7 guidelines to follow in eating for Calorie Restriction when straight calorie counting is impractical (by Harvard Medical School)

(1) Eat foods that are filling and low in calories. That means meals and snacks made with whole grains, such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and oatmeal, as well as legumes, such as lentils and other beans.

(2) When you eat meat, cut out fat and cut down portion sizes. Choose lean cuts of meat and modest amounts — about 3½ or 4 ounces per serving.

(3) Avoid fried foods. Frying foods adds fat and calories. For stovetop cooking, it’s better either to stir-fry foods in nonstick pans lightly coated with a cooking-oil spray or to braise them in broth or wine. Baking, broiling, and roasting add no extra fat to your meals.

(4) Use low-fat or nonfat dairy foods. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are good sources of protein and calcium, but the whole-milk versions of these dairy products are very high in fat.

(5) Avoid fast foods. Hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, and other fast-food meals and snacks tend to promote weight gain for two reasons. First, they are high in fat, calories, or both. Second, the “value meals” are often excessively large and tempt you to overeat.

(6) Avoid high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks. Chips and other deep-fried snacks are high in fat and therefore calories. But even snacks labeled “low-fat” are often high in calories because they contain large amounts of sugars and other carbohydrates.

(7) Watch what you drink. Regular sodas, fruit juices, and, especially, alcoholic beverages are high in calories.

Information Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/HB_web/calorie-counting-made-easy.htm