Afraid to start counting again

That can be tough, it's be easy to become obsessive about it. My way of staying sane and making sure I don't fall into unhealthy restrictions is to take time off from counting. I'm not talking about a cheat meal every week, but rather when I go on vacation for a few weeks a couple of times a year, I won't count any calories whatsoever. I won't binge but I'll eat what I feel like when I feel like it. It's just nice to be normal again and completely put calories / health out of my mind for a bit. Then when I return home, I go back to meticulously calculating and controlling my diet.
I'd like to warn people that this method wouldn't work for everyone. I have no problem getting back into a routine and I don't mind putting on a few pounds on vacation because I realize 4 weeks later I'll be back to normal. However I wouldn't recommend this technique to those who struggle to control their eating patterns or to people who freak when they see the scale go up even half a pound.

I feel you. I just recently started my journey again. The reason I stopped the last time was this very reason.. I became too obsessive about counting.

I do have a feeling that everyone's relationship with "counting" and how they come to terms with it would be different for each person.... but I will keep this an eye on this thread to see if there is any tips/tricks that will help someone like me as well haha

If you don't want to count calories then you have to be consistent with the type of meals you eat.

Snacking usually needs an eye kept on it as its very easy to forget we had a snack. I don't eat after 7pm for that very reason.

Also weighing in regularly really helps as if you see the trend going upwards you know you need to eat a bit less.

I haven't logged my meals in several months but I still have a rough estimate in my head of my daily calories. Its always good to be aware of how much we are eating. I still weigh things like potatoes/pasta/rice but eye ball everything else.

I'm finding even at maintenance I am losing the tiniest amount every other month so I know all is well and IF I were to keep on losing then I'd just eat a bit more (very happy to do that LOL)

I do better when I count. But I found the following tactics worked to at least maintain without counting:

-IF (intermittent fasting) 16/8
-eating as truly little as possible during the work day. The equivalent of maybe 500-600 calories before dinner. FOR ME, if I didn't indulge in a binge, it was hard to eat more than 1000 calories at dinner.
-drink tea at night instead of snacks
-two meals (of about 1000, just based on that being the max of a reasonable meal for me) per day on the weekend
-no booze
-vegan/vegetarian whole foods 90% of the time

^^maintained weight for about 2 years like this without counting^^. BUT once I started lifting weights, my hunger increased and a smoking ban in bars went into effect, so i started drinking beer again. Long story short, for me, I have to have a lot of "rules" if I want to not track my calorie counts. By tracking calories, I can feel confident that my bowl of ice cream or whatever fits into my overall calories for the day. So for me, tracking calories is "easier" because I can eat whatever I want (just in measured quantities).

I've thought a lot about this. One of the recurring themes on these boards is "sustainable lifestyle." I don't know if I'm going to want to be weighing my foods for the rest of my life. On the flip side, someone up there said they like numbers... I look at my calories as a budget. I have a certain daily "income" (calorie goal), which for me is 1509 calories per day. Some expenses (BMR/rent) are non-negotiable. Some, I have to think about if I really want that Big Mac/new outfit or if I'd rather "spend" on BBQ ribs/pedicure. I can't always afford both. Or... I can go for a run (let's say pick up some cash babysitring my neighbor's kids) and have more wiggle room in my budget.

What about just logging? Not necessarily counting calories, but writing down the food you eat to keep a record and see if you are maybe eating a little more than you think you are.

I wish I could do intuitive eating, but my appetite cannot be trusted.

I could have wrote your post! This was totally me! I reached goal weight about 3 years ago, and transitioned to maintenance. It was hard. I was very obsessive about the numbers. I lost more weight as I increased my calorie intake. Eventually I realized that I had to stop, to trust myself with all that I had learned in my weightloss journey. My thought was that if I keep moving (exercise) I will be ok. Things were going great for a log time. Then we had a big family move, to a much larger city, more takeout foods, restaurants etc. I was moving less, and voila, 10lbs put on, seemed like overnight. Now I am back on the wagon, trying to take control before I lose myself and its harder it seems this time around. Its been about 50 days and I am finding myself already worrying about the numbers. I hate it. I am an all or nothing kinda person, I cannot just log some days, if I am gonna log I am gonna log every day.