I add in my head all day. Before I fix dinner I know exactly how many cal. I have left because I double check my head with Fitday.com. As for going out to eat and counting calories, I stick to what I KNOW. Meaning I will eat a salad only if I have to. Yep sometimes it stinks (CC) but not nearly as bad a the last 40 plus pounds I have lost so far...

I take 10 minutes or so the night before and plan my next day out on caloriecount.com. I eat the same things over and over for breakfast and usually lunch. And I usually have a good idea of what I'll have for dinner because I plan it out for shopping every week. I also guesstimate what kind of exercise I'll do (30 min on elliptical, 15 min jog, 30 min strength...or something). I don't necessarily eat back my calories, but I do like to see my deficit. Plus, when I record it, I'm more likely to actually do it.

It's kind of a pain, I guess, but I actually enjoy my meal planning. It's 10-15min of Megan-time that I use to think about the next day. Planning out my snacks and meals also forces me to think about what I need to do. It just gives me a chance to organize my thoughts, and I like that.

I also love love love the Lose It application. I don't have the iPhone but use it on my iTouch (I'm sure can be picked up used for cheap now) and the ease and mobility of it is better than any calorie counting method I have used before.

I use a nutritional software on my computer (not an online one). In the beginning it takes time to get use to all the functions and setting up the meals, but then it is a breeze to use. These programs allow you to copy previous meals or create meals that you typically eat so that you can just click on the meal instead of each ingredient.

It takes me about 5 minutes in the morning to set up my food for the day, and then in the evening I make any changes or substitutions I may have made. What I really like too, is being able to figure out restaurant meals ahead of time, as most databases have extensive restaurant calculations. I also like the reports, showing me deficiencies, averages, trends, goals and all kinds of things that keep me inspired to keep working it.

I think it definitely gets easier and quicker. I use Fitday and almost everything I eat is in there now in either my recent foods or my custom foods. So it's really fast and easy to just click off the check boxes for all my food for the day. Every now and then, I might add something new, but that still only takes a couple of minutes.

And the thing is that it actually saves me a lot of time because now my food is planned out for the rest of the day. I don't have to keep thinking about it as I go through my day, I just eat what's on my plan. I could spend a lot of time thinking about "what do I feel like eating" and all of that. Now all that time and energy is free for other things.

I write it all in a little calendar I keep in my purse. It is definitely easier after having been doing this for a couple of years. I know how many calories are in the things I eat for breakfast and lunch, and I know how many calories are in our regular recipes for dinner. If it's a new one, I just plug it all in to the calorie count recipe analysis: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php and see if it's 'affordable'.