Where do I start with weight loss + calorie counting?

[Sunshineandswimming7]

Have used WW & SW over the years but don’t want to go down that route again. If I want to lose weight with calorie counting, where do I start? Are there any good apps I should use? I’m a bit hesitant as I’m wondering if the calorie counting at every meal will be tedious or time consuming! Any top tips please? Any social media pages that are good to follow?
Thanks.

Why don’t you try the app my fitness pal. It’s easy to use and if it’s on your phone handy to keep track of your calories.

Start with working out what your TDEE is (Google it for various sites) and set a target for daily calories that is about 500 less than your TDEE for gradual steady loss. it's fine to have a 7-day "budget" for calories and eat a bit under target for a few days in order to have a treat at a weekend but this shouldn't be too "drastic" (i.e. don't eat half your target amount for a few days and then have a huge blowout eating 3 times your target amount in a single day).

Plan how you want to spread your allowance through the day. I tend to reserve 10% for snacks but try not to use that and if I succeed in not snacking I can have a little extra treat as part of dinner. I allow a quarter of the remainder for each of breakfast and lunch and the rest for dinner as I prefer to feel more satisfied at the end of the day, but other patterns are fine, whatever works.

There does have to be a certain amount of working out the calories. I don't use any apps because they are too frustratingly slow to deal with all the things I make from scratch in large batches. They would be fine if you mostly eat prepackaged stuff. Pen and paper is fine, but you start getting used to what a 300cal serving looks like very quickly.

You need accurate digital kitchen scales and a calculator (you'll have a calculator app on your phone) and it's very easy e.g. this popcorn is 552cal per 100g, this serving weighs 15g so 552x0.15=83 cal.
Another example - I want to have about 70cals of this light houmous which is 168 cals per 100g so I can have 70x100÷168=42g.

It's fine to round to the nearest 10 and not worry about whether you have eaten 234 or 238 calories so far in a meal. And if you know your individual meals were on-target you don't need to keep a record of where you have got to. Just generally be aware if you are more than 50 calories over or under target at the moment.

Yup either check out apps or calculate by yourself. Everyone is different. I use My fitness pal even for batch cooking.

One thing you do (I am basing this on threads here lately so giving advice ahead😁) sit down and click one everything before you atart using it to count. Get to know the features, ask here if something is unclear etc.

It's a pita first week. Then it's easy peasy. I ait down in the evening and pre plan my next day food and just amend when needed.

Pp gave very good advice with tdee and the spread. I am also spreading them throughout the week so I don't eat the same amount every day, but first, try the standard way. I started with it too.

Good luck!

Apps like Fatsecret ease your counting process a lot, so I highly recommend installing one instead of working with the calculator for hours. It really gets much easier after a week or two. I remember it took me an hour to weigh everything and write it down when I first started, but now I do it in the blink on an eye.
Planning your meals ahead also helps if you are a controlling freak like me Do not cling to the numbers too much anyway, just stay around your target and you'll be fine.

Another great thing that works for me is taking photos to see the progress. Sometimes the scales show none, but your body is already different, so take pictures and use them as your main reference point. You can also take one photo of yourself now and edit it so that you'd look thinner (there are special photo slimming software like this or just use Photoshop) and it will work as additional motivation for you.

Don't go for sophisticated exercises at the very beginning! Simple push ups, squats and sit ups are great to start with, just make sure you are doing it right.

Thanks everyone. I’ve found the Nutra check website/app and it’s easy to use. I like that it has all the big supermarkets on too.
Thanks for your replies - they got me started!