I had to educate myself about caloric content in the food I was eating. My wife got me a book called “Eat this not that” which helped a lot (especially at restaurants) but the same information is available all over the internet.

After I tracked my intake for a couple of weeks, I started to know what I was eating, calorie-wise. Then I set a budget of 2000 calories per day, but everyone will need a different number.

I imagine it as having $20 a day to spend on food (1 calorie is 1 cent) and thinking about it like “bargain hunting” helped me find foods I like that were “good deals” calorie-wise.

For example, mayonnaise is a terrible deal (150 cal per 2 tablespoons) , while salsa, mustard, hot sauce, etc are tasty but have few calories.

Like others said, you need to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight, and until you’re honest and accurate about what you’re taking in, the needle isn’t going to move.