I suppose it's helpful to have a guideline, but personally I refuse to count calories. I can't tell you how many times I've quit diets and programs because the weighing, measuring, and calculating of meals along with trying to plan out the whole day every day became too much work.

The only realistic solution for me is to make it a lifestyle by not being so rigid about calculating everything. I keep a mental count of the carbs I've consumed throughout the day and that's it. If I'm hungry I eat something appropriate and I stop eating when I'm full. I make sure to get some vegetables and vitamins in there. Lots of water too.

Maybe I'm abnormally lazy but I just look at the whole thing as a different assortment of food now available to me and I go on with my life. I can't take on another project, another thing that I have to do everyday.