I want to echo the love for the MyFitness phone app. I installed it on my Droid and it has been an integral tool in helping myself keep track of exactly how many calories I take in. The huge side effect of calorie counting is that in order for it to be accurate, you almost have to stop eating at restaurants and you are forced to measure your portions.
Losing weight becomes much easier when you avoid fast food/restaurants which deal almost exclusively in fatty and high calorie foods, and you learn to appreciate correct portion sizes. I've lost 6 lbs in under 2 weeks using the MyFitness app (which has nutrition information for basically everything I get at Trader Joes) and I've learned how much better/fun it is to enjoy 4-5 different foods per meal (but in tiny portions) than to have 1 giant sandwich and 1 giant serving of fries. When I use correct portions I can enjoy a breakfast feast of turkey, eggs, fiber cereal and mixed vegetables and I'm eating way less calories than if I got the smallest breakfast meal at a restaurant (the sad, plain, flavorless 2 eggs/hashbrowns/toast).
With all that said, I've had to force myself to stay home more than I normally like to. If I was out running around everyday and night it would be much harder. But I've found that there are fast food places out there that will offer 1 or 2 "crunch time" alternatives. Got stuck running errands and had a grilled chicken ensalada at Baja Fresh today, only 300 calories which fits into my per meal plan. However, when the lady offered me their free complimentary chips I quickly turned into this:
