it only took 2 yrs but now I know what I'm doing

Keep a log and weigh food if you can. Calorie amnesia can be a silent staller! It took me a couple of years to figure out what I needed to do as well. Carbs hold a lot of water weight so don't worry too much if you eat carb heavy and the scale spikes. Exercise can make the scale spike too, also water related. I keep dry erase boards in my kitchen so when i think about what I want to make I get the ingredient calories down to see if they fit my calories for the day/week. It's easier to plan ahead than to log food and regret what you ate! You'll hit a stride and all the inconveniences around cal. counting will become second nature. I kept losing the same amount of weight and gaining it back again until I got all the info I needed to keep from getting discouraged. I'm down 52 lbs now, largely due to calorie counting. it works! You can do it! Hope that helps...

Food scale, food scale, food scale. It is the best tool besides using MFP.

Pre-logging is when you log your food for the whole day ahead of time. It helps a lot of people to balance their calories so they don't get to dinner and have 100 calories left. Psychologically, it also helps many people to stick to wise food choices, because it's already been recorded. I often pre-log, then make any adjustments I need to at the end of the day.

I log the evening before for the next day so that I know in advance what to pack for lunch and if I need to go to the store for dinner prep. It really helps me to stay within my calories for the day and not eat anything "unnecessary".