Use a Mental Calorie Clock

If you're trying to count calories without writing every little thing down, try this mental trick as a basic guideline for your caloric intake. When you wake up, start counting on a mental "calorie clock." For example, if you wake up at 6am and want to eat 1400 calories during your day, you can eat 100 calories an hour until 8pm. For every 100 calories you eat throughout the day, bump your clock forward one hour. So, if you eat a 500 calorie breakfast at 6am, it's now 11am in "calorie time." If you reach the end of "calorie time" before the end of your day (8pm, in this case), then you're done eating for the day. This trick isn't perfect, but it helps you keep track of whether or not you want to indulge in splurges throughout the day -- the answer to splurging, when given a time frame and calorie goal, is usually "no."