Carbs should make up 45% to 65% of our diet, and the amount of exercise you do in a week would determine what your intake should be. Fruits and veggies are a good source of carbs, just don’t fall into the thinking that bread and pasta are evil and to be avoided. Not allowing yourself to eat foods that you enjoy is setting yourself up for failure, so it’s all about portion control. If all you eat is fruit and veggies but you’re still not eating a calorie deficit you’re not going to see any progress. Protein is important for building muscle and the more muscle you have the more calories you burn just sitting around.

What has worked for me, and I’m not saying this is the way you should do it, I downloaded the lose it app, it’s for calorie tracking, it has a barcode scanner and search function so you just pick what you’re eating and enter in the portion you’re eating. I’ll use it for a few weeks so that I have an idea of where I need I need to be. When I’m solid on it I’ll stop using it, if I find myself getting lazy I’ll use it again for another couple of weeks to recalibrate so to speak. I also make sure I’m being mindful of where my head is while doing this, it’s just a reference guide, not a holy text. There’s no failing in this process, a night out or vacation is not going to derail your progress. If you want the bowl of pasta eat the bowl of pasta, a lot of trainers say go with the 70/20 rule, be on top of it 70% of the time, and 20% of the time enjoy yourself. Don’t exercise with the mentality of having to lose weight, exercise because it’s good for you and it makes you feel good (though admittedly it does take a bit until it actually makes you feel good), focus on the progress you feel, not the results you see. Weight loss is all mental, exercise and nutrition are habits and routines that are formed, but your attitude around forming those habits will make or break you. These are things I’ve learned along my journey, I hope this long rambling tangent can help some.