Well done Whiff - thank you for sharing your story.
Like you I’ve come round to counting calories to help weight loss. I wear a basic Fit Bit, and with its app on my tablet/phone, I put in everything I consume- only takes a minute. It’s really easy then to see how many calories I’ve consumed, as well as any calories used whilst tracking my steps, or any exercise. I can set a target loss per week and it shows me whether I’m eating too much and burning too little to achieve it. Obviously it may not be totally accurate but seems to be working for me. I don’t know if this would benefit anyone else. Anyway, I so admire your determination to lose weight and exercise, fantastic!