This is the first diet I have ever tried in my entire life, and I chose calorie counting. I wanted a diet that was like living in the real world, with a lot of flexibility of choice - a diet I could continue for life without too much imposition. I have found this type of diet extremely educational for someone like me that really knew next to nil about proper portions and specific nutritional content of food. It's been a real eye-opener! I guarantee I was eating 3 times as much food before I went on a diet, and I really had no idea
embarrassing! In my quest for more food bang for my buck so to speak, I have switched the great majority of my diet to much healthier choices - healthier food choices are so much more filling, and I can really tell that they fuel me better, if that makes sense. Although I started dieting last April, I have probably been calorie counting since about May/June. I was pretty much flying blind until I joined 3FC with all of the wonderful and informative people that post here.
Earlier in my dieting journey I was targeting around 1100-1200 cal/day. I just sort of picked that number out of thin air. I did not know how to choose what my daily goal should be. I was not even exercising, and I was pretty seriously hungry. I upped my max cal/day to 1400 a while back, and it's working great for me. I have averaged 2 lbs /week loss over the last 5 months or so, so I believe my calorie target is okay for the time being. Beyond regular life and work, I am not formally exercising yet. I don't worry about eating back any calories from physical activity. I personally just watch my results (lbs lost per week over a period of time) and as long as that's on target (not losing more or less than 2 lbs.) then I just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm very informal, lol.
I very much admire other posters here on 3FC that closely analyze their nutritional intake - I am much more casual, in that I basically ensure I get some protein, fiber, veggies, dairy, etc.; I don't do any further analysis than that. I might "graduate" to being more attentive to details like that, but right now I have just enough discipline in life to do what I'm doing and nothing more, lol. I currently don't combine calorie counting with any other type of diet plan.