I count calories using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone & love it. It is super simple & takes like 20 seconds. If I had to manually get a piece of paper and write it down & look up all the calories in things in a book, I would NEVER do it. It has a barcode scanner so I just scan in what I'm going to eat & most of the things I eat are already in there so it's very easy to do/use. Actually sometimes it feels "too easy" but it is working so I'm sticking to it. Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

What The Glue said. I have been using an app too. The hardest part is getting started and building up your own food library. That takes a little searching. After that, it's a cinch to just select from your library. I also had to adjust the target calories for my metabolic rate. The app calculates a target but I found that it was just a bit too high. Since then I have been steadily losing 1.7 to 2.0 lbs. week for a total so far of 67 lbs. And yes, it feels "too easy." It's so easy that I plan to make it a way of life. Oh, and FREE is a very good thing too.

Best of luck.

I have used calorie counting at times too. It's very straightforward. It's a good way of keeping track. There are many sites that can help with that... like Sparkpeople.

There's an calorie counters forum here at 3fc. You might get some more opinions there, too.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/calorie-counters-172/

Strictly counting calories and recording it all would make me nuts. Instead, I looked up typical things I ate, wrote down some calorie values for those foods, and became very aware of portions size and which food were more calorie dense than other similar foods (corn and peas over beans and cauliflower, for example.) I estimated 1300 to 1500 while I was losing (90 pounds in 8 1/2 months) and jumped to about 1800 a day most days with extra allowed on "party" and "social engagement" days. At my age and weight, 1800 is a little low for maintenance, but it allows the extra on special occasions without too much worry or planning. The winter holidays take a bit more effort - there are too many party days mixed in with the normal days.

I think we need to become aware of what we eat - especially the things we forget about, like a handful of nuts, a brownie offered by a coworker, etc. that were never in our day's plan to begin with. That and portion size (general calorie awareness) worked for me.

good luck with whatever you decide to do. It's all calorie counting when you get to the bottom line.

Lin

I debated about responding until I saw your question whether there is anyone else who is not calorie counting. That would be me.

For one thing, I don't think it is necessary if you are educated on what is healthful and what is not (if not you can become so). I know that I can eat all the red bell peppers, etc. that I want, for example, without gaining weight... but not all the chocolate.

Also, I am a firm believer (and interestingly, it is now being proven) that our bodies process healthful, natural foods FAR more efficiently than they do "junk" (i.e. chemicals, fake sugars, and all the incredibly appalling stuff that is added to process food). For example, I don't think our bodies were designed to process wood ashes (yes, a lot of our "food products" contain that) or all of the other stuff that is added to "food." We can eat a lot more calories of wholesome, natural foods, and still lose weight, than if we eat the same number of calories of stuff our bodies can't process.

And yes, I know this will be challenged. That is okay; but I've lost 76 pounds this way, am almost never hungry, seldom have cravings, and all my medical labs have dropped back into the acceptable range. My doctor, chiro and surgeon are all thrilled with me. My complexion has become quite rosy... and my energy level has soared.

Soooooo.... this is just meant as my opinion; not something I plan to debate with others.

Since you asked.... And wow... you have lost 91 pounds!!! I would stick with your plan!!! For sure.

I have to count calories. Not obsessively, although in the beginning it felt that way, as I just quit searching for foods in the food library on fitday or myfitnesspal, and just made my own. I had no idea what portion sizes were, especially manufacturers portion sizes vs what I was putting on my plate. Now, I check portion sizes on things I buy, not for calories (although yes, I'm checking for that), I'm mainly checking the size of their portion. Frankly, if I'm going to break down and buy something I normally wouldn't, it had better be a good portion size. 200 calories for a tiny sliver of a portion just isn't worth it to me.

Now that I'm restarting, yeah I'm more careful with my calories and portions and logging, but when it was successful before, I could eyeball a portion and be pretty accurate and as long as I watched that, I was fine. It's road trips and those, 'tiny little bites' of brownies and things that began to add up.

I honestly think portion sizing and caloric awareness should be taught in schools, not at the high school level but at the 1st-4th grade level, I really do. Even my kids are surprised by the size of a portion vs what they're eating, and they're 7 and almost 9.