New & not sure i'm loging my food right! Help please?

Hi, I'm a new member, just started yesterday morning. I want to log my food intake as accuratly as I can so was wondering how you guys go about it? For example...yesterday evening I had Grilled skinless chicken breast with couscous containing stir-fried green pepper, onion & green chilli & a small portion of mixed veg (peas, sweetcorn & brocolli). when stirfrying i obviously add oil...do i count this too? Salt? pepper? How about portion sizes...i'm not very good with guessing my grams/ounces ect...Should i just make sure i don't go dead on my allowed calorie intake...500 lower possibly to allow for the little things?  I'm finding this diet is going to be a very lengthy process for me to see the weight coming off...my will power works on seeing results so do hope i see at least 2 pounds off by next Tuesday. 

I went on the LighterLife diet 2 years ago & lost 3 stone in just under 3 months...it was so good to see weight falling off.

O.k...thanks guys...Any advice would be great. Kay.

Get yourself a scale!  You can get really accurate when you weigh your food and log the gram weight.  The way I do it is, I put my plate on the scale and zero out the weight.  Then I add each serving and it down, then zero the weight again and go to the next serving. 

If you don't have a scale, then measuring cups and spoons are the next best thing.

As for added salt - look up salt, table, and add the measurement that most closely matches what you added to your food.  A "dash" is 1/8 tsp.  Pepper, unless you are adding huge amounts, doesn't have significant calories.  Look it up as "pepper, black"

As for motivation - if you stop thinking of this process as a "diet" and begin thinking of it as making positive changes to your eating and exercise habits, you'll be happier in the long run.  It does take time to lose weight and keep it off.  Make sure your goals are realistic, and whatever you do - DON'T GIVE UP!

Good Luck!

Thanks Clairelaine... I'll buy one tomorrow when i'm out shopping, leave it out in my kitchen  so it becomes my new daily habit! Lol! (i'm one of those people that keep non-everyday small kitchen appliances in thier boxes tucked away for when i need it & when i do need it, can't be bothered to get it out LOL!).

You're right about the ''stop thinking of this process as a diet" bit, i realised that this afternoon when i went to the dentist & had a big injection in my mouth for  fillings! I always used to snack on cakes, biscuits...all sweet snacks things really.. dentist got me back on that habit today, it made me realise that i can't just cut them out of a short term "diet" but out of my life for the long term.

 Thanks so much for the advice again Clairelaine... Kay