Tracking

If there's anything I hate more than trying to lose weight, it's keeping track of what I eat.  What a pain!  Unfortunately, it's a necessary evil.  I don't think I have ever been successful without tracking.  Weight Watcher's online is probably the best tool I've ever used...but alas, it's not free.  So, I recommend this one: www.nutritiondata.com.  It doesn't have a lot of the fast food listings other sites may contain, but it has a great analysis of the food you eat to let you see how "complete" your day was and where you need to improve.  Sure, you might have to use the tools to add some of your own foods or recipes, but once you do it's there forever and you can easily add it to your tracking.   At the end of the day you can see how many carbs you had, how much fat, how much protein, calcium, vitamins, etc.  The challenge is to try to eat enough of the right foods to get all of the above from food instead of supplements (which may or may not be absorbed in to the body anyway). I try to get the highest "complete" number I can, staying within my calorie limit of course.  It's not easy!  And there's definitely not room for junk food.  If I eat the amounts of good food I need, I'm too full for anything else anyway.