I was put on a "low fat diet" - just try to get a medical person to explain what that is,,,, in detail,,, like dude - some specifics here? .... they just talk, I have to do.
as a result I wrote software that uses a USDA(?) data base plus my personal adds to control total and saturated fat intake.
then....I got heavier and heavier. so in addition to fat, I now monitor calorie intake.
there are a ___lot___ of side effects/topics/issues to calories. the suggestion that less calories is more healthy is just absurd.
there is rather a lot more to "health" than calories.
carbs - athletes in long endurance sports do a 'carb load' - because calories from carbs are slowly converted to blood sugar=energy....
that works in my experience - a can do a very low calorie meal with a baked potato an be 'satisfied' for much longer than a low calorie salad.
speaking of salads . . . it ain't the salad that counts - it's all the dressing&stuff that go on the salad that turn it into a calorie bomb... similar situation to many "dishes"
so watching my calories, I've dumped 15 lbs/~7kg. no world record. but there's a technique behind that.
a comment above references the "size" of stuff on the plate . . . okay, some clarifications....
(1) in USA the evening meal tends to be the big one, while in Europe the mid-day meals tends to be the big one.
(2) in the '60's - in Europe one would see menus with the amount of meat specified in grams.... that simply does not work with "supersized" everything in USA. and is no longer the norm in Europe - altho I do agree Europe portions tend to be less than in USA. I was at a simply more than greasy-spoon diner level place - ordered a pork chop - ate it there, brought home the leftovers and made two meals out of those . . .
my 'technique' to controlling calorie and fat intake is simple - we do a meal plan, every week. it is not set in stone, it does get changed as the situation/mood/availability changes.
but....
each morning I use the software to enter the evening meal - tallies up the fat and calories. hence I know for breakfast/brunch/lunch . . . whether I need to go skimpy or can "indulge" for those meals.
having an unrestricted approach to breakfast/brunch/lunch and then finding out 'oh nuts, dinner is really heavy fat/carb/calories' is too little, too late. the 'too little' issue shows up as 'too much' on the scale....