I have a secret: I stopped counting

I used to count every single calorie and log it religiously. Unfortunately for me that seemed to be very bad for my mental state of mind and counterproductive.
Because I was logging every single thing I ate, food was on my mind all the time. Even though I was aiming for a solid 1600 calories a day, thinking about calories and macros so much made me obsessive about food and resulted in binging almost daily. While logging I actually gained weight and I ended up feeling like a failure and feeling very down.

Now since the start of this year, I have been on my "self-designed diet". I keep it very simple with only two rules: I eat when I am hungry and it has to be mostly (90ish percent) food that comes from a field rather than a factory.
I have lost 5kg since the start of this year and I have never felt more calm and in a happy state of mind.
I haven't binged since dieting this way and I have learned to recognise when I am actually hungry instead of bored or stressed and to finish eating when satiated.

I even enjoy going out to dinner with friends now, because I am no longer worried about what it might do to my calorie count. I know my body will tell me when to stop eating and even if I do overeat a bit, I don't really mind because I know it won't matter in the long run.
At first it had a rule that on Mondays I could have a treat (because Mondays), but when going to the shop I found that I didn't even want or crave anything. I ended up leaving the shop without a treat and just had my lovely homemade healthy dinner. That has never happened to me before.

I have the greatest respect for people who have the discipline and strength to lose weight by counting calories and macros, but this is just to show it isn't for everybody.