Trying new "diets" might help you find something you can maintain forever...yep forever lol...I've done a lot of different diets. Weight watchers, calorie counting, atkins, I was vegetarian then vegan in the name of weightloss, deal a meal, yup deal a meal lol...slim fast, my own version of slimfast where I drank a protein shake for breakfast and dinner, starving myself (so unhealthy)...oh god there's probably more I'm forgetting...
Now for me, the only diet I had done in the past that I was able to maintain was whole foods, with a pinch of paleo-like eating PLUS no sugar. 90% of the time I eat meats and veggies, go easy on the dairy (like one serving a day) and easy on the fruit, maybe 3-4 servings a week. And *very* easy on the grains, like 1-2 serving a week. But I have to watch because grains & fruit give me cravings. But everything is whole food, nothing processed in the house that I will eat. Oh and no beans/legumes for the most part, and 1-2 servings of nuts a week.
Now 10% of the time, like parties, or if we go out to eat, I still try to avoid sugar because it really sets off bad cravings for me, but I'll have toast, fruit, whatever.
This works for me long term. I've done it before and its the only "diet" I don't feel like I need to binge on, probably because I am typically avoiding trigger foods.
Anyway do you think you can count calories forever? If not then maybe you should experiment with various diets, until you find the one that you could maintain almost effortlessly 80-90% of the time. I say effortlessly, because in my experience, if your diet requires too much effort and energy, then as soon as your life goes through a rough patch, gets busy, or stress increases, or something unforeseen happens, its easy to "take a break" from dieting...And I cant tell you how many times I've seen posted on this board (and I've done myself) people saying the regained because XYZ happened in their life. As soon as it got hard they let go of the stress dieting causes.
I'm not saying you have to do what I'm doing. Everyone is different. But this works for me. Hopefully you can find what works for you