Do you track calories? If so, that's what I would like to focus on. Do you write down what you eat or do you have another method for tracking (magnets on the fridge, a bracelet)? I'd love to hear from you calorie counters.

I have the book "Calorie Counting for Dummies" which seems to have some great info.

There are a lot of calorie counters here, we even have a forum dedicated to calorie counting:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=172

Oh, haha. Thank you for pointing that out. Now I can get even MORE support and I need it!

I "write down" my caloric intake by using FitDay to track my calories. It is really working well for me. I also use FitDay to track my excercise calories. I have a HRM so it is pretty accurate (I hope). I like using Fitday because it gives me graphs and charts that show my progress towards a thinner life.

I am losing weight very, very slowly (sometimes not even a pound a week), but looking at a graph on Fitday from when I started gives me encouragement that I will eventually get there!!!!!

I plan all my meals ahead of time for the day. I use the pad and pencil method. I have a good calorie count book. That way I don't have to be on line I use CalorieKing.
Others like to do it online, it is just a matter of preferance. The important thing is to plan ahead.

I track calories and I write them down in my journal every day (along with my feelings and my exercise). Tracking calories has been the key to succeeding to my opinion.

I also track using FitDay (the PC version). I also use data from a heart rate monitor (which has proved pretty accurate). I manage to keep enough of a deficit to average about 2 lbs/week. I pretty much do not go to bed without planning the next day's meals. Occasionally I'll switch things around, but within the plan that I've chosen.

I keep a food journal and write down EVERYTHING I eat and drink. If I don't it is guaranteed I will eat too much. I've been doing this off and on for a couple of years and every time I am consistent in writing stuff down I lose. It's just a running list of the food, amount, and calories. I have three columns in a regular spiral binder notebook. I write several days on one page depending on room. Every so often--usually after lunch and dinner--I add the calories up to make sure I don't go over 1800. Once in a while I will go over then I exercise a little extra or not eat so much the next day. There is a great book, I don't remember the title right off hand, that gives a list of food and calories for each. I will post the name when I get the chance.

I keep a spiral notebook and write down everything, everything! If I eat a tablespoon of ketchup, I track it. For me, it's the only way. The Daily Plate website and a pretty good help when you are unsure of calories. Lots of recipes already have calories, fat, etc. figured out for you. If you are cooking your own recipe, it won't take long before you know how many calories are in everything. This is a powerful thing--best of all, it's free.

I also use Fitday and I love it. I usually eat a lot of the same things and you can save calorie counts for recipes and stuff. It has helped me a lot!

I've read about a million diet books (haven't we all) and the one consistent thing I see is to write everything down. Maybe that's why I haven't done as well in the past. I always have trouble with writing things down. So, that's something I'm definitely working on!
I just purchased a menu planner which will help the hubby and I a lot. Sometimes when we can't think of what to make we eat fast food. So, this will help solve that.

I'm not sure what you mean by "just".

I track calories - I input everything I eat into The Daily Plate at livestrong.com. I find tracking online is easiest for me since I'm on the computer all the time.

I also have made an effort to eat "clean" - that is to eliminate as much processed food from my diet as I possibly can and to eat foods with more of an awareness of where they come from and how eating them impacts the world around me.

Finally, I exercise. I lift weights, do HIIT cardio, and try to fit some yoga and/or pilates in there regularly. I also just started training for a 5k next year.

So ... from a diet standpoint, I just count calories as opposed to doing it as part of a "diet plan" ... but I also do other things to lose weight as opposed to "only" counting calories. If that makes sense.

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i keep a food journal. It used to be really detailed, but now its mostly just shorthand and abbreviations. Works well for me.

I do the pen and paper method with a journal too. I track my calories and protein.

I track mine on the Dailyplate.com. I like them because most of the foods I eat are already on there, it keeps track of foods you eat frequently and it also shows other nutritional information(grams of protien, carbs, sugars stuff like that.) I don't know how many grams of protien or anything else I should be eating, so it gives you the % daily value based on what you have input for that day. Counting calories is the way to go for me, because I've found that in order to be able to stick to this diet, I need to have a little leeway in what I can eat. If I want pizza, I can save calories for the day to fit in a slice of pizza for example.