I hear you. I found it to be difficult at first (remembering to write everything down, trying to figure out the calories) and it seemed like a tedious pain and a whole lot of wasted time. After a while it became second nature to me. Writing things down is a habit now, and since I cook most of my own food (and I don't have
that much variety) I pretty much know all the calorie counts. Stick with your plan, counting calories is a change at first but after a while it becomes so ingrained that you'll hardly think about it, you'll just do it.