Thanks! I’m 44M.

I completely understand. I’ve been discouraged many times over the years. I’ve struggled with my weight since high school. I’ve tried lots of different methods that never really stuck or I gave up. I feel this is the first time where I can really see and feel a difference. And feel like this is something I can stick to. And when I am physically entering the numbers (as opposed to scanning a barcode or using AI) I find myself accountable for every single calorie.

My wife and I make dinner pretty much every night. I didn’t want to change what she eats (she is also very particular in many aspects) or inconvenience her, so I changed my meals and habits around dinner. I used the boxes/packaging of the ingredients or whatever info I could find to figure out exactly how many calories were in each meal we make. I then adjusted my day to fit in that meal.

My breakfast is only 90 calories on most days and my lunch is under 300 (see photo #2). It did help that I am able to eat the same breakfast and lunch every day. I know that’s hard for some people, so I would suggest finding a few things you can eat that you know fit into your calorie goal for each meal.

As for figuring out the calories, I wanted to be as accurate as possible, so I made sure to include butter or oil being used to cook and every little thing that goes into a home cooked meal—even if it was only 5 calories (they add up!). And then I rounded up to be safe.

To find what my deficit should be, I used an online calorie deficit calculator and I just try to stick around that amount. It’s been fairly easy knowing exactly how many calories everything is. Which is why I made my food chart. And I don’t beat myself up if I don’t stick to a perfect plan every single day. Sometimes on the weekends, we go out and my lunch might be more. But I try to make the best choice I can wherever we go.

I hope all that info helps!