I don't count calories - never have, never will. IMO its non-sustainable and miserable way of living and not very accurate or representative anyway.
Good for you, but for me? I'm constantly hungry and I always want to eat something. If I don't count calories, I gain weight.
I definitely had a long stretch of many years like this. The only way to lose or maintain weight loss was counting calories. I hated it.
I eventually got to a point where I found 21 day fix, which was counting containers of food types (which was easier - less counting). Then I slowly adjusted my diet here and there until I didn't have to count anything.
The downsides?
- my diet is pretty boring. I generally eat the same things every day.
- I cannot eat that many carbs. So mostly, I have a carb or two for breakfast and dinner, and that's it.
- When I'm under stress I hit the carbs, and will then gain weight. Then I have to dig out the old better habits to lose it again.
Right now I'm up about 7 lbs, but I've been lifting a lot. When I look in the mirror, I feel like I look fine. Pants a little tight, but I carry weight and muscle on my hips/thighs/butt. So again, I don't look "fluffy" as far as I can tell, so I figure, meh. It's ok.