and keeping me on track. Been doing my new lifestyle for about 2 weeks and I just went straight to 1200 calories instead of gradually working my way down (that seems to work the best for me, but might not for you). So far I'm down about 10 lbs so it seems to be working

Best of luck to you hon! This is a great support system and I wish you success!

You could use an online calculator to figure your calorie intake based on your activity level thats how I started. I then subtracted 500 hundred calories from that. Im mostly sendentary so I was around 1200 calories once I subtracted my calorie deficit.

That is a great idea. I am going to do that too. Thanks.

Go to WebMD they have a calorie calculator that seems to be accurate that is tailored to your height, weight, age and activity level. You can keep track of your calories on there and even your exercise, if you have ever done Weight Watchers online it is alot like that except its FREE!!
http://www.webmd.com/diet/food-fitness-planner/

I personaly don't keep track of my calories online, what I do is use an idex card thats blank on one side and lined on the other, on the blank side I write down everthing as I eat it, and on the lined side I keep track of how many servings of fruits, vegetables, dairies, protiens and water I eat so that I am not lacking anything. Kind of like Weight Watchers without the points or the expense =P!

Oh and get a Calorie King book, they are small enough to carry with you every and lists the calories of about everything (including alot of restrants) and they are less than $10 on Amazon .