If your goal is to train
as efficient as possible, you must measure everything: not only your workouts, but also your calorie intake.
It is absolutely necessary to first determine your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) (= the calories you burn per day, depending on your age, bodyweight and activity level).
When you have this, you know how many calories you should have each day for maintenance and you can adjust this amount for fat loss (- 500 Kcal) or weight gain (+ 500 Kcal).
To track whether your daily calorie intake is on schedule, you must count your calories and look at the macro nutrients rate (proteins:carbs:fat). If you don't do this, you're only guessing and this decreases the efficiency of your training.
Here's another tip: visit Tom Venuto's Burn The Fat Inner Circle community:
Burn the Fat Inner Circle
This is a paid membership site ($9.95 per month), but the information you find there is invaluable (and the site is completely ad-free!): articles, spreadsheets to calculate/track almost everything, and more than 20 specific forums, like: "Fat loss after 40", "Recipes", "Home Training", "Female Fat Loss", "Fitness Equipment", "100 Pound Club" (for people who want to lose 100 lbs or more!), "Find a Training Partner", "Cardio", "Goals and Motivation", "Weight Training", "Gaining Muscle", "Contest Preparation" etc.
[added]I'm not affiliated with this site.[/added]